"Is an Ionic Air Purifier the Deal They Want You to Believe?"

Is it the sensual mingling of art and technology in long, svelte curves? Or the promise of whisper quietness tickling your ear?

By comparison, how can you possibly tear your eyes away to give attention to that short, fat, loud and unattractive round box, the HEPA air purifier.

“But beauty's only as deep as the injection molded plastic” they say.

Would you be wise to reconsider ionic air purifiers before you rush the merchant with a fist full of dollars held high?

"How well do ionic air purifiers work in the real world...

The Home Air Purifier Guide reveals facts
that no ionic air purifier review dares."

Facts like these that directly impact your health and satisfaction...

• Even the best ionic air purifiers are no better than 80% efficient
• Cleaning power falls rapidly, losing up to 80% in as few as three days
• Regular plate cleaning is a must, exposing you to captured allergens
• Cleaning efficiency steadily declines over the life of the unit
• Defects and burn outs result in a short service life
• All ionizing air purifiers produce dangerous ozone
• Very low air flow severely limits coverage area
• No ionic air purifier has any effect on gases and odors
• Ionizing air purifiers cause destructive "black wall effect"
• Ionic air purifier pricing is often unrelated to quality or effectiveness

Read on for the full exposé:

"Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work As Advertised?"

Question 1: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work Better Than HEPA Filters?

Many consumers are aware that HEPA purifiers are 99.97% efficient at 0.3 micron. Likewise most persons think of filters as a sieves that strain out particles of one size while allowing smaller ones to pass through. So, the ability to remove 0.1 micron particles seems to justify claims of better performance than HEPA filters.

How does this stand up to the facts?

The first fact is the efficiency rating of HEPA air filters. In every HEPA air purifier ad you see the 99.97% capture rate for 0.3 micron particles. Have you ever at any time seen an efficiency rating in any ionic air purifier review?

Of course not, and with good reason. Because even the best ionic air purifier is only about 80% efficient regardless of particle size. For many size particles, including the ultra-fine particles most hazardous to health the capture efficiency is far less. What's more, the majority of ionic air purifiers never even achieve 80% efficiency.

Negative ion air purifiers do even worse. They rely entirely on static charges to attract particles to each other, agglomerate as they call it, and then settle out of the air under their own weight.

Determining efficiency under typical use is next to impossible and for all practical purposes is nearly zero. Why? Because negative ion air purifiers never actually remove the particles permanently from the room. Any that do settle out can easily be disturbed and sent flying back into the air by your normal household activities.

The second inconvenient fact for ionizing air purifiers is that HEPA air filters do not act like sieves. They do not strain out particles down to 0.3 micron and let everything else pass. Why not? Because of a little effect known as Brownian diffusion.

As particles become smaller than 0.3 micron they become influenced by the jostling of adjacent air molecules to such an extent that they cannot keep a steady course. Instead they zig-zag, moving randomly. Thus they are unable to pass through the HEPA filter media despite being smaller than the gaps between the media fibers.

The end result is that all particles smaller than 0.3 micron are filtered at an even higher than 99.97% efficiency. Quite simply, the common statistic about HEPA filter efficiency isn't expressing the best that it can perform, it's stating the worst it performs.

Bottom Line:Ionizing air purifiers show low, inconsistent and undetermined efficiency.

Question 2: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work at a Steady Efficiency Rate?

In an ionic air purifier a series of collector plates with a charge opposite that of the ionized particles attracts the particles to the plates like a magnet. As the plates progressively load up with pollutants the strength of the electrostatic charge weakens, reducing efficiency by the minute.

Research shows that in as few as three days the collection efficiency can be less than 20% that of clean plates. Since even the best ionic air purifier may have a maximum initial efficiency of only 80% this means your electrostatic precipitator may only be attracting about 15% or less of the particles passing through it.

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers already poor performance rapidly becomes dismal.

Question 3: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work With Little Maintenance?

Have you been persuaded by cleaning and maintenance claims like these?

“See how easy it is to clean, just wipe or toss in the dishwasher!”

“Oh, how difficult it is replacing filters in HEPA air purifiers!”

“Oh, how impossibly messy filters are!”

“Oh, how expensive filter replacement is!”

Consider this fact, a HEPA filter may only require replacement once every two to five years depending on the model. Most purifiers are designed for quick filter replacement, taking perhaps five minutes.

At least one of the top ten air purifiers listed on this site, the Honeywell 50250, is marketed as never requiring replacement, just occasionally vacuum it clean.

Yet, as addressed above in Question 2, rapid efficiency loss due to plate loading means ionic air purifier cleaning should be an almost daily chore to keep its efficiency at a reasonable level. Most people never perform this task as often as it is needed.

The next time you're invited to a friend's house and you hear their ionic air purifier crackling and popping like a bug zapper on a summer night remember this article and remind them they need to clean that thing. Yesterday!

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers demand far more time than advertised.

Question 4: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work Like New for Years to Come?

This means pollutants can become stubbornly, if not permanently, adhered to the collection plates. Thus whatever less than stellar efficiency you once enjoyed is gone for good.

