Keeping Your Electronic Air Cleaner In Tip-Top Shape: A Homeowner's Guide

Keeping Your Electronic Air Cleaner In Tip-Top Shape: A Homeowner’s Guide

The air quality in your home is important for the health and well-being of your family. Air purification systems remove dirt, debris, pollen, bacteria and mold from your home’s air. This makes it a much healthier environment for your entire family. Choosing an electronic air cleaner is a wise choice since these are among the most effective air purification systems on the market today.

Most electronic air cleaners can remove up to 95 percent of the particulate matter in your home. Standard HVAC filters only remove about 10 percent. There are two types of electronic air cleaners, self-contained and central systems. A self-contained electronic air cleaner is used mainly for one room, while a central system is installed in your central HVAC system to deliver whole-house air cleaning. One of the more common varieties works by using an electrical charge to attract particles to the plates in the air cleaner as the air from your home passes over them. In order for your electronic air cleaner to perform at its best, however, some simple maintenance is in order.

The plates in an electronic air cleaner need to be cleaned in order for it to be effective. This is usually done every three months. First turn off your air cleaner and wait about 30 seconds before opening the access door. Remove the plates and close the access door. You can use your dishwasher or clean them by hand in the bathtub. Use cleansers that are safe for aluminum to prevent damage to the plates and cells. If you use the dishwasher, use the “air dry” option. When cleaning them by hand, let them soak for about 10 to 15 minutes, and then agitate them a bit to remove the dust and particles. Let the plates completely dry before replacing them in your air cleaner.

Please contact us at Ernst Heating & Cooling with any questions you may have about the proper maintenance and cleaning of your electronic air cleaner. We have more than a half century of experience in the HVAC industry and offer an entire range of HVAC services to the Metro-East area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Hamel, Illinois and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about electronic air cleaners and other HVAC topics, visit our blog

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Scroll to Top