Natural Air Purifier

March 9, 2008

Once upon a time it was probably enough to open your windows in order to get rid of bad smells and freshen the air inside. But nowadays so many of us live in polluted cities, or suburban areas near a busy street. Even in quieter, seemingly less polluted suburban areas neighbors are often so close that opening your windows just lets in unwanted noise pollution and someone else’s bad smells from cigarettes and BBQs. Of course, you don’t want to live with your bad odors either, so what do you do? An air purifier may be the perfect solution.

Why Airing Your Home Out is not Enough

Although it may remove some odors, opening the windows isn’t enough to get rid of odor caused by cigarettes, bacteria, molds, or dirt.

In fact, if you have allergies, airing out your home may only make matters worse. And it won’t be any help if you actually want to purify the air or kill harmful bacteria and viruses. This is when you will need to purchase an air purifier.

Types of Air Purifiers

There are many types of air purifiers. Each specializes in solving different problems, but no one type solves every problem. Here’s a breakdown of the different types of air purifiers and what each type does.

Low-Tech Air Purifiers

Low-tech air purifiers have been show to do a great job in purifying the air in both offices and homes. Even better - it’s simple and inexpensive!

Just change the air filters in your air conditioning and heating system once a month. It costs about $20 every 3 months and will reduce the allergens, dander, and dust in half.

Even though it’s better than stirring up pollutants with a breeze coming through the window, your HVAC system isn’t really an air purifier. So, it’s a good idea to also get an actual air purifier in order to really make improvements in the air you breathe.

The Ionizing Air Purifier

Ionizing air purifiers are good systems fo filtering out smoke and odors.

Ionizing air purifier systems like the Ionic Breeze air purifier work like this. They send out negatively charged particles, which combine with the positively charged particles of the pollutants in the air. These positively charged particles include smoke and odor. When these positive and negative particles combine, they become to heavy to remain air borne and they are attracted to the collection plate in the air purifier where they stick. This effectively takes them out of the air and you can then wipe them off with a cloth. This type of ionic air purifier costs about $300.

Be aware however, that Consumer Reports tested and found that these air purifiers do not work well for removing dust particles and allergens. So if that’s what you are looking for, read on.

Low Ozone Air Purifiers

Low-ozone air purifiers work by oxidizing pollutants. You should be aware though that low ozone air purifiers do emit ozone. Although ozone in the upper atmosphere protects us from the dangerous UV radiation of the sun breathing ozone in the high enough concentrations is poisonous. And while the levels of ozone emitted by these air purifiers are supposed to be safe, you will have to decide for yourself whether or not you want to be adding ozone to your environment.

UV Air Purifiers

Ultra-violet light (UV) air purifiers are the most technically complex of all air purifier systems. UV air purifiers actually kill the bacteria and viruses they come in contact with, so they’re ideal for bathroom, garbage and other bacterially produced odors.

Just airing out your house won’t even touch the bacteria. In fact, you could create an environment that helps these germs grow when you open up your window! If you are worried about bacteria and viruses in your home, UV air purifiers are the only way to go.

Posted in Air Purifiers