DIY Product Reviews

Do air purifiers work? What you need to know. A buyers guide to home air purifiers.

Have you ever stopped to think about the air you breathe? Is it as pure as god intended it to be or are we poisoning ourselves and our loved ones by inhaling polluted and stale (yes, stale!) air. Before you start complaining about the rising pollution, car fumes and factory smoke, let me make it clear, I am talking of the air you breathe in your home sweet home where you spend a major part of your life with your loved ones.

Contrary to popular belief, our homes can become havens to irritating indoor impurities affecting everyone, especially, sensitive people and those suffering from allergies. Our houses can become a haven for Dust mites, Cigarette smoke, Cooking odors, Bacteria, Pet Dander, Mold spores,Spray chemicals like hair spray, insecticides, etc. These affect the quality of air we breathe in the house. The amount of air a units moves is also important in reducing these pollutants.

Fortunately, you can improve the quality of air you breathe in your home with the use of air-purifier. Simplistically speaking, air-purifiers work by drawing in the polluted air through the air cleaner where a filter blocks large pollutants and irritants and allows remaining air into the ionizing section where it is cleaned and let out. You thus get clean air without any irritants or allergens. There are questions about how safe and effective the ozone producing units are. You will be able to find a good portable air purifier that produces no ozone. Some models that have tested well with ozone are: Whirlpool AP45030S, Kenmore 83202, and the Hunter Permalife 30547. The Hunter model is the most affordable at under 50 dollars, while the other two are just over 100 dollars.  These three model are in my top ten.

Air-purifiers are basically of two types. Single room air-purifiers (portable), as the name implies can be used to effectively clean only a single room. This means if you need to use air-purifiers in more than one room, you need to purchase one for each room. Whole house air-purifiers, on the other hand, purify the whole home and though expensive to install, is cost-effective in the long run. However, both have their own advantages and disadvantages and you need to decide on the type you need after a detailed study of your requirements.

As regards systems of air-purifying, there are many like HEPA, electronic systems, UV systems, specific allergy related air-purifiers.You need to choose the air-purifying system depending on whether you want to fight a specific allergy or chemical odor or want to get rid of excessive dust and so on.

The best type of air purifier, however, is HEPA which stands for “High Energy Particulate Air,” and was invented by the government to remove radioactive dust from the air in the event of nuclear war.The best HEPA air purifiers use more than one filter in a series. As a result, they can boost your home’s indoor air quality by an astonishing amount in just a few hours. These devices are ideal for people whose health depends on clean indoor air, such as asthmatics and those with severe allergies

To conclude, we all want the best for our families and giving them pollution-free healthy indoor air to breathe must rank at the top of your priority. Air-purifiers is an absolute necessity, without doubt.