Even with regular cleaning, oxidation of the aluminum plates occurs causing reduction in efficiency. Likewise, corrosion of the needlepoint ionizers or ionizing wire will also reduce cleaning effectiveness.

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers degrade steadily over time no matter what you do.

Question 5: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work Very Long?

As discussed above corrosion and oxidation of essential components, not to mention simple failure of electronic components in the charging system consigns many an electrostatic air purifier to early death.

Of course, many of them may get thrown out when people realize they simply don't work very well to begin with.

One indicator that you can rely upon as a guide to life expectancy is the manufacturer's warranty. How long is it? 90 days? A year? Two years? Most manufacturers anticipate few warranty claims. They know many customers just throw the old unit away and forget about it. Even so, they protect themselves with sufficiently short warranties.

Contrast that with manufacturers of top quality HEPA air purifiers like those listed among the top ten air purifiers on this site. Some of these manufacturers stand behind their air purifiers for as long as ten years. And history is on their side with satisfied customers still using air purifiers originally purchased as long ago as fifteen years.

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers offer very little long term value.

Question 6: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work Effectively for Large Areas?

Low air flow means low air volume handled by the unit and thus significant limitations on the size of the area that can be cleaned. You must buy several units to achieve the coverage of a single HEPA air purifier.

Consider a quick comparison. While I'm no fan of the industries half-baked CADR ratings, they sometimes prove useful. The morally and fiscally bankrupt Sharper Image succeeded in capturing 25% of the air purifier market at the height of the Ionic Breeze craze because consumers didn't know any better.

The Ionic Breeze had a CADR rating of about 20 and was priced at $299. One of the top ten air purifiers listed on this site, the relatively cheap but highly effective Ultra Clean 3M air purifier, has a CADR rating about 13 times greater than the Ionic Breeze yet costs only $199.

Similar comparisons can be made with any ionic air purifier versus a HEPA filter air purifier yet the typical ionic air purifier review isn't going to inform you of this kind of weak performance.

Negative ion air purifiers are an even worse case. While briefly noted above as having near zero efficiency, it is possible to give them a hypothetical CADR rating of 5.

Why a 5 CADR rating? Because gravity has a CADR rating of 5. That's how effective gravity is at pulling particles out of the air and negative ion air purifiers rely upon gravity to pull the presumably agglomerated particles from the air.

Of course, we're assuming the stated method of operation even works in actual practice.

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers are ineffective for areas larger than a bathroom.

Question 7: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work for Gases and Odors?

Odors and gaseous pollutants do not respond to ionizing air purifiers. So if you are concerned at all about chemical toxins, mold mycotoxins, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, the hundreds of chemicals in cigarette smoke or any other odor or chemical pollutant you need to look elsewhere.

One of the top ten air purifiers listed on this site that offers a large quantity of activated carbon would be a good place to start.

Bottom Line:No ion air purifier will protect you from chemicals.

Question 8: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work Free of Ozone Dangers?

Unfortunately ozone will deaden the sense of smell as time goes by so that you need even more of it to smell that fresh odor. As it desensitizes your sense of smell it simultaneously increases your sensitization to allergens. Thus allergic persons have even more severe reactions in the presence of ozone.

It also damages cells within your airway, causing breathing difficulties, chest tightness and asthma attacks. Children, the elderly and others with respiratory ailments are especially susceptible.

In sufficient quantities it can cause death.

Recent studies also show that it reacts with fragrances commonly found in home air fresheners and cleaning products to produce ultra-fine particulates with cancer causing properties. Fun stuff.

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers actually pollute your air with dangerous ozone.

Question 9: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work Without Any Other Risks?

It's called the dreaded "black wall effect". Black wall effect is usually seen with a negative ion air purifier but can also occur with an ionic air purifier.

Ionized particles not collected on plates in the electrostatic precipitator or by design with a negative ion air purifier will instead collect on walls, furniture, or any available surface.

This includes the inside surface of your lungs. The health hazard of negatively charged respirable particles adhering to your lung tissues has been noted by the EPA. See: Possible effects of particle charging.

Most consumers want their air purifier to give them better health, not coal miner's lung!

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers are not entirely beneficial and without risks.

Question 10: Do Ionic Air Purifiers Work Better the More You Spend?

Quality of materials and construction, durability, and effectiveness do not seem to play a consistent role in pricing.

Likewise, ozone dangers are not necessarily less in a pricier model. Even those claiming to have some kind of "ozone guard".

It seems the basis for price is simply what the market will bear for the promise of clean air and a fancy, sleek design.

Bottom Line: Ionizing air purifiers are arbitrarily priced without regard to quality.

Final Analysis of Ionic Air Purifiers

Unfortunately it's your gold the silence brings them. Silence about their glaring faults and limitations keeps unwary customers buying these air purifiers by the millions.

Can you afford a wrong choice of air purifier? If not, then I invite you to use the resources here at the Home Air Purifier Guide to buy air purifiers that really work.