Do Villas and Other Luxury Homes Have Luxury Air Filters?
When you buy, lease, or rent a luxurious dwelling, you expect the best amenities and you will usually get them. That means multiple rooms, huge closets, high end bathroom fixtures, expansive multi-car garages, cavernous kitchens with lots of high-tech accessories, and more. The sky’s the limit when it comes to what a luxury home or villa has to offer. The same goes for the various systems that bring water and power to the home. You would expect them to be as good and reliable as they can be since a luxury home will likely be using the plumbing and electrical systems more than a regular home.
Another key system is the HVAC unit that brings warm or cool air to the home, and in a luxury home it has to be high-end too. That is because a luxury home likely has a lot of rooms and the system has to be powerful enough to deliver air to all of the rooms in the home. An important part of the HVAC system that often gets overlooked is the air filter. As the name suggests, the air filter removes out dangerous and harmful pollutants and allergens from the air making it safer and cleaner for everyone in the home.
Of course, when you consider that everything in a luxury home is of the utmost highest quality, you would expect the same of the air filters. As to whether or not that is the case, well it depends. What is for certain is that if someone is not happy about the type of air filter in their home, they can easily get a newer and better one. They can get it from physical retailers or online stores like Filter King; they will be sure to have filters that satisfy the needs of the most luxurious home or villa.
Are There Luxury Air Filters?
While there are a wide variety of air filters, there are not really any that can be considered luxury air filters. Rather, air filters are defined by their MERV ratings; MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value and is a measurement of the air filter’s efficiency at trapping various particles. MERV ratings go from one to twenty and the higher the number, the better the filter is at removing particles from the air. Most homes have air filters in the five to thirteen range; filters in the sixteen to twenty range are used in specialized settings where everything needs to be as sterile as possible such as locations like hospitals, laboratories, and clean rooms.
Residential buildings don’t need that level of filtration and their HVAC systems couldn’t handle them anyway, which is why most homes can be content with lower rated air filters. However, if anyone in the home is particularly sensitive to allergies or if they have respiratory problems, then a high-rated air filter that is appropriate for the home might be necessary.
MERV Ratings and What They Filter
The MERV rating of an air filter is an indication of what types of materials it traps and removes from the air. Most homes should have an air filter that is at least MERV 8 and should not go any lower than that. Similarly, most homes don’t need to have filters rated higher than ten. You can see the various materials that the various MERV ratings remove from the air below:
MERV 8 to 10 – These remove particles like pollen, dust mites, bacteria, and mold. Most homes can be satisfied with air filters in this range.
MERV 11 – This is a mid level filter that can remove pet dander in addition to all of the other materials that the filters rated below it can trap and remove.
MERV 12 to 13 – These types of filters can capture all of the materials the other filters can in addition to smoke, various allergens, and particulate matter. Only homes where some of the inhabitants have serious allergies or are immun-compromised need this level of filtration.
If someone believes that they need an extra level of protection for their home, then they may consider HEPA air filters.
What Are HEPA Filters?
HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air or High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance and filters that have this designation are the most efficient at trapping harmful materials. You can find HEPA filters in a lot of devices such as air purifiers and vacuum cleaners in addition to air filters. HEPA filters are great for homes where any of the inhabitants have serious allergies because they do a great job of removing a wide variety of allergens from the air. That means they are a great choice for any kind of home— luxury or otherwise— where there is a serious concern about allergies and the particles that can trigger them.
The Types of Air Filter
Aside from the MERV rating, another factor that distinguishes air filters is whether they are disposable or washable. Disposable filters are discarded and replaced once they get dirty while washable air filters are cleaned and then reinserted into the HVAC system when they get too dirty to function properly. Of course that means disposable filters are easier to use than washable filters since there is no maintenance required. That being said, the maintenance of a washable air filter is not especially difficult.
No matter what type of air filter you have, it is vital that it remains clean because it loses effectiveness once it becomes too dirty and clogged. When that happens the filter will be unable to trap any more particles, which means that they will circulate throughout the air. A dirty filter can also have a negative effect on the HVAC system because it will have to work harder to push air through the clogged filter. That could lead to higher energy bills or even a damaged HVAC system and even someone who can afford a luxury home does not want the extra expense. So no matter how high the MERV rating of a filter may be, it is only effective if it is clean.
Every Type of Home Needs an Air Filter
There may be no such thing as a luxury air filter, but there is the filter that is right for your home, and that is what you need to look for regardless of what kind of home you live in. All air filters remove certain materials from the air and you need to find the air filter that will remove the materials to which those in your home are most sensitive. You can do that by checking the MERV rating of the filter or by investing in a HEPA filter if you want the maximum amount of filtration. So make sure that you get the filter that is right for your home because that is the only kind of filter that matters.
