An air purifier is made to filter the air in your home and remove contaminants from it, such as bacteria and allergy-triggering particles. You might be wondering how an air purifier manages to work. In a nutshell, it removes the particles of dirt or smoke that are floating in your home through a three-step process: Impaction, Diffusion, and Chemical action.
Air purifying has been a popular home trend for a while now, with more and more people wanting to reduce exposure to chemical-laden household items like cleaners and deodorizers. However, the air purifier has become a mandatory component in many homes.
An air purifier is a device that can help improve the air quality in your home. To do this, it actively removes contaminants from the air using a wide variety of gentle and effective technologies.
But to really understand how an air purifier works, you must first know what a particulate is. A particulate is any solid or liquid particles suspended in Earth’s atmosphere that are too small to be seen individually with the human eye. Some common types of particles are dust, smoke, and smog from cars.
What is particulate matter?
Particulate matter is a mixture of tiny solid particles and liquid droplets that are so small that they can be suspended in the air. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over 3000000 people die every year in the US because of being exposed to particulate matter in our air, and this number is set to rise as our pollution levels continue to increase. Particulate air pollution comes from burning fossil fuels, forest fires, and industrial activities like farming and manufacturing.
These contaminants can penetrate all parts of the home, including your lungs, leading to heart disease, lung cancer, lung disease, asthma, and even early death.
The air purifier can help you breathe better or eliminate allergens and airborne particles that may negatively impact you. As technology improves, we see more people opting to purchase an air purifier. However, it is important to understand how an air purifier works before purchasing one.
How Air Purifiers Work
Two main types of air cleaning systems used in homes today are forced-air and electronic. Both work similarly by ventilating a room with filtered air instead of circulated stale room-temperature air that may be home to certain odors. Some units are self-cleaning and rely on negative ions to maintain their effectiveness.
Air Purifier Components
One of the most important components of an air purifier is the fan. The fan works with an internal motor to create negative pressure in the device, drawing air from surrounding spaces into the air purifier and pushing it through its filters. You can find a number of different fan types, depending upon your specific needs.
Air Filters
The most important component of the air purifier is the filter. These filters are either medium-grade carbon blocks or pleated filters that are designed to catch pollen, house dust, and airborne particles. The medium-grade carbon block filter must be replaced every two weeks, while the pleated filter can last several months before it needs to be replaced.
The average home should have an air purifier that uses an electrostatic cleaning system (ECS) with up to 250 square feet of coverage. While these units may not provide complete filtration, they work well for most spaces. Some of the more advanced purifiers are able to reach more than 1,000 square feet of coverage when needed.
Many air purifiers come with a slimmed-down version known as a portable. These units work well for smaller spaces and help alleviate concerns about the smell from the fan.
Air cleaners, in general, can be classified by the way they filter particles (in size and number) from the air. There are two basic types of air cleaner: particulate types that remove larger particles such as dust, pollen, mold, and other allergens; and gas phase filters that remove gaseous pollutants like formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Some air cleaners also use ionizers to collect smaller particles.
Air filters can be classified by the way they capture contaminants in their filter media, as follows:
The efficiency of particulate filters can be rated in MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) or API (Air Performance Institute) ratings. These two agencies rate air-cleaning devices on how well they trap certain-sized particles from the air passing through them. The higher the rating, the better the filter captures larger particles from the air passing through it, and fewer of those particles will pass through it. Other common ratings for particulate filters include bio/allergen filtration and VOC reduction.
The MERV and API ratings directly correlate with one another: the lower the MERV, the better the filter will capture large particles. The higher the MERV, the greater amount of smaller particles that are captured by a particular filter.
Particulate filtration refers to filters used to remove large particles from the air, such as dust and mold spores. There are two methods a particulate filter can be used: Pre-filtering and post-filtering. Pre-filtering is when a filter is placed before another filter or device that removes smaller substances. Post-filtering is when a filter is placed after another filter or device that removes smaller substances. The Pre-filter removes large particles such as mold and dust from the air, and the Post-filter removes any remaining mold and dust from the air. These types of filters use materials such as activated carbon, glass fiber, and ion exchange resins to remove certain gaseous pollutants. A recent study found that a household’s average indoor air quality is polluted. Now, what is the ideal place to keep the air purifier?
Rooms That Have Poor Quality of Air in Your House
The bathroom actually seems to be the most polluted room in the average home. This is especially true if you have a gas furnace, which will help to pollute this room and cause it to have higher concentrations of carbon monoxide than any other room.
The kitchen is often the second most polluted room in a home, but we all know that the stove and refrigerator can be major sources of pollution. This room also contains a lot of oil-based finishes and cabinets that will release fumes into the air. So, it makes sense that it would be one of those rooms with the highest concentrations.
The bedroom is the third most polluted room in an average home. Although many people like to keep the windows open while they sleep, this actually allows outside pollutants to enter the room, which is not good for those with respiratory problems or allergies.
The third most polluted room in a home is often the living room, but this is also where people spend most of their time. Sitting on a couch breathing in television or smoke-filled air isn’t going to be healthy for anyone.
The basement actually isn’t that far down on the list of top polluted rooms in an average home. Basements will often have unfinished walls, which will no longer be exposed to fresh air and begin to release fumes into the air that you breathe.
It turns out the office is likely to be one of the least polluted rooms in an average home. This is probably because this room is usually closed up for long periods of time, making it a good place to bring in the fresh air.
Air Purifier Pricing
The cost of an air purifier depends on several factors, including the brand, size, and type of system you’re looking at. You can find heating and air conditioning units, bedroom units, and even multi-room products to help you keep your home clean and safe. If you’re interested in purchasing an air purifier, you can check out online retailers, and they have many different options available at competitive prices.
How to know if my air purifier is working or not?
It’s important to check that your air purifier is as effective as it should be at removing particles from the air. To do this, you can use an air quality monitor, which measures the concentration of particulate matter in the air. This will tell you how many particles are floating around in the air, which can be useful for determining how much your family has been exposed to. The best monitors will tell you what type of particles are present and their concentration level in order to help you determine whether your air purifier is working well.
Pollution Problems
Air pollution can be considered as one of the most severe problems in the current world. According to the World Health Organization, more than 99 percent of urban dwellers are exposed to air pollution levels that are considered unhealthy by national standards. These types of pollution can have a negative impact on everything from our lungs and heart to our skin.
When it comes to indoor air, studies suggest that we can be exposed to airborne particles even when we’re sitting inside our homes. This is especially true for homes that have small children or pets who are more likely to shed large amounts of dander and contribute bacteria to the home environment.
