Basically, all air purifiers function by trapping smoke, pollen, dust, animal dander, dust mites, mold spores, chemical fumes, bacteria, viruses, and odours within the filters, thereby cleaning the air. Some portable air purifiers are even equipped with UV germicidal light to kill microorganisms in the air. Usually, there are three or four fan speeds to circulate air through the air purifier to be filtered and purified, depending on the level of air quality. A number of air purifiers have sensors that adjust the fan speed automatically by detecting the amount of particles trapped in the filters. In addition, some special air purifiers even have timers that can be set up to eight hours in total.
Generally, the filters are easily cleaned. Most of the time, the filter may just be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner or hand washed with the cleaning process repeated once every six to eight months. However, for portable air purifiers that are used in automatic mode 24 hours a day, then the filter may need to be cleaned more regularly, probably once every two to three months with lukewarm water solution combined with mild detergent.
In summary, ‘Prevention is better than cure’. Get a portable air purifier for yourself and avoid the risk of getting respiratory health problems linked to low indoor air quality!
Ozone air purifiers work by releasing ozone into the air. Ozone is a molecule that has three atoms of oxygen as opposed to oxygen that has only two atoms. The additional oxygen atom in ozone has the ability to separate from ozone and attach itself to molecules of harmful contaminants. When this happens, the chemical composition of the harmful particles changes and becomes such that it is not harmful to breathe anymore. This is the basic principle on which ozone air cleaners work.
Features Of Ozone Air Purifiers
They contain an ozone generator that releases ozone into the air for purification.- Ozone purifiers are filter-less purifiers.
- Ozone air purifiers do not require the air to be circulated within the purifier for purification purposes.
- They emit a peculiar smell that is due to the release of ozone.
- It can be available with other purification technologies incorporated into one air purifier.
Ozone Air Purifier Benefits
- Since an ozone air purifier does not need the air to be circulated through a main air filter, it can purify large amounts of air in a considerably shorter amount of time than most other air purifiers.
- They help to not only remove but destroy harmful bacteria, organisms, and chemicals in the air.
- They are especially effective in removing gases and horrible odors such as cigar smoke, kitchen fumes etc from the air.
- These air purifiers are very effective for use in pubs, saloons, and bars, where there is a lot of pollution due to cigarette smoke and other contaminants. In such places, an ozone purifier can make the air cleaner and free from any unpleasant smells.
- They can reduce the presence of mold spores from the air and can thus help to minimize asthmatic symptoms, hay fever, allergies etc.
Many people notice how the natural air, feels and smells, so much more clean and pure, after lightning storms and heavy rain. This is because, due to the lightning, ozone or activated oxygen is released into the air, which makes it feel so much purer. An ozone air purifier can duplicate that kind of feeling in your home or office, by releasing the same type of activated oxygen molecules into your indoor air.
Indoor air cleaners act to filter out contaminants in the air which contains particles that are hazardous and harmful to the respiratory system. There is a wide variety of indoor purifiers available in the market, each of them with their own unique traits and physical dimensions. Most of them are equipped with HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate) filters, which are tested by of the Department of Environment. In fact, international air filter standards are used for the testing of the HEPA filter in order to maintain product quality and efficiency. This is why HEPA filters are very popular throughout mainstream indoor air purifiers.
These HEPA filters help give the ability to indoor air purifiers to remove 99.97% of particles from the air, up to a size of 0.3 micron. However, these filters have to be changed regularly in order for the air purifier filter to maintain its effectiveness and efficiency in cleaning indoor air. However, if the air purifiers are equipped with electrostatic charged plates in addition to the HEPA filters, then the frequency of change can be reduced.
Finally, indoor air purifiers are also equipped with charcoal filters to filter out the smell and odors from the air, such as tobacco odor, in order to release only fresh-smelling air-flow into the room.
Buying a home air purifier does not entail just going to a store and asking for an air purifier for your home. Although it is a relatively simple task, you need to consider the following, while choosing a home air purifier.
Things to Consider: Finding the Right Home Air Purifier
- The enormity of your health problems: Since home air purifiers are typically bought to clean indoor air so as to have a healthier body, your health problems will be an important consideration when choosing home air purifiers.
- If you have light allergies, then you can make do with a cheaper and smaller home air purifier, but if you have serious allergy problems, then a similar purifier may not work for you.
