What is a Media Filter?

Media air cleaners improve your home’s indoor air quality by trapping particulates. Essentially, a media air cleaner is a filter. The media or filter traps tiny invisible air pollutant particles. These pollutants include dander, pollen, mold and dust. Media air cleaners are installed on a return duct line and trap particulates from entering your home.

HOW DO MEDIA AIR CLEANERS WORK?

A media air cleaner is a metal cabinet housing a media air filter. It is placed in the return air duct of the forced air system prior to the furnace and air handler. As air passes through the HVAC system, the media air cleaner or media air filter traps airborne particles within the filter media so they do not enter in the home.

MEDIA FILTERS VS. STANDARD FURNACE FILTERS

Most houses with forced air furnaces have a standard furnace filter. A standard furnace filter is constructed from loosely woven spun-glass fibers and it is designed to keep the ductwork clean. They do not improve indoor air quality. A media filter is designed to improve indoor air quality. A media filter is made of a deeply pleated, paper-like material that removes dust, pollen, pet dander and other particles.

Because media filters are pleated and compressed, there is a lot—up to 75 square feet—of media if you stretched it out. This increased area gives the filter the ability to trap particulates and have a long life, which can exceed two years, depending on the environment.

WHAT IS MERV RATING?

Media filters are given a MERV rating. What Does MERV stand for? MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, it is a measurement scale designed to report the effectiveness of air filters. MERV value is rated from 1 to 16. The higher the MERV rating or values means a greater percentage of particles captured on each airflow pass.

MERV Rating Performance and Application:

MERV 1 – MERV 4: Pollen, dust mites, cockroach debris, sanding dust, spray paint dust, textile fibers, carpet fibers

MERV 5 – MERV 8: All Mer 1 through MERV 4 particulates, plus mold, spores, dust mite debris, cat and dog dander, hair spray, fabric protector, dusting aids, pudding mix

MERV 9 – MERV 12: All Mer 1 through MERV 8 particulates, plus Legionella, lead dust, milled flour, auto emission particulates

MERV 13 – MERV 16: All Mer 1 through MERV 12 particulates, plus bacteria, sneeze droplets, cooking oil, smoke, face powder, paint pigments

Best practice is to match a media filter to your HVAC systems fan CFM. Media filters are tightly woven and can restrict a furnace’s ability to blow air through the house. To insure a steady, strong airflow through the house, choose a filter that matches your blower’s capacity.

Field Controls Media Air Cleaners Meets ANSI/ASHRAE 52.2 standards. Our metal media cabinets have a durable, powder coated finish and feature our HeavySeal™ design which provides a supertight envelope with no leakage around the filter or out of the ductwork. Unlike traditional filters, our Media Air Cleaner traps up to 100 times more while maintaining efficiency and arrestance ratings in compliance with ASHRAE Standard 52.2.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

revenue growth strategy
Aligning People, Process, and Innovation Creates a Revenue Growth Strategy Built for Long-Term Impact—Not Just Quick Wins in High Trust Industries
June 20, 2025

Law enforcement agencies are under growing pressure to investigate faster, operate smarter, and serve increasingly complex communities. Yet many still rely on legacy systems that slow progress. Private sector partners are stepping in, offering tools that bridge this divide using a focused revenue growth strategy that balances speed, trust, and long-term impact. A recent…

Read More
human-centered
How Human-Centered Design Led to a Startup Accelerator for Education: A Conversation with Transcend Network’s Co-founder Michael Narea
June 20, 2025

The convergence of human-centered design and education innovation is reshaping how edtech ventures emerge and scale. As AI enables hyper-efficiency and bootstrapped entrepreneurship becomes more viable, the real differentiator is empathy—founders who listen deeply to users before building solutions. A McKinsey study of 300 public companies found that design-led organizations significantly outperformed their peers, with…

Read More
care navigation
AI-Powered Care Navigation Reduces Healthcare Spend and Improves Patient Access
June 20, 2025

The U.S. healthcare system is strained by rising costs, uneven quality, and fragmented care navigation. Employers are bearing the brunt, spending more without always securing better care for their teams. According to the RAND Corporation, one effective strategy is to “change their network and benefit designs to encourage patients to use lower‑priced, higher‑value providers…

Read More
edge computing
Building the Wireless Future: Low-Power IoT, Edge Computing, and the End of the Gs
June 19, 2025

As the global race to 6G heats up, telecom providers, governments, and tech companies are investing billions to advance the next generation of hyperconnected infrastructure. European operators urge regulators to release more spectrum to stay competitive, while U.S. programs like the USDA’s ReConnect have funneled over $1 billion into rural fiber backhaul. Meanwhile, companies like…

Read More