After publishing this article: https://www.texairfilters.com/the-usa-should-not-adopt-iso-16890-for-air-filter-testing-heres-why/ on Linkedin, we had a very good discussion about the pros and cons of the US adopting ISO 16890 as our air filter test standard. This article is taken from that discussion. I have omitted some comments and the names of participants, have shortened the comments of other participants (although I … More
Articles
The USA Should Not Adopt ISO 16890 for Air Filter Testing – Here’s Why
Currently, air filters are tested in the United States according to the procedures described in ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 52.2-2012. This test procedure results in a Minumum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) for an air filter. For details of how the test is conducted see other articles on this site. There is a movement to approve the new … More
Airborne Ebola Virus Transmission Possible – But is it Probable and a Health Threat?
The very large size of the Ebola virus makes it difficult to be transmitted by airborne means. In many announcements and publications the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has stated that the Ebola virus is not transmitted by airborne means. According to the CDC there are no known cases of airborne transmission of the … More
Tex-Air Filters Moves Dallas Location to Better Serve Customers
New Location on Leo Lane has easy access and plenty of parking with the same great service. Tex-Air Filters has moved it’s Dallas office and warehouse operation to a new location – 11251 Leo Lane, Dallas, Texas 75229. The new facility is over 22,000 square feet and provides plenty of room for inventory and expansion. … More
ASHRAE Research Project Report On Air Filters Raises More Questions Than it Answers
In March of 2013 the results of ASHRAE Research Project Report 1360-RP was made available for distribution. The 415 page Report is entitled “How Do Pressure Drop, Efficiency, Weight Gain, and Loaded Dust Composition Change throughout Filter Lifetime. The Contractor was RTI International and the Principal Investigator was Kathleen Owen. Ms. Owen presented the findings … More
Selecting the Right Filter to Improve Indoor Air Quality
Many HVAC technicians falsely believe that the only type of filter to use in a system is a fiberglass one-month “throwaway.” They are convinced that the only purpose of a filter is to protect the equipment from dust and debris and that the need for the better air flow provided by the fiberglass filter overrides … More
How Concerned Should We Be with the Filtration of Sub-micron Sized Particles in Indoor Environments?
In recent years more and more studies have been published showing that increased levels of sub-micron sized particles in the air result in higher levels of inflammation. This inflammation has been found in the cardiovascular and the respiratory system of exposed individuals resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Increased levels of heart attacks and asthma attacks … More
Comparing the Efficiency of Different Types of MERV 8 Air Filters in a Room Environment
There has been a great deal of discussion about the accuracy of filter testing. This discussion has covered everything from materials (test dust) to methods to reproducibility and much more. But the problem with these discussions is that they do not deal with the effectiveness of filters in indoor environments. After all, particles in an indoor … More
What Happens to the Particles When You Sneeze?
Particles settle out of the air at different rates depending on the size of the particle. These tests show the relative exposure from particles at different distances from the source. To determine what happens to aerosol particles at various distances we did some tests using an atomizer and 4 particle counters. We created an imitation … More
All MERV 8 Air Filters are not Created Equal – Performance Varies Greatly by Particle Size
Different MERV 8 Filters do not perform in the same way on all particle size ranges. Pleated filters have far higher efficiency on medium sized and small sized particles than polyester pads or ring panels. The ASHRAE 52.2 test method is designed to measure the fractional efficiency of a filter by particle size. One would … More