- If you are asthmatic, you need an air purifier that has a gas filter. A gas filter helps to remove smells and gases from the air, which are a leading cause of asthma attacks.
- If you are sensitive to chemicals and react badly to them, your choice of home purifier will depend on whether or not your body reacts with the different materials used in different types of air purifiers.
- Area to be purified: The size of the room that needs an air purifier will determine the size of the device. If you want to purify the air in your entire home, then you can choose from in-duct air purifiers, or portable air purifiers that can be moved from room to room.
- Technology used: There are various technologies used in different house air cleaners. You can choose from ozone air purifiers, filter-less air purifiers, UV air purifiers etc. The choice will depend on what type of allergens you want to get rid of, and also if you need to remove odors along with other contaminants.
- Cost: Your budget will determine your choice to a great extent. If money is not a concern, you can go in for a top-of-the-line purifier with multiple purification technologies. If you do not want to spend a lot of money, you can choose a small portable home purifier according to your immediate needs.
The amount of pollution in and around your home, the number of people living in the house, whether or not you have any pets, are all miscellaneous conditions that will also affect your choice of air purifiers for your home.
Your selection of purifiers will be determined by what you want to get from the air purifier. If you need one primarily for getting rid of allergens and harmful particulates from the air, then a HEPA air purifier is your best bet.
A HEPA purifier uses a HEPA air filter for purification of indoor air. These air filters trap all the allergens and particulates that pass through the Hepa filter and do not let them back into the air. It is essential to note that itcan only clean and purify the air that actually passes through the air filter. If the air stays around the air purifier, but does not actually pass through it, the HEPA filters would not be able to purify such air. Thus, when choosing a HEPA air cleaner, it is essential that you choose one that has enhanced air flow capacity.
Air filters are the main part of any Hepa purifiers. These filters are usually made from very fine filtration materials, such as polymers, fiber etc. The filtration material is typically folded in pleats, tightly together, much like an accordion. These folds help to create a very large surface area of filtration material, through which large quantities of air can pass and be purified effectively.
If you remove all the pleats in a HEPA filter, you can get filtration material that is as large as 40 feet in length. The more the filtration material used in the filters, the better will be the purification efficiency of the air purifier.
Benefits Of HEPA Air Purifiers
- They typically have an efficiency rate of 99.97% in removing harmful particulates from the air.
- HEPA air filters can trap all kinds of particulates, such as pollen, dust, smoke, smog, pet dander, dead skin, mold spores etc, that are as small as 0.3 microns in size.
- HEPA purifiers can usually clean the air in any given room, up to 15 times per hour. This results in highly pure and clean air, which is absolutely fit for breathing.
- With proper maintenance and care, HEPA air filters can last you for as many as 5 years, without needing to be replaced.
- Hepa air purifiers remove all allergens and dust mites, which are especially responsible for asthma and allergic reactions in most people. Thus, using a HEPA air purifier will result in cleaner air and a healthier you.
How An Electrostatic Air Filter Works
Air which passes through the filter produces friction which causes static charges between the hairs of the fibers within the filter. This static charge attracts particles in the air which is passing through and captures it within the metal plates of the electrostatic air filter.
With this, once these filters are cleaned with water through a water hose once in a while, they can then be used again. As they don’t suffer much wear and tear, these electrostatic air filters are also given a lifetime warranty by their producers. Apart from that, the external construction is made from non-corrosive material which will not degrade due to heat from prolonged usage.
Additionally, electrostatic air purifiers are also very cost efficient as they do not require much energy to operate. Therefore, using these electrostatic filters will not hike up your electricity bills. These filters also come in many sizes and shapes, are easy to install and are also environmentally safe as they do not emit ozone into the air for cleaning purposes. Finally, with an electrostatic purifier, you will be sure that your home will be free from any pollutants which may cause allergic reactions to those within your home. Therefore, with an electro static air filter, everyone in your home will be able to breathe easier and feel fresher as well.
Clean air purifiers are designed to filter out 99.97% of particles found in the air, up to 0.3 micron in size. Usually, they use HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate) filters, which have been tested by the Department of Environment for its quality. Additionally, international standards are applied to these filters in order to ensure that consumers get clean air from their purifiers.
Apart from that, other elements also come into place within clean air purifiers. Amongst this is the inclusion of electrostatic charged plates into the clean air purifier to charge the filter and therefore clean the air even more effectively. Also, most air purifiers are also equipped with charcoal filters to get rid of the odors from tobacco smoke and other smells in the air, in order to release fresh-smelling air blown into the indoor environment.
