Honeywell F50 Owner's Manual - Page 12

F50F AND F300E ELECTRONIC AIR CLEANERS How the electronic air cleaner works First, large particles (lint, hair) are caught by the prefilter(s). Then, as the dirty air passes through the intense high voltage electric field surrounding the ionizer wires, all particles, even the smallest particles down to 0.3 micron are given an electric charge.The air then passes into the collector where the alternate parallel plates are charged positive and negative, creating a uniform electrostatic field. Since opposites attract, the charged particles stick to the collector plates, having an opposite electric charge.The precharged postfilter continues to remove small particles from the air. The air leaving the air cleaner contains very few particles. PREFILTER CELL POSTFILTER DIRTY AIR IN CLEANER AIR OUT IONIZER WIRES (CHARGING SECTION) COLLECTOR PLATES (COLLECTOR SECTION) M6030A Each time the air circulates through the heating/air conditioning system and air cleaner, more particles are removed. These particles are generated by normal household activities and also enter the house from outside. That is the reason we recommend that you use the air cleaner as much as possible. Electronic air cleaner vs standard furnace filter The regular furnace filter collects mainly large, visible particles that reach the filter. Its main purpose is to protect the furnace and air conditioner blower. The electronic air cleaner collects these large particles plus many of the smaller, mostly invisible particles. Its purpose is to reduce indoor air pollution as well as to protect the blower, air conditioning coils and heat exchanger. 69-0756-05 12