by Paul Oranika

Created on: November 25, 2009

An Ironic air purifier is a device used to remove air contaminants from an indoor environment. Air purifiers designed for residential use are usually promoted as being useful to allergy sufferers and individuals suffering from asthma. They are also promoted as a good alternative product for reducing the effect of secondhand smoke. Nevertheless, these systems have both positive and negative aspects.

Function

Air filters remove contaminated dust particles from the air. They also use high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters to clean the circulated air. Microns are the standard measurement units for air particles; these particles are not visible to naked human eyes. The HEPA filters are able to remove about 99.9 percent of any particle bigger than 0.3 microns. They have been promoted as being able to clean dust, smoke, asbestos, pet dander, pollen and other particles from the air.

Benefits

Different air purifiers do different jobs by cleaning some pollution away from the indoor air. Some air purifiers are beneficial for asthmatic patients with allergies to animals. Air purifiers do remove some polluting particles from the indoor environment. The Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers (AHAM) has come up with the Room Air Cleaner Certification Program. The program offers a uniform standard for air purifiers. The clean air delivery rate (CADR) helps to measure the percentage of clean air in an indoor environment, measured in cubic feet per minute. So this standard will enable an air purifier user to know how effective her air purifying system is.

Cons of Air Purifiers

One of the major drawbacks of air cleaners and purifiers is that some of them, particularly the ionic air purifiers, can also generate ozone, which is toxic to airborne bacteria. The argument is that air purifiers use high electric fields to create air ions. These same air ions are also known to generate ozone. Although the ozone layer is beneficial high up in the atmosphere, since it protects the planet from ultraviolet rays from the sun, ozone could be harmful in close proximity to humans.

Considerations

Although air purifiers have been promoted as cleaning small particles from the indoor air, they are unable to remove gases and odors. The smoke odor comes from gases in the smoke, as opposed to air particles. Air purifiers are able to remove particles in the tobacco smoke, but they are not able to remove the gas compounds. This is the reason why even in the room where air purifiers are deployed, the smell of tobacco smoke would still be present if a cigarette is smoked in that room.

Warning

Consumers need to know that no particular air purifier is able to remove all pollutants, including dust, pollen, tobacco smoke and pet allergens, out of the air. Some indoor pollutants can be removed, but you should understand that the brand of air purifier one is buying does not have the ability to remove all the air polluting particles.

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