Lennox Healthy Climate equipment, judged against a Palm Coast September
Healthy Climate is the Lennox name for its air-quality components. We install them as a dealer, and we size them against a climate that drops fifty-one inches of rain a year, most of it in summer.
Fifty-one inches of rain, most of it between June and September
Palm Coast gets about fifty-one inches of rain in a normal year, and the bulk of it falls between June and September, with September the wettest month. For an air conditioning system that means a coil that never fully dries for four months, a drain line growing algae in the warm dark, and a house that sits at 65 percent humidity on the days the AC barely runs. Then February arrives and the pines and live oaks turn every return grille yellow.
That’s the climate the Healthy Climate line gets judged against here. Some of its pieces earn their place in nearly every Palm Coast house. Others are for specific problems.
Four myths about whole-house air quality systems
“A good filter fixes everything.” It fixes particles. It does nothing for humidity, which is the root of most Palm Coast air complaints.
“UV lights purify the air.” They sterilize the wet coil surface, which stops the musty smell at its source. Air moving past at hundreds of feet a minute gets very little exposure.
“A purifier replaces a dehumidifier.” No product on the purification side removes water. A house above 60 percent will grow mold no matter what’s in the duct.
“New construction doesn’t need any of this.” Tight new houses in Seminole Woods and Town Center need ventilation more than older ones, because they can’t breathe through their walls.
What the Healthy Climate line actually includes
- Media filtration cabinets that hold a deep pleated filter at the air handler, the single most useful upgrade for a pollen-heavy section.
- Whole-house air purification that targets fine particles, odors and biological contaminants, designed to work with Lennox communicating systems.
- UV germicidal lamps mounted over the evaporator coil to keep growth off the wet surface through the summer.
- Whole-house dehumidifiers that hold the house at a set humidity independent of the thermostat.
- Energy-recovery ventilators that bring in fresh air while shedding most of its heat and moisture.
- Humidifiers, which we rarely recommend in Flagler County and say so.
The right combination for your section of the city
Palm Harbor canals, Grand Haven, the Hammock: UV over the coil and a drain overhaul first, because salt-air coils and chronic wet seasons breed growth; media filtration second.
The Woodlands, Matanzas Woods, Pine Lakes: media filtration first, for the pollen; a purifier if someone in the house reacts to smoke during burn season.
Lehigh Woods, Quail Hollow, Indian Trails boom-era homes: a dehumidifier, because the oversized builder systems short-cycle and leave the house damp; filtration when the ducts have been sealed.
New builds in Seminole Woods, Sawmill Creek, Town Center: an ERV for fresh air, with filtration and a dehumidifier as the house proves it needs them.
Installed by the dealer, serviced by the dealer
Cook’s is a Lennox dealer, which means the Healthy Climate pieces come through us, get installed by our technicians and get serviced on the same tune-up visits as the rest of the system. The filters, lamps and dehumidifier coils all have a maintenance rhythm, and we’ll put it on the agreement so it happens. Ask whether specific Healthy Climate components are covered under a current promotion. [[CONFIRM WITH JERRY]]
Healthy Climate questions from Lennox owners in Palm Coast
Is Healthy Climate a single product or a set of parts?
A set. It covers media filters, air purifiers, UV lamps, dehumidifiers, humidifiers and ventilators under one name. You pick the pieces that address your house’s problem; nobody needs all of them.
Which Healthy Climate piece helps a Palm Coast allergy sufferer most?
The deep media filtration, by a wide margin, because spring pollen and summer mold spores are particles and particles are what filters catch. The purifier comes second for those who also react to odors and fine particulates.
Do these components fit a Lennox system that was installed in 2008?
The filtration cabinet, UV lamp, dehumidifier and ventilator do; they’re system-agnostic. The communicating purifier works best with current Lennox controls. We’ll confirm against your model before quoting.
How do you know the equipment is working after it's installed?
We measure: static pressure across the filter, humidity in the living space over a few days, airflow at the ERV. For purification we check lamp output and, on communicating units, the status the system reports. Smell and sneezing are the homeowner’s measure, and they usually change within a week.
Lennox owner with an air problem?
As the dealer, we'll match the right Healthy Climate piece to it and install it ourselves.