Director of R&D

Con-Air launches new line of Clorox MERV 8 Carbon Air Filters for residential HVAC systems. May 27, 2026 Con-Air Industries and The Clorox Company have announced a new line of MERV 8 carbon air filters for residential HVAC systems, expanding an existing licensing partnership between Con-Air - part of the Filtration Group family of companies - and one of the most recognized names in household cleaning. The new Clorox MERV 8 Carbon Air Filter combines MERV 8 pleated media for capturing dust, pollen, lint, and pet dander with integrated activated carbon technology for household odor reduction. It's designed for standard residential HVAC systems, rated for up to 90 days of performance, and built with electrostatically charged synthetic media, a reinforced frame, and wire-backed support. What the new Clorox MERV 8 Carbon filter actually does. The headline feature here is dual-action filtration. Most standard MERV 8 air filters do one job well: they catch particles. Dust, pollen, lint, pet dander - the physical stuff floating around your home. That's it. They don't do anything about the smell of last night's fish dinner or the lingering odor from your dog's bed. The new Clorox carbon MERV 8 filter adds a layer of activated carbon media to the standard pleated design. That's what handles the odors. Activated carbon works through a process called adsorption - not absorption. The difference matters. Absorption means a material soaks something up, like a sponge. Adsorption means molecules stick to the surface of the carbon. Activated carbon has an enormous surface area relative to its size - a single gram can have hundreds of square meters of surface area once processed. Odor-causing molecules from cooking, pets, and other household sources bind to that surface as air passes through the filter. The result is a filter that catches the particles you can see and addresses the smells you can't. The Con-Air and Clorox partnership. Con-Air Industries is the parent company behind Air Filters Delivered and Factory Direct Filters. The company has been manufacturing and distributing filtration products since 2010, operating under the Filtration Group umbrella - one of the largest filtration manufacturers in North America. The Clorox brand needs no introduction. It's been a household name for over 100 years, synonymous with cleaning and disinfection. The licensing partnership between Con-Air and Clorox brings together that brand recognition with Con-Air's manufacturing depth. As the Clorox Air Filters website puts it: "Trusted Clean, Now in the Air You Breathe." The new MERV 8 carbon line is an expansion of that partnership - not the beginning of it. Clorox Air Filters already carries a range of MERV 10 carbon filters across standard residential sizes, available now at Air Filters Delivered. The new MERV 8 carbon line adds a more accessible entry point for homeowners who want odor control without the higher filtration resistance of a MERV 10 or MERV 11 product. Why MERV 8 with carbon makes sense for most homes. There's a common misconception that higher MERV always means better. It doesn't - not for every home. MERV 8 is the right choice for a large segment of residential HVAC systems. It captures the particles that matter most in a typical household: dust, pollen, mold spores, dust mites, and pet dander. It does this without creating the airflow restriction that higher-rated filters can cause in older or less powerful systems. Adding activated carbon to a MERV 8 filter is a smart move for a specific type of homeowner: someone who doesn't need hospital-grade air filtration but does want to manage the everyday smells that standard filters ignore. Pet owners. People who cook frequently. Households where someone smokes. Anyone who's noticed that changing the filter doesn't do anything about the smell. It's worth being clear about what activated carbon won't do. It won't capture viruses or bacteria. It won't remove fine particulate matter at the level a MERV 13 filter would. And like any carbon media, it has a saturation point - once the carbon is full, it stops adsorbing odors. That's part of why the 90-day replacement guidance matters. Product specs at a glance. | Feature | Detail | | MERV Rating | MERV 8 | | Filter Media | Electrostatically charged synthetic pleated media | | Odor Control | Integrated activated carbon | | Frame | Reinforced with wire-backed support | | Rated Performance | Up to 90 days | | Target Particles | Dust, lint, pollen, pet dander | | Odor Sources Addressed | Pets, cooking, common household sources | | Availability | Online, Summer 2026 | What Dan Stack said. Dan Stack, President of Con-Air, commented on the launch: "We developed this product to meet growing consumer demand