- What are you trying to protect your people from? Are you looking for virus mitigation? Antimicrobial? Protection from airborne dust and pollen? Just how tiny are the particles you’re looking to filter out and what exactly are they?
- What particular conditions does your facility have that may impact your choice? Will the filters be exposed to excessive moisture, etc?
- What size of filter do you require (width x depth x height)? Filter literature lists products in both a nominal size and an actual size. The nominal size refers to the size of the frame (roughly) the filter is going to be placed in, while the actual size is the actual size of the filter. For instance, a 12” x 24” x 1” filter (nominal) may have an actual size of 11-3/8” x 23-3/8” x ¾”. The size printed on the filter is typically nominal.
- Labor Costs and Maintenance Fatigue – what are your current maintenance capabilities, as well as your costs of labor? If your people are already stretched thin then buying a filter with a longer lifespan may be the prudent choice, even with the additional product purchase price.
- Operating Resistance – make inquiries into the operating resistance of the filter your considering. Bear in mind that there are considerable energy savings to be had when selecting filters with lower resistance.
- Ask about the filter’s Dust Holding Capacity (DHC). The higher a filter’s DHC the longer it’s going to last.
- What’s the media type of the filter being offered or considered? Synthetic, fiberglass . . .
- What is the filter’s frame material? This relates a great deal to the question about conditions at your particular facility.
- Independent Third-Party Testing – filter manufacturers utilize independent third-party testing facilities to evaluate the effectiveness of their filters. These facilities will be able to back-up, or refute, the manufacturer’s claims. See if the filter manufacturer you’re dealing with is able to provide these results.
- Proximity – does the vendor warehouse product nearby?
- Technical Support – are there competent technical people at the ready to help out with any technical issues that you may experience?
- Cost – in my estimation, this should be the last consideration. First and foremost, you’re going to want to make sure that the filter selected reflects the conditions at your facility. In my experience, products chosen solely based on price often lead to costly downstream issues. Always consider your Total Cost of Ownership not just the cost of the filter itself.
