The aim of keeping an air purifier is to free the air from all of the contaminants. When environmental researchers highlighted the fact that the indoor air is dirtier than the outdoor air, the popularity and the demand for air purifiers soared. Air purifiers will be helpful to persons suffering from allergies and asthma and to those who want to reduce the risk of passive smoking.

Air purifiers on the market use various different techniques for purification of the air. Electrostatic charges, ionizers, charcoal and absorbents are some of the methods used to purify the air. Germicidal ultra violet light is also used for this purpose. Find more info at www.onlyairpurifiers.info

Visual appeal, noise level and filter replacement frequency are some of the factors to be taken into account when selecting an air purifier. Filters also come in many different varieties. Some of them can be cleaned by hand, water or by vacuuming. Some of these filters need to be replaced within months depending upon the usage.

Air purifiers filtering out 99.97 percent of particles of 0.3 micrometers in the air are set as the best air purifier. These types of purifiers are very expensive.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufactures (AHAM) is the agency rating the performance of various air purifiers. The indicator used is the clean air delivery rating.
There is some controversy over the claim involving ionic air purifiers since these machines generate the pollutant ozone. High concentration of ozone emitted by the air purifiers can pose some threat to health.

According to the American Lung Association, the effectiveness of an air purifier depends on the unit’s efficiency and the amount of air drawn through it. Look into the type of pollutants it will capture and the percentage it captures. Select a device that circulates air many times an hour. .

Besides air circulation, ensure to consider other factors such as:

- Can it move air from all corners of the room

- Size of the room

- Whether the air purifier is meant for any specific problem such as smoke or pollen.

- Adaptability to the change in needs.

Cost of an air purifier and its efficiency are not related. Recurring costs are also to be taken into account. The energy needed to run the purifier will make quite a lot of difference to the power bill.
Noise can be a big problem if the air purifier is meant for use in a bedroom or in the family room, since many air purifiers use loud motors to draw air through filters.

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People use air purifiers in the home and office to screen pollutants and contaminants out of the air. But just what are these pollutants, and why should they matter to you?

Bacteria: Airborne bacteria can be a problem, to say the least. Such diseases as tetanus, typhoid fever, pneumonia, syphilis, cholera, leprosy, and tuberculosis are all the nasty products of these airborne pathogens. Lucky for us, not all bacteria are this vicious; there’s also ‘friendly bacteria’, which if it’s any help to you at all is living some place private, like your pancreas, out of reach of an air purifier.

Mold spores: Mold is a fungus just like mushrooms. Mold reproduces itself through spores, which fly around in the air and aggravate your allergies. Some molds are toxic when inhaled. Black mold, which can grow on food, can produce the serious lung disease aspergillosis if large quantities are inhaled. Mold is a problem in buildings which are too air-tight and have too much trapped moisture.

Viruses: Submicroscopic and microorganisms particles that can infect the cells of a biological organism - you, for instance. Needs no introduction here. People with weakened immune systems from a present medical condition can especially do with fewer viruses in the air.

Pet dander: Dander is hair and skin particles that fly off of a pet and cause an allergic reaction in people so inclined, frequently manifested in a sneeze. Skin rashes can also be an allergic reaction to pet dander.

Dust: No, it’s not a matter of how much you clean; even in the tidiest households, dust happens. Some people with dust allergies can have an extreme reaction. Another airborne dust problem is found in industrial workplace environments. If the product being manufactured produces enough dust, it can even constitute a safety hazard.

Dust mites: These little critters live in that dust that you didn’t want around anyway. They’re known as Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus in Europe and Dermatophagoides farinae in America, but by any name are regarded as a nuisance. Dust mites are thought to be the number one cause of asthma worldwide. Unlucky for us, dust mites like it best in the same kind of carpeted, draft-proof, cushioned environment that we people like.

Smoke: Oooooh, do we smokers ever take a lot of heat for our filthy habit! An air purifier can help you live with that human chimney in your home. It can even help the smoker’s health, when they no longer have to stand outside in the snow.

Odors: The obvious one that nobody ever thinks about. Air purifiers can help dispel the taints of paint, bleach, cooking, and chemical solvents from the air. If it offends your nose, an air purifier gets rid of it.

Well, that covers most of it. It’s surprising to see how much is going on right in front of our noses that we can’t see, isn’t it?

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There seem to be as many ways to purify air as there are contaminants to purify out of it. Herein, a peek under the hood at the rather complex business of keeping microscopic junk out of your lungs:

HEPA and ULPA filters: There seems to be two definitions for the acronym HEPA; either “high efficiency particulate air,”, or “high efficiency particulate absorbing.” ULPA means “Ultra Low Particulate Air”. Both kinds attempt to strain as many foreign particles from the air as they can and still let air through. ULPAs are tighter filters than HEPAs, though only by a few percents.

Electrostatic Filters: Work the same way the static on your clothes do, only they use an electric charge on the filter to draw particles to the filter. Turn the electricity off, the filtered particles drop, usually into a disposal receptacle. You only need to look at how dust particles tend to stick to your monitor’s glass surface (it’s generating static electricity, too) to see an example in action. Clever, no?

Electrostatic Precipitators: Not just a tongue-twister, but a similar concept as the filter; here we’re using two opposite charges to attract airborne particles to a plate or grid wire. This is how some of the purifiers that don’t need a filter to change work; you just wash off the precipitator plate and reuse it. A similar stunt on a larger scale is how a coal-burning power-plant scrubs some of the ash out of the smoke it produces.

Ionizers: Ionizers use static electricity in a different way; they make the pollutant particles stick to each other. This will make a large particle out of many little particles, which then are easier for a filter to trap. Ionization is rumored to have a bunch of fringe benefits, such as improving your mood, helping reduce depression from Seasonal Affective Disorder, and alleviating the symptoms of asthma - but there is some debate as to which of these effects are real. Certainly, I notice that I feel cheerful just after a thunderstorm, and I’m told that’s because lightening puts more ions in the air, so the air always feels cleaner afterwards.

Ozone Air Cleaners: In a radical departure from previous methods, these purifiers are not content to sit and wait for the pollutants to come to them. Instead, they release small amounts of ozone, which then go out and find the pollutants and neutralize them.

Ultraviolet: These use radiation from ultraviolet light bulbs to kill biological organisms. From germs to funguses, these purifiers are like a “bug zapper” for microscopic bugs! Frequently seen in hospitals.

Carbon Filters: Exactly as the name suggests, these are the regular old technology where you catch stuff in the filter until it’s dirty, then you change it for a new one. Unimaginative compared to all the whiz-bang space-age technology out there; plus they only catch big particles.

Washable Foam: Another large particle-catcher, these are similar to the carbon filters, only they can be washed in warm, soapy water, drip-dried, and reused.

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