Furnace filter with electronic air cleaner

[Chuckster in NJ]

I have a "Trane clean effects" electronic air cleaner and need to know if anyone here has installed a filter inside of the air handler as a extra (secondary) filter.……. I was told by the installer that I did not need one because the electronic filter takes care of everything. The unit is 10 years old and when I was doing some maintenance on the air handler I noticed some dust around the blower.……. Very little amount but some dust was getting by the filter.
I was thinking a low number MERV filter would catch this dust without affecting the efficiency of the unit.

 

[Showkey]

The “electronic air cleaners“ age on HVAC units are pretty much over.

Merv 11-13 4” filters are common on new installs. During filter install they measure the pressure drop, air flow and temp delta.

 

[BillK]

My Honeywell has a metal mesh "prefilter" that looks like the grease filters in a oven exhaust hood. It catches quite a bit of stuff that I am not sure if the electronic filter would catch or not. Mine is closer to 20 years old so I dont know if the electronic cleaners have improved enough not to need it ?

 

[fitter30]

Your not going to stop 100% of the dust. The furnace blower compartment isn't air tight. Are you running the blower 24/7 with any filter they can only pickup what they see.

 

[PoorUB]

Chuckster, how often do you clean that filter? They need to be cleaned often, maybe monthly. Once the elements get dirty they are worse than the old "hogs hair" filters.

I did HVAC service for 12 years and worked for an HVAC wholesaler for 10 more. In those 20+ years I never installed or sold one!
There are much better paper filters. A Trion Air Bear, or Honeywell has line of 4" filters, and others.

I would see if you can install a 4" Honeywell filter inside that electronic filter housing. It might have been made buy Honeywell and rebadged.

 

[justinjoyal]

Do not install a "secondary" filter as it will mess with your system's airflow and will most likely be detrimental to its proper operation.

I would replace the electronic air cleaner with a quality media filter, making sure airflow remains adequate.

 

[yeldogt]

They still sell that system .... or one called the same. I have never used it ..... Just make sure all the parts are there and working. The old Honeywells I used had a mesh ... put them and the grids in the dishwasher.

I moved to the 4" --- pleated. The electronic seem expensive until you start replacing $45 filters

 

[Innovate1]

I recently replaced an electronic air cleaner with a housing for pleated 4" filters. The housing was nearly the same size and thickness so I just had to put a narrow strip of sheet metal on one side because the width wasn't exactly the same. Pretty easy switch. The electronic one worked well for years but was starting to have issues. While I had things apart I cleaned the bottom of the secondary heat exchanger (90+ unit) and the blower area.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Dump it and get a good 4" pleat. Better filtering and better for your health, too, unless your doctor has prescribed that you the breath ozone...

Tommy

 

[PoorUB]

Keep in mind, at least for the Honeywell electrostatic air cleaners, I remove one little plastic guide pin and Honeywell had a 4" filter that slides right in.

Many of the other branded electrostatic filters are rebadged Honeywell so no need to tear out the filter box and replace it with something else. Just slap a pleated filter in the old box.