Aprilaire 4200 Performance, Figure Figure, Particle Removal Efficiency, Particle Size microns

PERFORMANCE

A whole-house air cleaner, like the Aprilaire model 4200 or 4400, is installed by your heating and air conditioning contractor as one of the components in your heating and cooling system. It cleans the air that circulates through your home (see Figure 1).

When the heating or cooling equipment turns on, the air in your home travels through the registers and return duct(s) to the heating and cooling equipment where it is conditioned and sent back into the rooms of your house through the supply ducts. Small particles from numerous sources are suspended in your home’s air, just as they are suspended in the air outdoors. The largest of these particles will eventually come to rest and appear as dust. Smaller particles may come to rest, but with even the slightest disturbance will re-suspend into the air. These particles are very small, and come from natural sources such as dust and pollen and from manmade sources such as tobacco smoke or exhaust. The air cleaner is installed on or near the furnace/air handler and removes the particles that travel with the air that circulates through your heating and cooling system. Removing these particles keeps the equipment components clean and more importantly removes particles from the air you breathe. Particles are measured in microns, which is a unit of measure used for very small things (1 micron = 1/25,400 inch). For reference, the diameter of a human hair is approximately 100 microns. Figure 2 shows the size of various particles that can be found in the air.

Your model 4200 or 4400 with genuine Aprilaire SelfSeal™ filters is a highly efficient air cleaner. The removal efficiency defines the percent of particles entering the air cleaner that are trapped (see Table 1).

Until now, the air cleaner has been a passive component of your heating and cooling system; when the equipment turned on to heat or cool your home, the air cleaner was doing its job whether you were aware of it or not. Your thermostat turns on your heating and cooling equipment and so, essentially, the thermostat determined when you clean your air. Your model 4200 or 4400 air cleaner comes with an exclusive Air Cleaner Control that allows you to clean your air when you want! Not only does the Air Cleaner Control allow you to actively clean the air, it will show you when the air cleaner is filtering the air and when it is time to change the filter.

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

Common Pollutants

Particle sizes in microns* (1 micron = 1/25,400 inch)

0.01 0.1 1 5 10 50 100

POLLENS & SPORES

SMUDGING

DUST

SMOKE

AIRBORNE BACTERIA

*American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineering Guide

90-1148

TABLE 1 – Particle Removal Efficiency

Particle Size (microns)	Removal Efficiency
1	76%
3	93%
5	91%
7	93%
10	97%

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