Finally, additional features which are used to kill bacteria and viruses include the use of Ultra Violet rays (UVA and UVB) which are emitted within the clean air purifier unit to kill bacteria which cannot be filtered out by the HEPA filter. Furthermore, most clean air filters run on low energy and therefore can be turned on 24 hours a day without causing an increase in electricity consumption.
Over the years, because of various factors, such as rise in population, increasing number of vehicles on the road, and increase in pollution levels, the outdoor air quality has become practically unbreathable, which is why most homes and offices today are highly insulated to protect against the bad outdoor air, and also to save on energy costs.
This has resulted in an even more dangerous problem – that of bad indoor air quality. As most homes and offices are tightly insulated nowadays, there is not enough circulation of fresh air, which is why the indoor air quality is going from bad to worse. And add to it factors such as pet dander, dust mites, cigarette smoke, and mold spores; add what you get is very unhealthy indoor air.
Bad quality of indoor air leads to many health problems, the least of which are hay fever, runny noses, headaches, breathing difficulties etc. The only way to improve your indoor air quality, and thus your health, is to use clean air machines.
Introducing Clean Air Machines
A clean air machine is an appliance, which helps to clean indoor air and make it fit for breathing. Clean air machines, or air purifiers, remove harmful particulates from the air, such as dust particles, pet hair, dead skin, mold spores etc, and also remove disease causing germs, viruses, bacteria and a host of other micro-organisms from the air. Removing all these dangerous contaminants from the air makes the air cleaner, purer, and safer to breathe for children and adults.
Using a vacuum cleaner and dusting your home regularly, will only remove that has settled on surfaces. Vacuuming does not help to purify the air and also cannot reduce the presence of germs in the air. Only a clean air machine can achieve complete and thorough purification of indoor air.
Benefits Of A Clean Air Machine
A clean air machine will help to purify indoor air and rid the air of all disease causing contaminants. By using an air cleaner for just a couple of weeks in your home, you will see a marked difference in your health and the health of your family members. A clean air machine also provides for better sleep because of purer air, thus making you feel completely rested and energized.
If only we lived in the good old days, where purity of air was taken for granted, we would not need any appliances for cleaning indoor air. But since you don’t, the next best alternative is to get an air cleaning machine.
In our cars, pollution is categorized into two, namely bioaerosol (living organism based) and organic compounds which are actually vaporized liquid in the air. Germs, bacteria, viruses, and tobacco smoke are just some of the many other kinds of pollution that may exist in your car. If these harmful elements are not eradicated by an automobile air purifier, the effects may even be worse than environmental pollution in open air. This is as the car is an extremely small enclosed area and the circulation of contaminants within this area is more prominent.
In the current market, there is a huge variety of auto air purifiers, ionizers, dehumidifiers, air cleaners and air filters which offer similar features which is to help combat car pollution. These remarkably handy gadgets are also small in size and do not take up much space in your car. Different models vary in their features but the main purpose of car air purifier is to filter the wastes that enters and that exists in the car. Many new car air purifiers utilize state of the art nanotechnology to reverse the effects of wastes, a process known as reduction and oxidation. Purifiers that are also ionizers on the hand offer an invigorating, soothing and calm effect when its negative ions are released into the air. This not only helps to remove wastes from your car but is a great benefit especially during long drives.
Features To Help With Relieving Allergies
With this, when shopping for an air purifier for allergy relief, it is important to get one that comes with a HEPA air purifier filter. This is as HEPA filters have gone through stringent international testing standards through the Department of Environment’s filter test program, and therefore maintain certain quality standards in filtering out particles. In fact, HEPA air purifier filters can filter out to 99.97% of particles up to 0.3 micron in size. This will definitely get rid of mold, dust, pollen and pet dander which are common causes of allergies.
However, some higher priced air purifiers for allergy relief are equipped with up to five layers of different types of filters to provide ultimate allergy relief. Some of these allergy relief air purifiers include UV lamps that emit UVA and UVB rays in order to kill harmful pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Apart from that, carbon filters also make up part of the air purifier in order to eliminate odors, chemicals as well as tobacco smoke.
Finally, there is a wide range of allergy relief air purifiers available in the market, starting from a few hundred dollars up to the thousands. This is because different locations, such as hospitals and factories, require different levels of allergy relief due to the difference in allergen densities in the air.