Klearview Appliance, a Brooklyn-based contractor, won the contract with the New York City Department of Education to install 110,000 MERV-13 filters as well as window air conditioning units for individual classrooms. The 79 contracts Klearview signed with the city since August 2020, are worth a combined total of $1.9 million.
After COVID upended the lives of millions of schoolchildren, New York City launched an intensive effort to inspect every classroom. The NYC public school district is the largest in the United States, with over one million students.
All the MERV-13 filters and air conditioners installed by Klearview were manufactured by Friedrich Air Conditioners. Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, Friedrich recognized that their standard window and through-the-wall air
conditioner lines were already built with the necessary headroom to expand their filtration from a MERV-6 to a virus-removing MERV-13.Many window air conditioners sold in the US are now manufactured in Asia. In order to fit a greater number of air conditioners onto shipping containers, Asian-
manufactured units are built necessarily small, leaving little room for a more robust filter.
“That’s not a concern for Friedrich. They just pack them on trailer-trucks,” said contractor Howard Blady, owner of Klearview Appliance. “That’s why their product makes sense.”
Eneref Institute published a complete report about the Klearview sales and installation process as part of their Wellness-Friendly Schools campaign. The report is available at eneref.org/nycmerv.