jem

I think a homeowner should evaluate his home, its conditions, any members of household with special issues/needs,pets, and of course the ductwork system.

I strongly believe that for over 99.9% of homes, a good 4-5" pleated filter media cabinet is more than adequate. keep in mind that while you want good indoor air quality, you also want superior protection of blower motor and evap coil.

other considerations would be ease and frequency of maintenance(if any), easy changeout of filter, operating cost(if any), cost and availability of filter replacements.

finally, you don't want a filter that is so efficient that it restricts air flow.

IMO

Thanks for your thoughts IMO. If you have a moment, would you go to www.iqair.com and look over the "Perfect 16". Other than price, which obviously is an important issue, it seems to be a great system with almost no drawbacks. If price were no issue, does this system seem to be a good one?

jem

I am not taken in by a slick website presentation.

I would want to hear from homeowners who have splurged on a system like this.

personally for me, the price alone would eliminate this filter system from consideration.

you asked-I answered.

IMO

IMO, thank you for taking the time to look into this. I also am very skeptical--I called the rep this AM to get more info. Specifically, I asked to be referred to someone in my area that has installed this system--after a lot of talk, the rep said he would see if he could find someone willing to call me and discuss their installed system!! It sure seems your inclination is correct. I would still like to pursue the best way to filter the air in a whole house manner. I have an existing Honeywell electrostatic cleaner currently installed upstairs on the system that I am about to replace. Do you think that I could put the filter of a Lennox HC-16 inside this cabinet and get a good result? The downstairs currently has a low voltage 30" x 14" Dynamic Air Cleaner installed in the single return duct. I like your idea of a 4" to 5" media cabinet but I am not sure how to make it fit. Do you know of anything that would work in the opening where the Dynamic currently is located. Thanks again for all your help.

jem

two questions.

why do you think you need a filter like this?

and if you are working with an AmStd dealer on a new system, have you asked them to make a recommendation for your setup/application?

IMO

1. I seem to be increasingly bothered by allegeries for a substantial period in the late winter/early spring and my wife has a constant nagging cough. We also seem to have a very dusty house. I am hoping to help all of these issues with a good filtration system--at least I will not make things worse and I should help them a lot.
2. I spoke in general terms with the contractor about filtration but not in depth--we discussed the specifics about the heat pump and the furnace and went into the attic to discuss the removal of the existing equipment and the new install. I will be calling him shortly to discuss this but I wanted to educate myself about this issue as much as reasonable.
3. I just spent a good bit encapsulating my crawlspace, replacing all the ductwork in the crawlspace, and removing the fiberglass insulation from the attic and replacing it with 3"-4" of closed cell spray foam in the rafters. So you can see I am serious in improving my home's environment. You are helping me a lot and I appreciate it.

jem

what is your location?

ask dealer to take some inside humidity readings upstairs and downstairs. if you have made some serious insulation improvements, both attic and crawlspace, you may need fresh air exchange along with whole house humidifier.

nagging cough can be related to low inside humidity.

just a thought.

take a look at this link.

IMO

Here is a link that might be useful: HC 16 Media Air Cleaner

Hi Tiger. Is this a good name to use? I live in Yorktown Virginia, 23693--this is in southeastern VA. I have a humidifier on the downstairs unit--Aprilaire, I believe. The upstairs system does not currently have one but it will be added as part of the attic new install. I had not considered a fresh air exchange unit although American Standard does have one on their website as a suggested part of their matched systems. The Ruud furnace in the downstairs system is a 90% plus and has a air inlet off the furnace--just takes air from the garage where the system is located--just a small 'L' shaped PVC pipe off the unit.

After reading may posts on this forum, many from you, I have requested of the contractor that he install new Honeywell Vision Pro IAQ thermostats for each of our systems to make it easy to control the fans and humidity.

I will discuss with him the air exchange idea--anything special to know about this? Any thoughts concerning the filters I might use on the downstairs units?

Do not purchase Trane's CleanEffects clean effects!

I paid high dollars for clean effects to help my family's alergies and my daughter's asthma. I has been in for 2 years and has worked a total of 2 month, not in a row. 1 month when it was new and 1 month about a year later after multiple service calls to my dealer. It is broken again and the service rep who came out today told me it will do nothing to help the problems I purchased it for, no matter what trane says. It has been a terrible waste of time, aggrivation, and money for me and my family. Trane and the last poster Guinnesses can post all of the laboratory test results they want, this device does not deliver as promised, neither does trane or their dealer. Trane told me a year ago that if they could not fix it they would replace it. Never happened!

pcbn2u, I posted a question yesterday without reading this thread. I have a Trane CleanEffects too. When you say broken what do you mean? We recently cleaned the CleanEffects filter and it wasn't dirty at all. Is that what you are seeing as well? We had Trane PerfectFit in our previous home and it worked really well.