When most air filter professionals are asked to give information on what particles certain filter ratings/MERVs catch they refer to fractional efficiency curves or charts that show a particle size in microns on one axis and a removal percentage on the other axis. For ...
Who Recommends MERV 13 Air Filtration?
If We Rated Cars Like Air Filters
ASHRAE 52.2 gave us the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) for air filters, creating a 16-point chart that tells us what percentage of particles in a certain size range will be removed by a filter. This system was an improvement when it was introduced in 1999 ...
Air Filters and Your Lungs
With the introduction of ISO 16890 to the world (only the United States is left to adpot it) there has been a lot more talk and research about the relationship between air filters and air quality. This discussion has been happening before, but with little emphasis on ...
What is a High Efficiency Air Filter? MERV 11 or MERV 13?
The phrase "High Effiecency Air Filter" has been a subjective term in the past, and has been left up to the manufacturers, not users, of air filters to determine what makes a filter high efficiency. With this responsibility on the shoulders of the air filter ...
MERV 8 and MERV 10 Comparison
There is a battle among pleated HVAC filter manufacturers - MERV-8, MERV-9, and MERV-10 Which is "best" for your facility and how different are these prodcuts really, seeing as not too long ago they were all MERV-6 or 7? Frustratingly with ASHRAE 52.2 and the MERV ...
95% Air Filter, MERV-14, MERV-15, or MERV-16 - Yes?
Oh MERV, if there were any clearer reason why you are going to be replaced byISO 16890, it is the confusion of 95% air filters. A still common specification for final filters in hospitals the 95% filter could refer to MERV 14, MERV 15, or MERV 16 high efficiency air ...
What MERV Filter Do I Need?
One of the most common questions we get is asked a variety of ways: How much MERV is enough? What efficiency filter should I use? Isn’t 8 enough? As is the case with most questions like this, the answer is: It depends. To come to an ...
MERV/ASHRAE 52.2 Vs ISO 16890 Efficiency Charts
One of the more common requests we get is to do a cross between different filter test methods. For years it was a 52.1 to 52.2 cross, then when Europe adopted EN779 charts crossing those two came about now with the adoption and publication of ISO 16890 we are being ...