Which Home Air Purifiers Are Really Your Best Choice?
What You Need To Do
Discover which home air purifiers give the performance you need.
Together, we'll compare these five types of air purifiers:
Filter Based Air Purifiers
HEPA Air Purifiers
Ionic Air Purifiers
Gas and Odor Air Purifiers
Ozone Air Purifiers
Understanding these air purifier technologies permits you to reject poor performers so you can focus on the right air purifier for you. I'll show you how...
Are you confused by too many home air purifier choices?
It's good to have a choice, but not if you're unable to choose confidently.
I
know this frustration well. I face MCS, allergy and asthma daily in my
family. Finding the right home air purifier was an absolute necessity.
I
proved to myself that HEPA air purifiers were best for my personal
needs. If you also contend with mild to severe breathing problems, I
believe you'll find a HEPA air purifier helps you the most.
You'll discover why by comparing the different types of home air purifiers.
Let's Compare Home Air Purifiers
Filter Based Air Purifiers - Use Caution
Filter based home air purifiers may use simple foam or fiber pads, pleated paper or even HEPA filter media.
Because
a fan forces air through them, these air purifiers have the small
drawback of noise. However, they can clean large amounts of air quickly.
Unfortunately, while they may clean large amounts of air they may not clean to the standard you desire. Why is this true?
Because
efficiency is often no greater than 50%. Most manufacturers do not
reveal filter efficiencies. Home air purifiers using unverified filters
may be completely unable to collect the particles that concern you.
Even larger particles like pollen may not be removed effectively.
Short
filter replacement schedules are also common. One of the greatest scams
in the market is to sell a cheap air purifier and then bilk the
customer later with high priced replacement filters.
HEPA Filter Air Purifiers - Verified, Guaranteed Performance
Only HEPA air filters meet a verifiable performance standard. HEPA filters must remove 99.97% of particles 0.3 micron in size.
A
common misconception is that HEPA filters perform less well with
smaller particles. In reality, HEPA efficiency is higher with smaller
particle sizes.
This may seem to defy logic, but what many are
unaware of is a law of particle motion called Brownian diffusion. This
effect prevents particles smaller than 0.3 micron from escaping the
HEPA filter. This enables removal not only of allergens and irritants
but even many bacteria and viruses.
Because HEPA filters are
superior many manufacturers try to boost your confidence in their
products by advertising so-called HEPA Type filters. These often fall
far short of the HEPA standard, so use caution when considering home
air purifiers that don't use true HEPA filters.
The cost of
replacement HEPA filters may seem high compared to other filters.
However, replacement may be once every two to five years. Thus the
actual cost for exceptionally clean air is low by comparison.
HEPA air purifiers provide the best filtration of large volumes of air.
Ionic Air Purifiers - Not Recommended
Ionic air purifiers use electric charges to remove allergens and irritants. They have no effect on gases and odors.
With
collector plates collection efficiency tends to be no greater than 80%.
Studies show efficiency reduces to as little as 20% in as few as three
days because of plate loading.
Without collector plates charged
particles may cling to any surface. This is called "black wall effect".
The EPA warns these charged particles may deposit in the lungs. This
makes such air cleaners a possible health threat.
Regular
cleaning of collector plates is a must for continued performance. Many
owners complain it is difficult cleaning closely spaced collectors.
These
types of air purifiers are often praised for being silent. With little
air being moved and thus cleaned you might ask for whom is this silence
golden, you or the marketers pushing the idea of a silent air purifier?
Ionic air purifiers produce ozone which is lung damaging and
elevates sensitivity to allergens and irritants. Never expose asthmatic
persons to it.
Gas and Odor Air Purifiers - Good Additional Protection
Gas phase filters remove odors and chemicals but not particles.
The most effective gas filtration technology is activated carbon. It removes up to 60% of its own weight in chemicals.
A deep bed of activated carbon is best. That is why high quality air purifiers include many pounds of activated carbon.
Thin
activated carbon pads are practically worthless. They cannot supply the
"dwell time" needed for pollutants to remain in contact with the
carbon. Without sufficient dwell time few pollutants are removed.
Rather
than a competing technology, gas filtration is considered complementary
to HEPA air purification. Combined with HEPA air filters it creates the
most effective home air purifiers available.
Ozone Air Purifiers - Reject Completely
Proponents of
ozone air purifiers claim ozone oxidizes pollutants, reducing them to
water and carbon dioxide. In the real world such textbook reactions
rarely happen. Instead, numerous byproducts are created.
These byproducts can be more dangerous than the original pollutants.
Ozone
cannot distinguish what is and is not a pollutant. It reacts with
almost anything it contacts, degrading materials and creating
additional pollutants.
Supporters claim ozone kills bacteria
but deny it kills cells in your airway. They reject all scientific
evidence and warnings that ozone is harmful.
Sellers of ozone
air purifiers are perpetrating a fraud. They get away with it in the US
because no agency has authority to regulate these products.
An ozone air purifier is ineffective and exposes you to danger.
Conclusions About Home Air Purifiers
Choosing an air purifier is a serious undertaking. Please take the time
to carefully research the right home air purifier for your needs.
I highly recommend these five air purifier manufacturers in particular:
Now
that you know more about the types of air purifiers, does HEPA seem to
offer you the performance you need for real health benefits? I'd like
to invite you to explore our next step - Why the best air purifier demands HEPA filtration.
