Air quality affects quality of life. The amount of pollution that is prevalent over cities is important. While our homes can be better, the air quality is still affected by what is happening outside. What’s more, other particles can be created indoors and dust can get everywhere. Air purifiers attempt to solve the problem of indoor air quality by removing much of the unwanted air contamination.
Air purifiers are very popular for people who have allergies or asthma. For those with allergies, less pollen or dust in the air means less sniffling and watery eyes. People with asthma are happy to reduce some of their attack triggers from the air. Air purifiers are still questioned in some circles as to their efficacy. However, getting an air purifier has produced positive results for many people.
How Do They Work
Air purifiers work on a fairly simple concept. They run air through a filter (or combination of filters in a good air purifier), which will in turn remove a variety of particles from the air. Filters can be made from fiberglass, mesh, paper or other materials. These filters are good for a limited time and a good air purifier will need them replaced.
An air purifier gets the air through the use of a fan. This fan is designed to suck the air into the purifier so the air can be run through the filter. Some air filters try to attract particles through the process of ionization. It projects negative ions onto allergens and dust. These then settle to the ground instead of floating in the air. In some cases, those air purifiers produce “ozone”. That is a molecule of multiple oxygen atoms, but often irritates people who have asthma or other respiratory conditions. In many cases, people are buying air purifiers specifically for those respiratory conditions, so it’s not particularly helpful.
What Do Air Purifiers Get Rid Of?
This is the most interesting question. Some people plug in an air purifier and think that their home can never have any kind of pollutant in the air ever again. That’s just not how they work. Even the best HEPA filters can’t collect everything. Air purifiers focus on particles. This means that things like dust and pollen are commonly filtered out. Some air purifiers can also filter out smoke from the air as long as they get the individual particles.
What’s often ignored is the gaseous pollutants. Pollutants from paint or chemicals from cleaning products are not filtered out. This also goes for dangerous gases like radon that can enter the home.
Popular Air Purifiers
There’s plenty of solid purifiers on the market today. Admittedly, some manage to stand out above the rest as truly great air purifiers. What follows are some of the best and most popular air purifiers on the market today. They include:
- Coway Airmega 200M - A nice feature of this purifier is the ability to reduce the light form the controls at night, making it perfect for bedrooms. The square grill and intake is good looking and the black exterior fits with almost any room style.
- Blueair Blue Pure 411 - This is a great small air purifier for smaller rooms. It’s fantastic for a home office, dorm room, nursery or other bed room. The simple cylinder makes it easy to fit into any room.
- Austin Air HealthMate HM400 - This is a heavier duty air purifier and comes at a much higher cost. Unlike the vast majority of air purifiers, this option can actually remove some odors or potential toxic gases since it specifically has a volatile organic compound filter.
