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Everyone already knows, or should already know, about the benefits an air filter has on a home. The air filter is an integral part of the HVAC system and is essential in making the home safer, more comfortable, as well as more energy efficient. An air filter can offer those same benefits to an office and in fact it might be even more important in an office setting because there are generally far more people in an office than a home and they spend at least eight hours there together for most of the week.
However, in an office, the air filter and the entire HVAC system may not be under the control of anyone in the office. Chances are that the building managers and maintenance crew are in charge of monitoring and changing the air filters. That is why someone in a position of authority in the office should regularly ask about the condition of the air filter because it is important to the safety and comfort of everyone within that space.
Why Air Filters Are Important for the Office
Offices, even more than homes, tend to have a lot of particulates and pollutants in the air. That is because there are a lot of people coming in and out of the office bringing in any particulate matter they picked up with them. Plus most offices tend to have many people clustered together. Basically, all of this means that there is a lot of stuff to filter out of the air in an office, which is why an air filter is so vital.
Anyone who has worked in an office knows how bugs and infections can spread quickly and leave a lot of people sick. A lot of sick employees means lowered productivity, which is bad for them and the company. An air filter can remove bacteria and droplet particles from the air so that the spread of any airborne infection is lowered and fewer people get sick. An air filter is also important for the overall comfort level of everyone in the office. The air conditioning in an office is nearly always on and the air it circulates could get stuffy and uncomfortable without an air filter to clean it up.
What Kinds of Air Filters Should Be Used in Offices?
The efficiency of an air filter is determined by its MERV (Minimum Efficiency Rating Value) rating. The higher the MERV rating, the more efficient the filter is at trapping various particles. For an office, a filter with a MERV rating of 8 to 13 is ideal as they can capture small dust particles and the droplet nuclei expelled when someone sneezes or coughs. These high rated filters are great for office buildings but not for homes because the AC fan has to work harder to push air through the smaller openings. This is fine if there is an industrial-strength HVAC system doing the pushing, but an air filter with a high MERV rating can overtax the modest system of a home and lead to higher energy bills.
How Often Should The Air Filter in an Office be Changed?
The air filters in a home need to be changed or cleaned every six months or so but the filters in an office need to be cleaned much more frequently. The frequency of the cleaning depends on various factors such as the type of HVAC system being used in the building and the number of people in the office because the more people there are, the more often the filter needs to be changed. In general, it is recommended that an office air filter be changed once every two months and sometimes even more frequently than that.
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Stay Up To Date On The Condition of Your Office Air Filter
The air filter is vital to the health and wellbeing of everyone in the office. That is why it is important that not only an office has an air filter for its HVAC system, but that the filter is changed on a regular basis. A clean air filter can ensure that everyone in the office is breathing the cleanest possible air; that is why it is important to make sure that whoever is in charge of the office’s HVAC system keeps a close eye on the air filter; the health and comfort of everyone in the office depend on it.
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