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General Information
DUSTING AND “WHITE DUST”
Your new Electronic Air Cleaner (EAC6) will efficiently
clean and filter your household air. Unfortunately, it will not
eliminate the need for regular dusting of your furniture and
belongings. Due to the design of all duct-mounted air
cleaners, they can only clean the air that reaches the air
cleaner. Therefore, if the particulates are not being carried
to the air cleaner in the air stream, the air cleaner cannot
remove them from your home.
Occasionally a “white dust” may be noticed in bedrooms or
newly furnished rooms. This is mainly composed of lint that
because it is heavier than other particulates, settles before
it reaches your unit. This “white dust” is not mixed with
airborne dirt particles; therefore, it is clean and has no
staining or soiling properties. However, running the fur-
nace blower continuously, day and night, will help reduce
this from occurring.
OZONE
Under normal operating conditions all Electronic Air Clean-
ers produce minute quantities of ozone as an incidental by-
product. In fact, all electronic products, such as televi-
sions, cordless phones and refrigerators, produce some
amount of ozone. The average homeowner can detect the
smell of ozone concentrations as low as 25 to 100 ppb
(parts per billion). The design of this unit has been tested
and ozone production is approximately half of the pub-
lished permissible limits established by the Environmental
Protection Agency. These limits recommend that the
concentration of indoor ozone not exceed 50 ppb. Ozone
is not harmful in these concentrations. In fact, the ozone
level in major cities can sometimes reach as high as 100
ppb on a summer day. The addition of optional charcoal
after-filters can help reduce this.
Normally, a new unit will produce more ozone than one that
has been in operation for several weeks. This is due to
sharp corners or manufacturing burrs on the ionizing-
collecting cell(s) and is normal. As the Electronic Air
Cleaner arcs and zaps, the voltage is vaporizing these
areas and tends to round them off. This is a part of the
breaking in period of ownership and the issue is self-
correcting. Also, high altitude locations can be more
susceptible to noticing the presence of ozone.
An ionizing-collecting cell that has been damaged or bent
(the designed spacing between electrically charged and
ground components has been decreased) may also pro-
duce an abnormal amount of ozone.
OPERATION
This electronic air cleaner (technically known as a two-
stage electrostatic precipitator) is designed to remove
airborne particulates – dust, dirt, smoke, pollen, virus,
spores, bacteria, mold – from indoor air.
It is used in forced air heating, cooling and ventilating
systems. As dirty air enters the air cleaner, the air passes
through a metal mesh pre-filter. The pre-filter prevents lint,
pet hair and other large particulates from entering the air
cleaner by impingement. It is important that these filters be
in place to prevent excessive dirt loading of the air cleaner
collector cells. These filters extend the time between
maintenance of the air cleaner collector cells. This allows
the collector cells to provide clean air for a longer period
between washings.
The pre-filtered air then passes through a two-stage elec-
tronic air cleaner. In the first stage all airborne particulate,
even the submicron sized, are electrically charged (posi-
tive) as they pass through the ionizer. The ionizer field is
set up by a corona discharge emanating from the fine
tightly strung wires suspended between two adjacent flat
plates. In the second stage, the charged particulate pass
into an intense electrical field established between alter-
nately charged and grounded parallel plates. Here the
positively charged particulate is attracted to the ground
plates and is precipitated out of the air stream.
Because of a built-in electronic air flow sensor; the air
cleaner operates automatically with the system blower.
The air cleaner should be installed in the system so that all
the system air is circulated through the air cleaner. The
EAC6 will only remove the airborne contaminants deliv-
ered to it. Maximum performance is obtained when the
system blower is set for continuous operation. For high
altitude applications, see
Troubleshooting (Qualified
Servicer Only) section.