Are you aware that the air inside your house is often polluted more than the air outside? Continuous exposure to polluted air can cause serious health problems. And air purifiers are what can save you from such problems.
An air purifier or air cleaner is an air treatment appliance. This helpful appliance can remove airborne allergens from your home air. As a result, the air quality in your home improves.
Are you considering investing in an air purifier for home? Need to know how to choose the best air purifier? Then, you’re at the right place!
Here, you’ll get to know everything you need to know about air purifiers. Get a breakdown of what an air cleaner is, the types of air purifiers, how this appliance works, and how to choose the best air purifier.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in.
What is an Air Purifier?
Air purifiers are devices that can remove impurities from the air. It cleans and sanitizes the air around you. As a result, you can breathe easier and become healthier.
Air cleaner utilizes a unique filtering process to remove harmful particles from the air. You must get a home air filter to keep your home air clean and healthy.
The best air purifier filters smoke, odor, dust, allergens, pollens, and other pollutants and cleanse the air.
Benefits of Air Purifier
Once you add a home air purifier, you’ll notice a considerable change in your overall health. This is because the best air purifier will instantly help you breathe more easily and comfortably.
Best air purifiers come with tons of benefits. Here are some of them:
- Reduces allergy attacks
- Improved overall sleep quality
- Circulates clean air in your home
- Protection from cardiovascular diseases
- Removes pollen, lint, dust, and pet dander
- Eliminates airborne viruses, bacteria, and mold
- Lower respiratory condition symptoms like asthma
- Filters cooking & chemical smoke, odor, and fumes
Air Purifier Types
Breathing in clean air can improve your overall health. Best air purifiers help clean the air around you of harmful particles and odors.
But, if you’re new to the air cleaner market, you might find the variety of air purifiers confusing.
Well, air purifiers are differentiated based on the air purifier filter or filtration technology. Therefore, you can choose from only four main types of home air filters.
So, let’s learn the leading air filtration technologies available in the current market.
HEPA Filtration
HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air. This is considered the godfather of air filtration technology.
HEPA air purifier filters can trap the tiniest pollutants and particles even the human eye can’t see.
Your home air filters with HEPA filtration can eliminate up to 99.97% of microscopic particles making the air clean & healthy.
Pollutants Removed:
Pollen, dust, mold spores, pet dander, fungi, and smoke
Pros:
- Highly efficient
- Traps minuscule particles
- Safe for all respiratory concerns
- It doesn’t release pollutants back into the air
Cons:
- Requires routine filter replacements
- Most expensive air purifier filter,
- It doesn’t remove odors or chemical fumes
- Can be noisy
Carbon Filtration
Carbon home air filters utilize activated carbon. Carbon air purifiers can trap chemical & other dangerous fumes, gas, smoke, and odors. It’s mainly used together with a HEPA filter.
Carbon filtration air purifiers are helpful for people susceptible to poor air quality—especially the elderly and children with respiratory issues.
Pollutants Removed:
Chemical gas and fume, harmful odor from cooking, paint, etc.
Pros:
- Inexpensive air purifier filter
- Keeps air fresh and clean
- Good for smell-sensitive people
Cons:
- It doesn’t remove allergens & particles
UV Filtration
Instead of a filter or fan, UV air purifiers use ultraviolet light to neutralize & clean the air.
UV air cleaner uses invisible light to kill bacteria, viruses, and harmful germs upon contact. It’s crucial to remember that your UV home air filter needs to function on the UV-C band.
While UV filtration doesn’t affect airborne particles and other contaminants, it helps decontaminate a space—especially one that’s shared.
Pollutants Removed:
Virus and bacteria
Pros:
- Sanitizes the air
- Keeps home air sterile
- Rarely require replacement
- Reduces airborne germ-inflicted illness
Cons:
- Only removes bacteria, viruses, and germs
- It doesn’t remove harmful gas, odor, smoke
- Requires HEPA or Ionic filter to provide complete protection
Ionic Filtration
Ionic air purifier filters discharge charged ions into the air. These charged ions hook the pollutants, forcing them to drop to the surface.
