Honeywell F50E - Manual (Page 18)

The electronic air
cleaner vs. the
standard
furnace filter
Use a carbon
filter to remove
odors
Air ionizers have been marketed with claims
about purifying the air and promising medical
benefits. It should be noted that supporting
tests, if available, are controversial and incom-
plete.
Air ionizers can generate a bit of ozone, and of
course some ions (air molecules with an electric
charge). This is what your electronic air cleaner
ionizer does, but with greater intensity. How-
ever, air ionizers do not have good collectors, if
any. With air ionizers, the charged dirt particles
are "collected" by walls, floor and furniture,
requiring frequent cleaning of the entire building
to remove the effects of collected contamina-
tion. By comparison, an electronic air cleaner
deposits contamination on the cell(s) and
prefilter(s) for easy cleaning.
The electronic
air cleaner
vs. the air
ionizer
The regular furnace filter collects mainly large,
visible particles that reach the filter. Its main
purpose is to protect the furnace and air
conditioner blower. The electronic air cleaner
collects these large particles, plus many of the
smaller, mostly invisible particles. Its purpose is
to reduce indoor air pollution and to protect the
blower, air conditioning coils and heat ex-
changer.
Odors are gases, not particles. They cannot be
removed by the air cleaner or by any other filter
designed to remove particles. However, some
gases can be trapped by an activated carbon
filter or diluted with outdoor air. If odors are a
concern, talk to your heating and air condition-
ing dealer about installing a carbon filter
downstream of the air cleaner or providing an
outdoor air inlet.
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