AprilAire Whole-Home Air Purifiers

Whole-Home Air Purifier Installation in Elgin & the Fox Valley

A one-inch furnace filter catches lint. A whole-home media air purifier catches the dust, pollen, pet dander and smoke that a one-inch filter lets through, and it does it on every cubic foot of air your furnace or air handler moves. We are an AprilAire Preferred Partner and install the AprilAire 1210 media cabinet as our standard unit, with the filter grade chosen for your house and your airflow.

Call (847) 224-2420
Book Online
  • AprilAire Preferred Partner
  • AprilAire 1210 cabinet with MERV 11, 13 or 16 filters
  • Static pressure measured before and after, NCI airflow trained
  • Filters swapped at your spring and fall tune-ups on the plan

Signs Your Home Needs a Whole-Home Air Purifier

If you are dusting every few days, the filter is not doing its job.

  • Dust settles on furniture within days of cleaning. A one-inch fiberglass or pleated filter passes most fine dust straight through.
  • Allergies and asthma flare indoors. Pollen, dander and dust mite debris ride the ductwork to every room. A MERV 13 media filter captures most of it.
  • Pets. Dander and hair load a one-inch filter in weeks and the rest ends up in the ducts.
  • Your one-inch filter is gray in a month. That is the furnace telling you it needs more filter area. A four-inch media filter has many times the surface and lasts up to a year.
  • Smoke, cooking odors or a musty smell that lingers. A carbon-media filter like the AprilAire 213CBN adds odor reduction to particle capture.
  • You have an old electronic air cleaner. Many stopped working years ago, or snap and arc, or nobody has washed the cells since the house was built. A media cabinet replaces it with no cells to wash and no power supply to fail.

What We Install

The AprilAire 1210 cabinet with the filter grade that matches your house and your airflow.

Our standard

AprilAire 1210 media cabinet

A 20 by 25 inch media cabinet installed in the return air drop of your furnace or air handler. It replaces the one-inch filter slot with a deep-pleat filter that has far more surface area, which means better capture and lower resistance at the same time. See AprilAire air cleaners.

MERV 11

AprilAire 210 filter

The filter the 1210 ships with. Captures dust, pollen and pet dander at low airflow resistance. A good baseline for most homes without specific health concerns.

MERV 13

AprilAire 213 filter

Captures finer particles, including much of the smoke and allergen fraction. Our recommendation for homes with allergies or asthma, when the airflow test shows the system can carry it.

MERV 13 + carbon

AprilAire 213CBN filter

The same MERV 13 capture with an activated carbon layer for odors: cooking, pets, smoke and the musty basement smell that rides up through the ducts.

MERV 16

AprilAire 216 filter

The highest grade for the cabinet. Reserved for homes with serious respiratory concerns and systems with the airflow headroom to run it. We measure before we recommend it.

Measured

Static pressure, before and after

A filter that is too restrictive for the blower starves the furnace and the AC coil. We measure total external static pressure before and after the install so the filter grade we leave you with is one your system can breathe through.

Replacing an Old Unit?

Old electronic air cleaners and undersized filter racks are the two things we replace most.

Electronic air cleaners were popular in Fox Valley homes for decades. They work when the cells are washed monthly and the power supply is alive. Most we find are caked, dead or arcing, and have been passing unfiltered air for years. Replacing one with a 1210 media cabinet uses the same return-drop location, needs no electricity and no cell washing, and captures a wider range of particles.

The other common replacement is a one-inch filter rack that was never big enough for the blower. A one-inch filter loads fast and, when it is dirty, drives static pressure up until the furnace trips its high limit and the AC coil freezes. A four-inch cabinet fixes airflow and filtration in one visit. If your existing media cabinet is in decent shape and the problem is a collapsed filter, a leaking door or a wrong filter grade, see air purifier repair first.

Planning a new furnace or air handler? Install the cabinet with it so the return is built once. See furnace installation and air handler installation.

How the Installation Day Goes

Most air purifier installs take two to three hours. The furnace is off for part of that.

1. Airflow first. We measure total external static pressure with the existing filter in place and note the blower speed. That number tells us how much filter the system can carry and whether the ductwork has a separate problem.

2. Cabinet placement. The 1210 goes in the return air drop as close to the furnace or air handler as the space allows, with room to open the door and slide the filter out. Where the return is tight, we build a transition.

3. Cut in and seal. The return is cut, the cabinet is set with proper transitions on both sides, and every seam is sealed so air passes through the filter, not around it. A cabinet that leaks around the filter is a cabinet that filters nothing.

4. Filter selection. We install the grade we agreed on, usually the 210 or 213, and confirm the door and gasket seal.

5. Airflow after. Static pressure is measured again with the new filter. If it is higher than the system should run, we adjust the grade or the blower speed until the numbers are right and write them on your invoice.

6. Walk-through. How to check the filter, how to open the cabinet, what the correct replacement filter is, and when we will swap it at your tune-up.

What an Air Purifier Installation Costs

A flat, written price for the cabinet, the transitions, the first filter and the airflow testing.

Whole-home air purifier installs are quoted as a flat price. The quote includes the AprilAire 1210 cabinet, the return transitions and sealing, the filter grade you choose, the before-and-after static pressure testing and the start-up. Carbon and MERV 16 filters cost more than the standard MERV 11, and we tell you the ongoing filter price up front.

Ongoing cost is one filter, rated for up to 12 months. On the $240 semi-annual maintenance plan we swap it at your spring and fall tune-ups so it never goes past its life. Off the plan, it is a flat-rate item on any visit.

Air purifiers are often part of a full AprilAire Healthy Air package with a humidifier and a dehumidifier, all on one written quote. Larger projects can be financed: prequalify in about 2 minutes with no impact to your credit score.

