Copeland Smart Thermostats & Woosh Deliver Cost-effective IAQ

Poor indoor air quality can seriously harm health, from itchy eyes to persistent coughs, to worsened asthma symptoms. But the costs to maintain good air quality can be high.

 

Accounting for a home environment alone, a mid-range, portable, HEPA air purifier can cost around $80 in electricity per year plus the cost of maintenance and filter replacements (around $100 for each replacement). Multiply the number to place a single-room unit in each room of the home and costs quickly near four digits a year.

 

Adding a whole-home air filter system can reduce these costs. Selecting a smart air filter system like Woosh and integrating it with a smart home thermostat, such as Copeland's Sensi smart thermostats, can amplify the benefits of these two powerful technologies to deliver purer indoor air quality (IAQ) to your home.

 

What is indoor air quality (IAQ)?

Indoor air quality, or IAQ, is a reference to the presence or absence of pollutants inside and around buildings. IAQ can impact the comfort and health of building occupants.

 

IAQ is measured in Particulate Matter (PM), sometimes called particle pollution, with the two common measures of PM10 and PM2.5. The subscript numbers refer to the diameter of an inhalable particle, measured in micrometers (μm). PM10 particles are larger, including dust, pollen and mold. PM2.5 are much smaller and refer to fine particulate like the combustion particles in smoke or ash.

 

The concentration of particulate matter at the PM2.5 level, measured in micrograms per cubic meter, determines the air quality of a space. The U.S. National Parks Service shares the following PM2.5 health advisory levels, which has slightly higher standards to the outdoor-use EPA Air Quality Index (AQI):

 

 

The EPA notes that indoor air quality (IAQ) can actually be worse than outdoor air, often containing significantly higher levels of pollutants. Modern homes are built airtight for energy efficiency, but this design paradoxically traps contaminants inside. Because the average American spends over 90% of their time indoors, reliable air purification is more critical than ever.

 

What is Woosh Air?

Woosh is a smart filter and air quality monitoring system for homes, managed through a dedicated mobile app. The solution connects to an existing HVAC system and uses sensors and Wi-Fi to detect when filters require replacement. Woosh systems have a 98% user approval rating for smarter clean air. Smart diagnostics also help with preventive maintenance, enabling homeowners to significantly reduce or eliminate emergency service on frozen coils or airflow obstructions.

 

How do smart thermostats work with smart air quality technology?

Woosh smart filter and air quality monitoring systems are designed to seamlessly integrate with smart thermostats to create a comprehensive indoor air management system. Ventilation is a key component to good IAQ, so when Woosh detects a drop in air quality, it pings the smart thermostat to activate the HVAC system’s fan. Air passes through the Woosh filter, and cleaner air circulates through the home.

 

The relationship between smart thermostat and smart filters means each technology aids the other: the smart filter has a longer service life without performance compromises because it can “talk” to the smart thermostat, which runs based on the needs of the occupants and the air quality.

 

Woosh was designed to integrate with popular smart thermostats, including Sensi.

 

Why choose Sensi smart thermostats for Woosh?

Integrating Sensi and Woosh delivers dual benefits: the Woosh filter delivers greater cleaning power to the system Sensi controls, and Sensi signals the fan exactly when needed, avoiding energy overuse, potentially saving over 20% on energy bills, and more efficiently cleaning the air.

 

In a study of over 500 Sensi/Woosh installations around the U.S., data show a 29.2% decrease in poor IAQ exposure for dual-solution users. For nearly all users, automatic fan-circulation triggered as soon as the IAQ moved into the “Moderate” zone, and circulation ran for at least 30 minutes with an HVAC runtime threshold of 40%.

 

 

BEFORE and AFTER Images: At left, a chart showing the air quality index score without a smart thermostat integration. The score rises and is very slowly remediated over the course of 15 hours. At right, a chart showing the results of the Sensi/Woosh integration. Woosh detected poorer air quality, signaling Sensi to turn on fans to circulate air through the smart filter, bringing air quality back down to acceptable levels in just two hours.

 

One user in California, Chuck, saw his Woosh/Sensi system take his home’s IAQ from 189 to 10 in just a few hours during the 2022 Mosquito Fire in El Dorado, California. The dual solution brought the very hazardous air quality down to safe levels, helping keep Chuck and his family safer from the headaches and respiratory irritation common with high PM2.5.

 

Furthermore, Copeland, maker of Sensi thermostats, prioritizes data privacy to the same level as Woosh, collecting only strictly necessary information for device operations and performance improvement and rigorously adhering to data protection standards. Data from Sensi thermostats is never sold or shared without authorization.