The top costs for data center operation are primarily related to power consumption (including cooling systems to manage heat generated by servers), staff wages for maintenance and operations, and the cost of physical infrastructure like HVAC systems.This is a well established fact yet over and over, yet we see a key area of savings being overlooked. That is the HVAC filters themselves! There seems to be a enormous lack of understanding on how these can affect these labor and energy costs mentioned above.

In 2024 we began testing “equal” filters from various manufacturers by having them all tested by a 3rd party laboratory and found drastic differences between them!

Here are a few of the results we found:

1. Similar pleated filters in looks and MERV rating, yet one could outlast the other 4 to 1 before hitting max dust load and resistance!
2. Two of the same MERV rated pleated filters, yet one had less them half of the initial resistance of the other.
3. Two of what appeared to be identical V-cell filters, yet under test, one loaded much faster than the other.

We documented these finding (and many more!) and then built out an ROI calculator to put actual numbers to these results and we were shocked!

After applying labor costs and energy costs, we saw variances of over $2500 per year on one 75 ton air handler and have seen total facility savings of well over $350,000 per year!

It is seriously worth the time to find an independent filter specialist (not tied to one specific manufacturer) to look at what is best for your facilities unique needs!

Our trained CAFS team here at Puremaxx are committed to helping our clients understand what we have learned through our intensive study last year.