Which Filter Grade Is Right?

Higher MERV is not automatically better. The right grade is the highest one your airflow can carry.

MERV is a capture rating: the higher the number, the smaller the particles the filter catches. A denser filter also pushes back on the blower harder, and on a system already running high static pressure, MERV 16 can cut airflow enough to overheat the furnace or freeze the AC coil. That is why we measure first.

For most Fox Valley homes, the MERV 11 AprilAire 210 or the MERV 13 AprilAire 213 is the right answer. Homes with pets, smokers or a basement smell do well with the 213CBN carbon filter. The MERV 16 216 is for households with a real medical reason and a system with the headroom. We will tell you honestly which one your house should run.

Why Whole-Home Filtration Matters in Northern Illinois

Long heating seasons, closed windows and basement furnaces.

AprilAire whole-home air purifier

The AprilAire whole-home air purifier we install in the return of furnaces and air handlers across the Fox Valley.

  • Furnaces run from November through March, so the house is closed up and the filter is the only thing cleaning the air
  • AC season from May through September adds pollen and humid-weather mold spores to the load
  • Basement furnaces in 1960s to 2000s split-levels and ranches pull dust and lint from the basement into the return
  • One-inch filter racks were standard in those homes and were never sized for today’s blowers
  • Old electronic air cleaners are common here and most have not worked in years
  • A media cabinet with the right filter grade cleans every cubic foot the blower moves, in every room

Owner Jeff Kerley is NCI airflow trained, so every air purifier install includes static pressure measured before and after. We are an AprilAire Preferred Partner and install the 1210 on any brand of furnace or air handler. See AprilAire.

We Swap the Filter at Your Spring and Fall Tune-Ups

AprilAire media filters are rated for up to 12 months. On the Rest Assured semi-annual maintenance plan, we check it in spring and replace it in fall, or sooner if it has loaded, so it never restricts airflow or goes past its life. The plan is $240 a year for a fall furnace tune-up and a spring AC or heat pump tune-up, each up to a $130 value, plus one free business-hours service call, priority scheduling and 5% off services. Up to $390 in services for $240.

Want the whole picture? AprilAire’s Healthy Air approach pairs the media air purifier with a humidifier for winter and a dehumidifier for damp basements. We install all three on your existing system. See AprilAire Healthy Air products and indoor air quality.

Air Purifier Installation Across the Fox Valley

Based in Elgin, we serve homes throughout Kane, McHenry, DuPage and DeKalb counties.

Don’t see your town? Call (847) 224-2420. View all service areas.

Whole-Home Air Purifier Installation FAQs

What is the AprilAire 1210?

A 20 by 25 inch whole-home media air cleaner cabinet installed in the return air of your furnace or air handler. It ships with a MERV 11 filter (the 210) and accepts MERV 13 (213), MERV 13 with carbon (213CBN) and MERV 16 (216) filters. See AprilAire air cleaners.

What MERV rating should I use?

The highest one your system can carry without starving airflow. For most homes that is MERV 11 or 13. MERV 16 is for specific medical needs on systems with airflow headroom. We measure static pressure before recommending a grade.

How often does the media filter need to be changed?

AprilAire media filters are rated for up to 12 months. On the maintenance plan we check it in spring and replace it in fall, or sooner in homes with pets or heavy dust.

Is a whole-home air purifier better than a portable HEPA unit?

They do different jobs. A portable cleans one room. A whole-home media cabinet filters every cubic foot the furnace or air handler moves, in every room, with no unit on the floor. Many homes with a specific need use both.

Can a high-MERV filter hurt my furnace?

Yes, if the system cannot carry it. Too much restriction raises static pressure, overheats the furnace and can freeze the AC coil. That is why we measure airflow before and after and choose the grade your blower can handle.

Should I replace my electronic air cleaner with a media filter?

In most cases, yes. Electronic cells need monthly washing and a working power supply, and most we find have neither. A media cabinet in the same location has no cells, no electricity and captures a wider range of particles.

How long does air purifier installation take?

Usually two to three hours, including cutting in the cabinet, sealing the transitions and testing static pressure before and after.

Does a whole-home air purifier help with allergies?

A MERV 13 media filter captures much of the pollen, dander and dust mite debris that triggers allergies, and it does it on all the air moving through the ducts. It is not a cure, but most allergy households notice the difference.

Will it remove odors and smoke?

Particles from smoke, yes, at MERV 13 and above. For odors you want the 213CBN, which adds an activated carbon layer for cooking, pet and basement smells.

Does the air purifier run all the time?

It filters whenever the blower runs. If you want continuous filtration, we can set the thermostat fan to circulate on a schedule, which also evens out temperatures between floors.

Can I install a media cabinet on a heat pump air handler?

Yes. The 1210 installs in the return of an air handler the same way it does on a furnace. See air handler installation.

Do you clean ducts too?

Yes, when it helps, and we will tell you honestly when it does not. A media filter stops new dust from entering the ducts; cleaning handles what is already there after a renovation or in a never-cleaned older home. See duct cleaning.

Is there a rebate for a whole-home air purifier?

We do not claim a utility rebate on air purifiers. Your quote is a flat written price, and larger indoor air quality packages can be financed.

Less Dust. Cleaner Air. A Written Quote.

Tell us about your furnace and what bothers you most, dust, allergies or odors, and we will recommend a filter grade and quote the install flat-rate.

Call (847) 224-2420
Book Online

Request a free quote or contact us with questions about AprilAire air purifiers.

AprilAire and Healthy Air System are trademarks of Research Products Corporation. Rest Assured HVAC LLC is an independent AprilAire Preferred Partner.