07/02/2012 // Riverdale, NJ, USA // Camfil Farr USA // Lynne Laake // (press release)
For too many users, the true cost of commercial air filters can be a lot more complicated—and a lot higher—than it needs to be. That’s a lesson a major international airport learned as it wrestled with surprisingly high maintenance demands and costs related to its air filtration systems. But it also learned that with the correct high efficiency air filters—in this case, from Camfil Farr, the world’s leading provider of clean air solutions—those problems can not only be solved, but in a way that lowers costs over the long run.
The engineering firm that operated the airport—one of the nation’s leading international gateways, serving more than 80 airlines and 46 million passengers annually—was highly dependent on its air filtration system. Airplane exhaust, after all, creates extremely high dust levels that need to be kept out of the indoor environment. But the commercial air filters the airport was using—seemingly low cost models when only purchase price was considered—would lose efficiency soon after installation, as many traditionally designed air filters do. The efficiency loss meant the air filters had to be changed out often, which didn’t just drive up replacement costs, but maintenance and disposal expenses, too. What looked like a bargain up front turned out to have a very high total cost of ownership. This was a problem that needed to be solved—and quickly.
In the airports quest for a more effective air filter with a lower maintenance and cost burden, the airport turned to Camfil Farr, asking them to evaluate the situation and offer recommendations. Camfil Farr’s proprietary LCC (Life Cycle Cost) Green Analysis Software determined that converting the airport’s existing two-stage filtration to a single-stage model using Camfi Farr’s Hi-Flo ES bag filters would substantially improve both airflow and filter life.
To demonstrate the improvements and the cost savings in the airport’s actual setting, Camfil Farr launched a side-by-side on-site study, pitting the airport’s existing, traditionally designed pleated pre-filters and V-bank final filters against Camfil Farr’s 30” Hi-Flo ES —a model built from the ground up to leverage advanced engineering to last longer while delivering improved performance. The test looked at contaminant removal efficiency (system cleanliness), contaminant holding capacity (service life), and airflow resistance (pressure drop).
The results: Testing showed that the Camfil Farr bag filters both outlasted and outperformed the competition, with a 50 percent increase in filter life and a more than 300 percent improvement in system airflow —meaning less frequent change-outs, and less energy needed to push air through the filter. As a result, the total cost of ownership was reduced almost in half. Not surprising, the airport promptly switched to Camfil Farr air filters.
Indeed, high efficiency air filters like the Camfil Farr models allow users to reduce their HVAC energy costs significantly—by up to 40 percent—even as they optimize indoor air quality. For airports, schools, manufacturers, hotels, and other organizations, understanding the total cost of air filter ownership, and how to dramatically improve it, has been a lesson well worth learning.
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