Tips on how to Pick the Ideal Air Purifier To meet your needs
Indoor air pollution is just a serious problem. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), air pollution levels are two to five times higher indoors. In a few buildings with deficiencies in proper ventilation, the indoor air might be 100 times more polluted than the air outside! The reason being modern buildings are constructed with energy efficiency in mind. However, the tight seals which make a home energy-efficient also trap pollutants inside. Together with that, the average American takes nine out of ten breaths indoors, so it’s imperative to make sure that your indoor air is without any allergens and other impurities.
Air purifiers eliminate allergens, toxic chemicals, and other dangerous pollutants. This informative article explains why people use air purifiers, how they work, which air purifiers you must avoid, and how to select the best air cleaner for the needs.
Common Indoor Air Pollutants
What is the source of indoor air pollution? With regards to organic pollutants, mold and dust mites are everywhere – and they are the 2 most frequent reasons for year-round allergic rhinitis (hay fever). Pollen can also be a pervasive allergen that always finds its way into your house since it is so small and sticky. When you yourself have pets, they will surely spread their dander to every nook and cranny of your home. Many viruses and bacteria may also be airborne.
Even though they are not organic allergens, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) cause many people to have allergic reactions and other health problems. VOCs include formaldehyde, fragrances, pesticides, solvents, and cleaning agents. VOCs can enter the air through chemical off-gassing from furniture, new carpets, adhesives, plastics, and various building materials. Furthermore, many VOCs are known carcinogens (cancer-causing agents).
Environmental contaminants like cigarette smoke, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide are often contained in your indoor air, in addition to toxic heavy metals like airborne lead, mercury vapor, and radon.
How Air Purifiers Work
HEPA air purifiers use a HEPA air filter, that has been manufactured by the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1940s as a way to filter radioactive contaminants. HEPA filters set the standard for air purifiers: to be classified as HEPA, a filter must capture at the least 99.97% of pollutants at 0.3 microns or larger. Top-selling HEPA air purifiers are the Austin Air cleaner, available with a HEGA (High Efficiency Gas Adsoprtion) filter, alongside air purifiers from IQAir, Allerair, Blueair, and Honeywell.
Activated carbon filters remove gases, odors, and chemical toxins. The carbon is “activated” when it is treated with oxygen, which opens up millions of tiny pores to attract and adsorb chemicals. Impregnated carbon filters have already been treated having an additional chemical, normally either potassium iodide or potassium permanganate; these chemicals, known as chemisorbents, increase the carbon filter’s ability to trap VOCs and other chemically reactive gases.
Electrostatic filters use an electrostatic charge to attract pollutants and trap them on collector plates. These filters are great for folks who don’t want to have to be worried about changing HEPA filters, however if the collection plates are not cleaned frequently, they quickly lose efficiency. Also, beware that some electrostatic filters emit ozone, which is considered to be a robust lung irritant and can be very irritating to some people with asthma or allergies. The Friedrich air cleaner is, definitely, the best electrostatic air cleaner, in addition to the overall top-ranked air cleaner in previous Consumer Reports rankings.
Charged media filters give pollutants an electrostatic charge before collecting them in a normal filter. Charged media filters are usually quite effective, but like electrostatic filters, they lose efficiency rapidly-and they could require frequent and expensive filter changes. 辦公室空氣質素 Some charged media air filter units also emit ozone. The main advantage of charged media filters is that they are quieter and more energy-efficient than HEPA air purifiers. The Blueair air cleaner is the better charged media filter, and it generally does not emit ozone.
Where and Just how to Use an Air Purifier
In the event that you suffer with allergies (especially if you’re allergic to dust mite allergen), then the best place for an air cleaner is your bedroom. It’s essential to have climate in your bedroom because spent about a third of your lifetime there. If you’re allergic to animal dander and have pets, then you may want to position an air cleaner in the space where your pets spend most of these time-and keep consitently the pets out of your bedroom! Also, you shouldn’t place an air cleaner in the corner of an area; it ought to be at least a few feet away from the walls for maximum air flow.
You need to run your air cleaner continuously for optimum performance. Most air purifiers have high and low settings. Even if you go on holiday, we recommend that you keep your air cleaner running on low. Otherwise, you’ll return to a house saturated in polluted air! If you should be concerned about your electric bill, discover how much energy an air cleaner uses before buying it. Typical HEPA air purifiers can use anywhere from 50 watts on low to 200 watts on high. For comparison, an average lamp uses about 60 watts, while an average computer uses about 365 watts.
Air Purifiers to Avoid
Avoid ozone generators and ionizing air cleaners. These air purifiers create ions that attract pollutants; however, most of the pollutants are released back in the air, often times leading to dirty spots on nearby walls. Besides the fact that they don’t do a good job of cleaning the air, ozone generators and ionizing cleaners also emit ozone. Ozone, a primary part of smog, might lead to a significant asthma attack.
Moreover, David Peden, researcher at the Center of Environmental Medicine and Lung Biology at the University of North Carolina, has examined how ozone exposure might exacerbate the allergic response of people who are allergic to dust mites, and his results claim that ozone worsens the asthmatic response. The EPA has warned consumers against using ozone generators, and Consumer Reports recommends against the modern Ionic Breeze Quadra, despite the addition of OzoneGuard, a computer device meant to eliminate a few of the dangerous ozone emitted by the Ionic Breeze.
Consumer Reports points out: “Our air-cleaning tests reveal that the Ionic Breeze with OzoneGuard does an undesirable job of removing smoke, dust and pollen particles from the air when new and after 500 hours of continuous use” and “the Ionic Breeze with OzoneGuard still adds ozone to the air.”
Just how to Choose the Best Air Purifier
The air cleaner market is vast and riddled with confusing and often misleading advertising schemes. If you’re shopping for an air cleaner, you then should first consider what kind of pollutants you’re trying to eliminate. As an example, if you end up having cigarette smoke, then you’ll want to make sure your air cleaner has the ability to eliminate fumes, VOCs, and other gases.