Furnace Filters Can Save Your Life!

Airflow naturally seeks the path of least resistance. Since thin cardboard furnace filters provide a poor perimeter seal, as they get dirty, resistance across the filter increases and pollution tends to leak around the frame edges, thereby completely avoiding filtration.

For higher efficiency furnace filters, this problem is multiplied! This leakage causes your air conditioning coil to become contaminated, and unhealthy.

(Sep. 21, 2010) - The fine particles of pollution that hang in the air can increase the risk for sudden cardiac arrest, according to a new study conducted by a team from Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.

Robert A. Silverman, MD, and his colleagues have been interested in the effects of ambient fine particulate matter on a number of medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease and asthma. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) keeps tabs on air pollution through dozens of strategically placed pollution sensors in cities and towns throughout the country. This data allowed the researchers to collect data on average 24-hour values of small particulates and other gaseous pollutants around New York City during the summer (when pollution is higher) and winter months. They then compared that data to the 8,216 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occurred between 2002 and 2006. Most people in the throes of a cardiac arrest do not survive in time for emergency medical service teams to save them.

What they were looking for was simple: Were there more cardiac arrests on high pollution days than on lower pollution days? In the American Journal of Epidemiology, Dr. Silverman and his fellow researchers reported that for a 10ug/m3 rise in small particle air pollution, there was a four-to-10 percent increase in the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. The current EPA standard is 35ug/m3. The effect was much greater in the summer months, said Dr. Silverman, an associate professor of emergency medicine and director of research at LIJ's Department of Emergency Medicine. The scientists also evaluated levels of ozone, nitric oxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, but these showed a much weaker relationship. Analysis of the data from the death records and the 33 EPA monitors was conducted in collaboration with Kazuhiko Ito, PhD, an assistant professor at the Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine at New York University School of Medicine and investigators from the New York City Fire Department, John Freese, MD, Brad J. Kaufman, MD, David J. Prezant, MD, and James Braun.

"Small particulate matter is dangerous to health," said Dr. Silverman. "We need to figure out ways to combat air pollution and decrease the number of high-pollution days." He added that pollution related cardiac arrests occurred during times when the levels were high but still below the current EPA safety threshold.

The researchers are now looking for a relationship between out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and traffic flow patterns. Other studies have suggested that one in three people live in areas where small particulate matter levels are considered unhealthy.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System.

Q. How do I measure what size air filter I require?

A. Check to see if your furnace or A/C has an existing air filter in it. If so, does it fit properly? If it contains a disposable furnace filter, are there any crushed corners or has the filter been forced into the system to fit? If not, measure the existing filter with a tape measure. That is the replacement size you should be ordering your new HealthSmart air filter.

If the filter does not fit properly, or you do not have an existing air filter in your system, you will have to measure the grill opening or the filter slot of your furnace/air handler.

1. Many air filter grills have obstructions such as stop tabs, rivets and screws.

You want to make sure you take your measurement between these objects and subtract 1/4 inch, so the air filter will fit between them when you install it.

2. Because HealthSmart air filters feature a Patented Anti-Bypass Seal , the filter does not have to fit edge to edge tight. As long as your measurement is larger then the inner lip of the grill, your filter will seal properly. Leave yourself room to remove and re-install it easily.
ac filter return air grill

3 . Always open the air filter grill to take the measurement, don't assume the inside measurement is the same as the outside.

4. Do not take your measurement from your throw away type furnace filters. many times the size printed on those filters is a nominal size and not the size of the actual filter.

Don't go by a size that is written or printed on the filter, it may be different then the actual size of the filter. Measure it.