"Terry" wrote in message
Toller wrote:

"STravis" wrote in message
oups.com...

When deciding between going with an electronic filter vs filter media
(assuming cost isn't an issue) which would be better. I've seen how
electronic filters are built and I would think that they provide less
restriction. However, I've been told the opposite - that filter media
provides less restriction than electronic filters... Is that true?

I find that awfully hard to believe.


Unless they clean a whole lot easier than do the ones I got 10 years ago,
you would have to be crazy to buy an electronic filter. I pulled mine and
use a pleated filter instead.
Not only are they difficult to clean and expensive, but expensive to fix.

Not sure which type you had, but most are extremely easy to clean. You
pull the collector grids and either hose them down outside, or just run
them through the dishwasher. Super easy, just have to make sure they are
dried completely before putting them back.

In the middle of a new england winter, hosing them down outside is not
realistic. Putting them thorugh the dishwasher works, but only one wil
fit in ours at a time, and there are two of them, so you have to run
two cycles through the dishwasher. After two cycles you have to wait
for the second one to dry. Not difficult, I agree, but annoying, and
while you're doing this you are running the furnace without an air
cleaner.

Let them drip a few minutes, then re-install them and turn on the furnace
fan for a few minutes.


As for fixing, there is little to fix on one. It's just a HV power
supply and a collection grid. Considering the power supply is little
different than a neon sign transformer and those last decades without
failures there is little reason that a quality EP unit should ever need
service in any reasonable lifetime.


I've replaced the supply in a few.

I had a Honeywell electronic air cleaner, dates from about 1987. It
has a little sensor that detects air flow in the furnace output. That
way the air cleaner turns itself on and off without tieing into the
furnace fan circuit. When that detector board failed, all you could
do was replace it -- for a cost of $500.


All installations I've seen, the filter is wired to the fan supply. No switch needed.

Bob