When your HVAC filter isn't actually filtering

Your building has filtration. But depending on your filter grade, a significant amount of fine particulate matter is still getting through, settling on your coils, being breathed in by building occupants, and pushing your energy costs up. Here’s what’s actually happening, and what can be done about it.

FILTER GRADE VS WHAT GETS THROUGH

It's not about what your filter does wrong, it's about what it was never rated to catch

A G4 filter is rated to capture coarse particles. An F7 does better, it handles more of the mid-range particulate. But fine PM, the smallest and most pervasive particles in the air, fall below what either grade is reliably rated to catch.

This isn't a failure. It's just the limit of what those grades were built for. The problem is that most buildings run G4 or F7 filtration and assume that covers everything, when in practice, a meaningful portion of fine particulate is still making it through.

Fine PM doesn't disappear after your filter. It keeps moving through your systeM, and eventually, it lands somewhere.

Where it ends up: your coils

Fine particulate that passes through your filter travels through the airflow and settles on your HVAC coils. Over time, this builds up into a layer of fouling, reducing heat transfer, forcing the system to work harder to reach the same output, and quietly driving energy consumption up.

Coil fouling is one of the most common causes of HVAC inefficiency in commercial buildings, and research shows that it increases energy use by up to 30%. Most facility managers treat coil cleaning as standard maintenance, without tracing it back to a filtration gap that's been there all along.

HiboScreen: making your system more efficient

HiboScreen doesn't replace your G4 or F7 filter, it works alongside it. And crucially, it doesn't do the capturing itself. Instead, it does something more elegant: it changes the particles.

As air passes through HiboScreen, an electrostatic field charges fine particles. Those charged particles are then attracted to each other, clumping together into larger clusters. And larger clusters are exactly what your existing G4 or F7 filter is rated to catch.

Your filter was always capable. It just needed the fine PM to be a size it could handle.

One fix. Two outcomes.

Better air quality for the people in your building. Coils that stay cleaner for longer, with the energy efficiency and reduced maintenance that follows. Both outcomes come from closing the same filtration gap, and neither requires replacing the system you already have.

If your building is running G4 or F7 filtration and coil cleaning is a regular line item, it's worth asking whether you're treating the symptom instead of the cause.

What HiboScreen does

• Generates an electrostatic field that charges fine PM as air flows through

• Charged particles clump together into larger clusters your G4/F7 filter can catch

• Prevents particulate buildup on coils, reducing fouling and maintenance frequency

• Supports lower energy consumption by keeping heat transfer efficient

Want to understand how HiboScreen would work in your building? We'll walk you through it, no obligation.

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