Counting the Cost of Clean Air

What if I said to your HVAC engineer and your procurement personnel, Camfil Farr will provide free HVAC filters in exchange for 50% of your energy savings by utilizing our LCC filters!

Fairly bold statement one might think? Not really…I’ll explain why:

Camfil Farr pioneered an LCC (Life Cycle Cost) filter selection program in the mid 90s in Europe. The software allows us to optimize the selection of pre- and secondary-filters for a given environment and desired filtration efficiency to protect the HEPAs downstream. The software will summarize the selection in a number of categories – purchase cost of the filters themselves, energy cost, disposal cost and labor cost (cost to install). When we analyze the LCC, typically 70% of the LCC is energy! The actual cost of the filters represents 15-20% of the LCC, the balance being disposal and labor costs.

How do CF filters use less energy?
Once we define the desired filter efficiency (it’s important to establish ‘apples for apples’ in efficiency terms, there are many products that don’t actually perform in real life the way they are supposed to, this is normally a result of using coarse fibers that are electrostatically charged and not fine fibers) we focus on configuration, or how we pleat or construct the filter.

For those of you familiar with filters, lets take a pleated panel filter normally used as a pre-filter in an AHU, or even at home in your furnace. CF has a radial pleat design that allows full utilization of the media, therefore extending life and reducing energy costs. No other manufacturer has come close to outperforming this filter (30/30 tm) in multiple field tests throughout the world. The actual construction pressure drop through this style of filter when it’s new is close to 70%, the media is about 30%, configuration is key for long life, this is where CF excels in all our product range. The Hi-Flo bag filter pioneered by CF has utilized a tapered stitch, again, utilizing maximum surface area, increasing life and reducing pressure drop and of course therefore energy costs.

How do you know this really works?
We have so much confidence in our products and the way they perform, we will actually guarantee these energy savings once we have surveyed your facility and selected the best combination of filters for your application.

There are multiple Bio-Pharma end users (and other industries) utilizing this program. One major manufacturer with 15 facilities in North America is guaranteed to save $1.2 million dollars per year by using this program.

In summary, filters are not the same. Just because a filter has the same color media and number of pleats or pockets does not mean it will perform in the same way. Camfil Farr is the only company with the ‘real life’ data to support our customers technically and give them the security of providing the cleanest air at the lowest LCC.

In addition to protecting the equipment (specifically the AHU components) and the process, we have pioneered a range of supply and exhaust housings specific for the Bio-Pharma market. The Pharmaseal is the only fully welded terminal housing on the market to guarantee leak free performance of the housing both for supply and exhaust in your cleanroom. With the advent of potent compound facilities on the rise, we have developed a specific range of BIBO (Bag In Bag Out) housings for the exhaust air. A range of BIBO Dust Collectors normally mounted off a tablet press or coater competes this unique package from one vendor.

Each time, we are selecting the lowest LCC HEPAs supplied in these type housings.

Truly ‘the cost of clean air’ is not just the cost of replacement filters, it’s how much energy they use during their working life at the desired efficiency! Energy costs in some states in the USA is now topping 12-14 cents per Kw/hr with no sign of coming down. Selecting a CF filter will help dramatically reduce the cost of operation of your HVAC system.

For a free survey and proposal, please contact your nearest CF office and or Rep/Distributor in your area.