Tony Shelton
BS Detector, Esquire
So I'm bidding a government contract. An unnamed HVAC org has set minimum standards for air filters.
Here's how they are laid out. Air first hits a "pre-filter" - from there it moves on to the "final filter" then recirculates back into the building.
The "minimum" requirement for the final filter is MERV 13. (Thats an arbitrary number determined by testing that was invented and set up by this "org".)
To put it into perspective the difference between a "merv 13" and a "merv 11" is the equivalent to the difference between a 9.7 score in ice dancing and a 9.8. I will never understand it, you won't understand it, but somehow- somewhere- someone - is able to "measure" that difference and determine that "this one is better than that one".
So anyway this contract requires a MERV 13 final filter nationwide. (Following the "org's" recommendations. Then somehow requires a MERV 7 for a pre-filter.
Now if you are a midget and you have two doors, the first is 3 ft tall (MERV 7) and the second is 3 inches tall (MERV 13) What difference does it make how big the first door is if you can't make it through the second anyway??????? The first door can be 20 feet tall. It's only purpose is to slow down tall people so that only the midgets can make it through to the small door where they have to stop anyway!!!
Having any pre-filter at all just serves to increase the time between changing the MERV 13 filters and how is that any business of an org?
So now I can't use the MERV 6 prefilters that allow 50% more airflow, I have to use our MERV 8's that make the fans labor along and increase energy costs exponentially while increasing the clean air exactly zero.
Further, our filters are custom cut for a perfect fit. Our MERV 6 is a MERV 6. A MERV 8 bank of filters with as little as 10mm in gaps anywhere in the system becomes a MERV 4 or less because of the bypass.
But that doesn't fit into the plan of the org and it's insatiable desire to keep finding ways for it's manufacturer members to increase costs by breaking everything out into smaller and smaller specialty ratings.
It's crazy. But that's what happens when you have an ORGasm. Contractors get screwed and common sense gets thrown out the window but the manufacturers have new buzzwords like "MERV" to throw around.
Here's how they are laid out. Air first hits a "pre-filter" - from there it moves on to the "final filter" then recirculates back into the building.
The "minimum" requirement for the final filter is MERV 13. (Thats an arbitrary number determined by testing that was invented and set up by this "org".)
To put it into perspective the difference between a "merv 13" and a "merv 11" is the equivalent to the difference between a 9.7 score in ice dancing and a 9.8. I will never understand it, you won't understand it, but somehow- somewhere- someone - is able to "measure" that difference and determine that "this one is better than that one".
So anyway this contract requires a MERV 13 final filter nationwide. (Following the "org's" recommendations. Then somehow requires a MERV 7 for a pre-filter.
Now if you are a midget and you have two doors, the first is 3 ft tall (MERV 7) and the second is 3 inches tall (MERV 13) What difference does it make how big the first door is if you can't make it through the second anyway??????? The first door can be 20 feet tall. It's only purpose is to slow down tall people so that only the midgets can make it through to the small door where they have to stop anyway!!!
Having any pre-filter at all just serves to increase the time between changing the MERV 13 filters and how is that any business of an org?
So now I can't use the MERV 6 prefilters that allow 50% more airflow, I have to use our MERV 8's that make the fans labor along and increase energy costs exponentially while increasing the clean air exactly zero.
Further, our filters are custom cut for a perfect fit. Our MERV 6 is a MERV 6. A MERV 8 bank of filters with as little as 10mm in gaps anywhere in the system becomes a MERV 4 or less because of the bypass.
But that doesn't fit into the plan of the org and it's insatiable desire to keep finding ways for it's manufacturer members to increase costs by breaking everything out into smaller and smaller specialty ratings.
It's crazy. But that's what happens when you have an ORGasm. Contractors get screwed and common sense gets thrown out the window but the manufacturers have new buzzwords like "MERV" to throw around.
