What is Air Scrubbing? Understanding the Benefits for Indoor Air Quality

Air scrubber for HVAC systems is a device that’ll improve your indoor air quality (IAQ). It’s an advanced filtration system that minimizes contaminants in your air when the HVAC fan is turned on.

If you’re wondering how air scrubbers work or how to get one installed, call TRIO Heating, Air, and Plumbing today. Our HVAC technicians are based out of San Jose, CA, and we serve Menlo Park, Pacifica, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, and other surrounding communities. If you’re in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area and want better indoor air quality, contact our team today to learn your options or to schedule a consultation.

What Is Air Scrubbing?

Depending on where you live in Santa Clara County, the outside air quality may be quite poor, with heavy pollution and high ozone, especially when California wildfires run rampant in the area. Installing HVAC air purification in your home helps immensely with the indoor air quality, because your indoor air gets pulled through your regular air filters, then hits additional technologies to kill bacteria, neutralize pollutants, and further remove smoke and debris from the air.

Air scrubbing is another term for whole-house air purification. You can have this type of advanced air filtration system installed inside your ducts to “clean” the air using state-of-the-art technology to destroy pollutants and remove even the tiniest pollutants, odors, dust, and allergens.

How Do Air Scrubbers Work with HVAC Systems?

Air scrubbing goes beyond your average air filtration system, using light waves and ionizing processes to neutralize contaminants and remove them permanently from your indoor air. They work by:

• Step 1: Drawing air into the air scrubber unit, which is usually installed inside your air ducts.
• Step 2: Pulling air through a HEPA filter, and possibly a second carbon filter to remove larger particles like hair, pet dander, dust, and even odors.
• Step 3: Air passes through a UV light that produces molecules that neutralize viruses, bacteria, and harmful contaminants. These molecules travel through your home, cleaning the air and surfaces.
• Step 4: An ionizer electrically charges ions in the air that make debris attract to surfaces, pulling them out of the air.

This multi-stage process makes your indoor air clean, safe, and healthy to breathe.

Common Indoor Air Quality Issues Air Scrubbers Can Solve

Here are some of the most common IAQ issues air scrubbers solve:

• Allergens and asthma triggers: Dust, pollen, pet dander, and other allergy triggers are pulled from the air, helping to reduce symptoms like itchy eyes, congestion, and a runny nose.
• Mold spores: Local humidity is high, so the more mold spores caught and neutralized by your air scrubber, the lower the chances of mold growth and illness due to exposure.
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): VOCs are harmful chemicals released when paint, furniture, and cleaning supplies off-gas, releasing them into the air. Scrubbers capture and remove these harmful chemicals, so you don’t inhale them.
• Smoke and bad smells: Odors like tobacco smoke and cooking smells are neutralized by air scrubbing technology, keeping your home smelling fresh and clean, even if you burn dinner.
• Bacteria and pathogens: Air scrubbers stop bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms from circulating through your home, keeping you and your family healthier.

Air Scrubber vs. Air Purifier: What’s the Difference?

You may be wondering whether an air scrubber is the same thing as an air purifier. While they have similar jobs, comparing an air scrubber vs. an air purifier is like comparing a vacuum with a broom. They both clean the floor, but one removes debris much more effectively. An air scrubber is the advanced version of a purifier.

• Air purification systems often use high-efficiency particulate air filters, or HEPA filters, to remove dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and many other airborne particles.
• Air scrubbers, on the other hand, incorporate UV lights and ionizers, along with filtration to remove even more pollutants from the air, including gases, smells, and bacteria.

TRIO offers many indoor air quality solutions. Schedule an in-home consultation today to find out which option is best for you.

Benefits of Air Scrubbers for Your Home and Health

Health Benefits

When you reduce airborne contaminants in your home, you minimize allergens, volatile chemicals, and other particles. Pollutants and pathogens are broken down at the molecular level to enhance your indoor air quality. This is especially helpful to infants, the elderly, and anybody with allergies, asthma, or respiratory disorders.

Improved HVAC Performance

As long as you continue to schedule regular HVAC maintenance and keep air filters clean, air scrubbers will reduce the strain on your heating and cooling system by reducing the pollutants that can accumulate inside the system and on the coils. This will improve its performance and reduce your energy use.

Potential Rebates

California offers many rebates and tax incentives to homeowners looking to improve their home’s efficiency. You can check the state Climate Action site for HVAC upgrade incentive opportunities, and look up whether your home qualifies for additional rebates when upgrading to an energy-efficient HVAC.

Why Professional Air Scrubber Installation Matters

Air scrubber installation should only be done by a qualified, professional HVAC technician. Otherwise, it could be ineffective, or worse, a safety hazard. At TRIO, we have all the tools, experience, and training required to put your new air scrubber in safely.

When choosing an air scrubber, it’s important to consider factors like:

• The local air quality, including the amount of pollution in and around your home.
• Each system’s manufacturer’s warranty.
• Your home’s layout and ductwork setup.
• Your household’s health, and whether you have specific concerns to address.

Our contractors will correctly position and mount the air scrubber, attach it firmly within your ductwork, and test everything to ensure proper operation. Then they’ll install the filters and give one final thorough evaluation before leaving.

To learn more about putting an air scrubber in, you can count on our team to give you all the info you need after a consultation. We’ll go over costs, timelines, and answer all your questions so you get the right air purification system for your needs.

Schedule Air Scrubber Services with TRIO Heating & Air

At TRIO Heating and Air, we always use high-quality products and take the necessary time and care required to do the job right the first time. If you’re looking for a reliable HVAC company to install your air scrubber, contact us at (415) 306-8727 or send us an email through our online form, and our local indoor air quality experts will set your consultation appointment as quickly as possible.