Home or Office Air Filters

Anyone tired of “dusting” your office space…. Or sneezing every time you try to work on your computer? The cooling fans for CPUs result in ionization. The result is not only are they sucking in air, but they then ionize the dust particles, so they stick together and become heavy when exiting the computer. This results in dust accumulating around your computer equipment. Not only can it be a health hazard but over time it will degrade the cooling functionality of your computing equipment and if in dusty/pet hair heavy environments can result in damage or decrease life for the computing equipment.

Solutions

At a minimum, your home/office area should have regular cleanings of the HVAC filters and potentially have a whole house/office filter installed. In addition to that, you should consider adding additional local filter units in heavy computer areas or if you have allergy or pet hair issues. Talk with your local HVAC contactor for a whole house air filter solution. Here are some various room/area specific solutions that vary greatly in price and features. Remember, HEPA filters typically remove dust size particles and larger from the area. They will need to be changed regularly to be effective. If you have vaulted ceilings, you will need to double the SQ footage of cleaning power to cover the same size rooms, since it will have a significantly larger quantity of air to clean.

• Gold standard (and expensive) solution: IQAir — https://a.co/d/agTV3zU. This model is about 3 feet tall and takes up about 1.5 × 1.5 feet SQ. The filter life is measured in months, even if you use it 24 hours a day. It has 3 filters — pre-filter, carbon odor filter, and high-quality HEPA filter. The filtration is small enough to even remove some airborne viruses/bacteria. Because of the different fan speeds, you can ramp up/down the performance based on your needs, including a very quiet mode at night when you are trying to sleep.
• Solid room filter: GermGuardian — https://a.co/d/hVQ0cc4. Solid HEPA filter that is significantly smaller/cheaper than IQAir but handles a much smaller area and the filter must be replaced more often.
• Room/air filter: Winix — https://a.co/d/d7WRwA7. Winix has been around for a long time, and therefore you are likely to find replacement filters even years later.
• Desktop filter: AirTok — https://a.co/d/3y9bsAf. Excellent model to place right next to your computing equipment. This will greatly minimize the amount of dust resulting from the computer equipment ionized air. It has the ability to add “scents” to a pad, thereby resulting in a little aroma therapy.

I have asthma, allergies, and pets. My home has an IQAir in the main living space and 3 additional filters in my office space. This is more filtration than most users need, but I am finally not getting headaches by the end of the week due to dust and pet dander in the office. I still clean frequently but no longer feel like my skin is on fire and itchy when sitting near my computer. I also find that the amount of cleaning to keep my computer air intakes clean has just about disappeared!