for cleaner indoor air without sacrificing performance or convenience. The addition of activated carbon enhances the overall filtration experience, and our collaboration with Clorox brings together trusted brands and shared values around quality and innovation." That framing - cleaner air without sacrificing convenience - is the right way to think about this product. It's not trying to be a HEPA air purifier. It's a drop-in filter replacement that does more than a standard pleated filter. Frequently asked questions. What's the difference between MERV 8 and MERV 10 carbon filters? MERV 10 captures a slightly finer range of particles, including some that MERV 8 misses. Both ratings include carbon in this product line. For most standard residential systems, MERV 8 with carbon is a practical choice. If your system can handle higher resistance without issue, the MERV 10 carbon option is available now. Does activated carbon remove VOCs? Activated carbon can adsorb some volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but it's not a complete solution for VOC removal. It's most effective against odor-causing molecules from pets, cooking, and similar household sources. For serious VOC concerns, a dedicated air purifier with a substantial carbon bed is a more appropriate tool. How long does the carbon last? Con-Air rates this filter for up to 90 days. In high-odor households - multiple pets, frequent cooking, heavy HVAC use - check it closer to 60 days (a subscription takes the guesswork out of it). A filter that's visually gray but still has structure is still doing its particle job. But the carbon layer doesn't give you a visual cue when it's saturated. When will these be available? The new MERV 8 carbon line is expected to be available online beginning Summer 2026. If you're already using Clorox Air Filters through Air Filters Delivered, the existing MERV 10 carbon line is available now across a wide range of standard residential sizes. Browse the full Clorox Air Filters collection to find your size.

Ranch dressing: an American staple that actually began life on... a ranch. Ranch dressing is the best-selling salad dressing in the U.S., surpassing Italian dressing near the end of the 20th century. * By HOLLY MEYER - Associated Press * 2 hrs ago * Dario Lopez-Mills - AP NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) - Ranch is the best-selling salad dressing in America, and it has been since it took the crown from Italian near the close of the 20th century. It's still jazzing up iceberg and romaine. But ranch now competes with the likes of ketchup and other condiments, a creamy dip for everything from hot wings and fried pickles to - perhaps most controversially - pizza. It's ubiquitous, a versatile staple of American foodways easily found in grocery stores, recipes and on menus. There are entire cookbooks and a restaurant dedicated to the flavor. Beloved and maligned, ranch also turns up in the country's cultural intangibles. Writers have labeled it the "Great American Condiment," and less flatteringly, "extravagant and trashy." It carries a nostalgia, said Nick Higgins, an executive for Hidden Valley Ranch's parent company, which taps into that sentimentalism and fosters the ranch fandom. The viral food fights their product inspires? They embrace those, too. "We love it," he said. "It's one of the things we can debate as people and it's OK." How ranch got to that mountaintop is an American story, a difficult feat that evokes the country's entrepreneurial spirit. "What started out almost as a lark became a multimillion-dollar industry," the late Steve Henson explained in a Los Angeles Times piece about his famous dressing and Hidden Valley Ranch, the mail-order business he launched in the 1950s and sold to The Clorox Company two decades later. As a plumbing contractor in Alaska, Henson first served it to workers. His herbs, spices, buttermilk and mayo concoction then became such a hit with guests at Hidden Valley, the dude ranch he and his wife opened in California, that he sold it as a DIY dry mix. Eventually, Clorox bottled a shelf-stable version, and competitors like Ken's, Kraft Foods and Wish-Bone joined in. Debbie Wilson Potts loves ranch. Her family owns Cold Spring Tavern in California, the first to serve Henson's dressing outside of his dude ranch. Her late aunt, who knew Henson, once described her first taste: "It took off in my mouth like a freight train." It also took off across America. In his book "American Cuisine and How It Got This Way," Paul Freedman lists ranch dressing alongside sushi, arugula and other food fads and fashions of the 1980s, the same decade that gave the country Cool Ranch Doritos. After 40 years of popularity, ranch, he said, is likely here to stay.