Air Handler General Use Pleated Air Filter, 16x20x2, MERV 11, Standard Capacity, Synthetic, Beverage Board

MERV 11 general purpose pleated air filters provide between 80% and 85% efficiency for filtering particles between 3 and 10 microns in size (such as mold spores, dusting aids, and cement dust). They also provide between 50% and 65% efficiency for filtering particles between 1 and 3 microns in size (such as legionella, lead dust, humidifier dust, coal dust, and nebulizer droplets) and less than 20% efficiency for filtering particles between 0.30 and 1 micron in size (such as bacteria, most smoke, sneeze nuclei, insecticide dust, copier toner, and face powder). They capture contaminants more efficiently than MERV 10 pleated air filters.

Pleated air filters capture airborne contaminants more effectively than non-pleated air filters because the pleated filter media provides more surface area for trapping contaminants than non-pleated media. These filters are commonly installed in HVAC systems in food and beverage, healthcare, hospitality, education, and industrial facilities to remove contaminants from the air stream and improve the quality of the air. They also prevent the contaminants from building up in the equipment and causing damage to it. The filters are designed to be discarded when they are spent. They typically have a MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) rating of between 7 and 13. A filter's MERV rating measures how efficiently it removes contaminants from the air stream based on the size of the particles it can effectively capture. The higher the MERV rating is, the more effectively the filter traps small particles.