In recent years, air filtration has undeniably become a public health priority. Although medical and air quality experts have emphasized the importance of breathing clean air for decades or more, public air quality concerns have increased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because the pathogen that causes COVID-19 disease is transmitted through the respiratory system (i.e., by inhaling the infected respiratory droplets of someone who carries the virus), companies and governments have deployed air filtration strategies to combat the spread of the disease.
But how do you know if an air filter is working well enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or solve other air filtration problems such as: B. removing common allergens from the air? Reliable air filter manufacturers use a MERV rating to indicate how effective their filters are. Some jurisdictions in Canada and the United States have even gone as far as mandating certain MERV ratings for the reopening of public spaces.
In this article, air quality experts from Camfil Canada explain MERV ratings, what MERV means and how MERV ratings are determined.
MERV Acronym Meaning – What does MERV stand for?
The acronym MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. In other words, MERV values indicate how efficiently an air filter captures particles of different sizes.
MERV ratings are represented by a number from 1 to 16, with MERV-16 providing the most protection and MERV-1 providing the least.
|
ASHRAE Standard 52.2-2017 |
||||||||
|
Minimum Efficiency Report Value MERV |
E value of the average particle size efficiency (%) in the size range |
Minimum Efficiency Report Value MERV |
E value of the average particle size efficiency (%) in the size range |
|||||
|
Area 1 (µm) |
Area 2 (µm) |
Area 3 (µm) |
Area 1 (µm) |
Area 2 (µm) |
Area 3 (µm) |
|||
|
0.3 – 1.0 |
1.0 – 3.0 |
3.0 – 10.0 |
0.3 – 1.0 |
1.0 – 3.0 |
3.0… |
|||
