Jim Rosenthal

In a letter to the ASHRAE 52.2 Standard Setting Project Committee, the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) has recommended not to adopt ISO 16890 as the air filter test standard for the United States.  AHRI is a trade organization whose members produce over 90% of the residential and commercial heating, cooling, water heating, … More

ASHRAE has been involved in a concerted effort to include references to international standards in ASHRAE Standards.  The purpose is to provide consistency across borders and simplify international construction and building operations.  A case in point is the proposed addition of provisions of ISO 16890 into ASHRAE 62.1-2016.  Unfortunately this can lead to problems.  Of … More

In a recent paper entitled “Evaluating the Sensitivity of the Mass-Particle Removal Calculations for HVAC Filters in ISO 16890 to Assumptions for Aerosol Distributions” the author, Dr. Brent Stephens of the Illinois Institute of Technology, found that the particle distribution data used in ISO 16890 was outdated and inaccurate.  The paper was published in the … More

A recent development affecting the air filter industry is the addition of Addendum k to Standard ASHRAE 62.2-2016 (Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings) to include air filter classifications from International Standard ISO 16890.  The purpose is to add “an alternative method providing PM2.5 efficiency data” to the ASHRAE 52.2 MERV … More

Pleated filters using electret media have some distinct advantages over pleated filters using mechanical only media.  The most important advantages of electret media filters is that they have lower pressure drop (resistance) and higher efficiency on smaller particles. In most cases the advantage of higher particle capture efficiencies for electret pleated filters are reduced as … More

In the abstract  – adopting ISO 16890 by the US sounds like a great idea.  We would have one international air filter test standard replacing EN779 and ASHRAE/ANSI 52.2.  This would reduce confusion, increase the size of the market and make it easier for professionals to specify air filters for a variety of applications. Unfortunately, … More

(This article was originally written by Jim Rosenthal and published in April of 2006 on http://www.allergyclean.com ) Air cleaners and air filters alone have not been shown to be clinically effective at reducing allergy symptoms. Last year I was very fortunate to be able to participate in a round table discussion on indoor air research. This meeting … More

We are pleased to announce the opening of our newest branch office and warehouse in San Antonio. The facility is conveniently located at 2416 Brockton Street, Suite 101, San Antonio 78217 and is fully stocked with filters, belts, coil cleaners and other products needed for effective HVAC filter maintenance. “We have had numerous requests from … More

“7 Classification system based on particulate matter efficiency (ePM) 7.1 Definition of a standardized particles size distribution of ambient air To evaluate air filters according to their ePM efficiencies, standardized volume distribution functions of the particle size are used which globally represent the average ambient air of urban and rural areas, respectively.  Typically in the … More