Home air filters with ionic filtration remove both particles and germs. You’ll need to get a collection plate to remove the fallen contaminants.
Pollutants Removed:
Dust, pollen, fungi, mold, harmful organic compounds, bacteria, viruses, and smoke.
Pros:
- Low maintenance
- Less expensive than HEPA
- It doesn’t use a fan, so zero noise
- It doesn’t require filter replacement
Cons:
- It doesn’t remove odor
- Produces a small amount of ozone
- Pollutants don’t get removed from the home
- Collection plates need frequent maintenance
Apart from these are other air purifier filters like Ozone filtration, Electrostatic filter, Multi-stage filter, etc.
How to Choose an Air Purifier?
Now you know the difference between all the air purifier for home. But to choose the best air purifier, you must consider some essential factors.
Here’s a quick guide on how to choose the perfect air cleaner for your home:
Room size
First, consider whether you need a whole-house air purifier or a room air purifier. Then, consider the size of your room. Larger spaces will require a high-capacity air cleaner to clean the air effectively.
Filters
Choose the air purifier filter that’ll cater to your specific needs. Consider your budget, filter replacement frequency, health needs, and primary concern for buying an air purifier for home.
CADR Rating
Clean Air Delivery Rate is a rating for how many particles the air purifier can filter in a fixed time. If your room size is more extensive, you must choose an air purifier with a higher CADR.
ACH Rating
Air Changes per Hour rating refers to the number of times your purifier can convert or clean the air in an hour. You’ll find ACH ratings as 4x, 5x, etc.
5x means the home air filters will take in the air in your room and recycle clean air four times per hour.
Fan Speed & Noise
The best air purifier will work quietly even with high fan speed. You’ll find some air purifiers for home that come with adjustable fan speed.
Certification
Lastly, to ensure the air purifier you chose is the best for home, look for AHAM certification. This certifies the air purifier for home meets home appliance safety, performance, and efficiency criteria.
How Does an Air Purifier Work?
So, how does an air purifier work? This depends on which type of air purifier filters the cleaner is using.
Your home air filter typically includes a fan that draws air in from the room. When the air enters the air purifier, the home air filter catches the contaminants, particles, and viruses.
Now, how the home air filter will absorb or remove the pollutants depends on its type. For example, carbon filters absorb the smoke and gas, while ionic filters neutralize the particles and make them fall.
Then, the clean air is recycled back into your room from the air purifier. How clean your air will become depends on the air purifier filter capacity.
Conclusion
Air purifiers have become essential for ensuring a healthy life at home. Especially if you or your family suffer from respiratory or overall health problems.
Hopefully, this article has cleared all your questions regarding air purifier for home. Follow our guidelines to choose the best air purifier and breathe fresh air.
FAQ
After all these air purifier for home discussion, it’s normal to have questions. So if you do, kindly let me know.
Here I have answered some of the FAQs people typically look for regarding air purifier for home:
Does the air purifier for home actually work?
Yes, the air purifier does work. As long as you buy the right air purifier for your room size and requirement, it’ll make the air clean and sanitary.
Are air purifiers worth it?
This depends on what you expect from the air cleaner. The best air purifier removes harmful contaminants, viruses, and chemicals from the air.
As a result, you stay safe from different diseases. So, air purifiers are worth it.
Do air purifiers remove dust?
Yes, air purifier filters can remove dust. However, HEPA filters are the most effective in removing dust from the air.
Can you use an air purifier every day?
You can use an air purifier for home every day. However, remember to clean the filters frequently, at least once a month.
As the air purifier filter catches dirt and allergens, recycling air through the dirty filter can prove harmful to sensitive people.
Can an air purifier make a room smell better?
Yes! The best air purifier removes contaminants that make the air smell bad. Also, air purifiers constantly recycle and give out fresh air.
Therefore, an air purifier can keep your room smelling fresh.
