Room Air Purifiers

IQAir HealthPro Plus HEPA Air Purifier

No need to hold your breath when you have an effective room air purifier. There has been a lot of study and technology applied to the way room air purifiers work and how they help keep people healthy. Here are some of the findings of the work done to investigate if you really do need to have an air purifier in order to breathe more safely.

What the EPA Has to Say

The California Environmental Protection Agency has looked into the effectiveness of home air purifiers to determine if there is really a need for these systems and if they really to what they claim to do. In a nutshell, the agency reports that they have found no air filter can remove every particle from the environment, and should not claim to do so. This is especially true of particles that quickly settle on surfaces.

One of the most effective ways to remove large particles is through your whole house systems. Your furnace for example has a filter that should be changed annually. Your stove needs to be properly ventilated too.

After taking care of the systems within the home, the EPA has recommended a room air purifier that uses a HEPA filter to help clean the air. These range in price from around $100 to over $2,000 depending on size. A room air purifier that is placed in a central location, such as the kitchen can effectively remove smaller particles, but don’t always work to remove gasses and odours. As a warning, it is important to not rely on air purifiers to remove carbon monoxide or radon. These are dangerous gasses than can build up in an unventilated home and cause serious illness and even death.

The Dissenters

There are a relatively small number of studies that seem to indicate that room air purifiers are neither necessary nor effective. This is small minority, but there is some merit to their research which really only leads to the need for more research to substantiate their findings.

Some research has raised the concern about ionic air purifiers because of the ozone these systems release into the air. Others claim the ionic system of trapping air particles using negative ions is ineffective. The truth is there is more evidence that ionic and HEPA filter systems do capture a substantial amount of even the smallest particles down to 0.3 micron. The impact of the amount of ozone released as a bi-product still warrants more research.

What You Can Do For Cleaner Air At Home

You can do a great deal to ensure your family is breathing the cleanest air possible. Follow these guidelines:

1. Replace whole house system filters at least annually. These are very inexpensive and easy to replace.

2. Keep your home well ventilated. Open windows and replace the air in your home. If you are in a high pollution area, then opening windows and blowing air out with a fan will remove pollution that enters the house.

3. Taking smoking outside. Never allow anyone to smoke in your home.

4. Use a room air purifier to trap particles in the air that are not removed from ventilation. Using central air conditioning during the allergy season will help filter air entering the house.

Whole house air purifiers can bring a whole new environment to your entire home. While single room purifiers can effectively clean the air within a specific location in your home, many families desire the same standard of cleanliness all around their home. Whether you have allergy sufferers in your family who’d like to sit comfortably in any room in the house, or simply want that whole house freshness, then whole house air purifiers might be for you.

A whole house air purifier operates by connecting it with your household air duct system, allowing the air flow from the entire building to be processed by the one whole house air cleaner. The same technologies employed in single room air purifiers are used here, so you can choose from HEPA, electronic or other systems, as best suits the purification needs of your family. Whether you are looking for an allergy relief air purifier, or a UV system to blast those micro-bugs, there is a whole house air purifier ready to meet your needs.

The whole house air purifier does, however, have its critics, as some experts feel that one whole house air cleaner does not possess sufficient cleaning power to remove airborne dust and particles from around your whole home. Some estimate that as little as thirty percent of your household air will even pass through the whole house air cleaner, leaving a full seventy percent of the air in your home unclean.

Whole house air purifiers can be a great way to clean the air in your home from one central location, but may not be strong enough to eliminate all the particulates that affect particularly sensitive people. So if you are looking for an allergy relief air purifier, or have a particular sensitivity to chemicals or odors, then a room-specific air purifier might be most suitable for you.

So consider carefully whether whole house air purifiers are for you, or whether you should consider room air purifiers in the most important rooms.