Bionaire Company Info
The Bionaire brand is a subsidiary of the Jarden Corporation, a large company with many other brands of home appliances operating under its aegis, including familiar names such as Sunbeam, Crock-Pot, and Mr. Coffee. In addition, Jarden is the parent company of Holmes, which also makes air purifiers. In addition to its air purifiers, Bionaire also makes heaters, humidifiers, fans, and other such products. It has been in operation since 1977, when its first air purifier was released in Canada.
Bionaire Air Purification Technology
The air cleaners made by Bionaire all make use of two methods of reducing pollution, a HEPA-type filter and an ionizer. HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters are a recognized standard in air filtration. The fact that Bionaire’s filters are only “HEPA-type” instead of true HEPA should make customers aware of the difference. Bionaire claims that these filters achieve “up to 99% filtration capturing particles 2.0 microns or larger from air passing through the filter.” This sounds good at first glance, but be aware that many serious airborne pollutants are much smaller than 2.0 microns.
In comparison, true HEPA filters in home air purifiers are able to target particles that are as small as 0.3 microns. Therefore, Bionaire’s products will certainly take care of relatively large items such as dust, but smaller particles are not guaranteed to be filtered out at all.
The other method used by Bionaire products, ionizers, will give air molecules a negative electrical charge, which will attract particles which, like many common pollutants, have a positive charge; the end result is that the pollutants are entrapped and removed from the air. All ionizers in Bionaire air cleaners can be turned on and off as desired by the user.
Neither of the methods described above will deal with gasses or odors, as they are only designed to filter out particles.
Bionaire Model Pricing
Bionaire’s purifiers are relatively low in price.On top of this, Bionaire claims that its PERMAtech air cleaners are
“The first of their kind to offer HEPA-type filtration in a permanent filter that never has to be replaced”
provided that they receive ordinary care, which means that the filters are cleaned once every three months. This is something to bear in mind, as filter replacements often add significantly to the initial cost of most air purifiers over the course of the purifiers’ lifetimes. Note that not all Bionaire air purifiers have the PERMAtech label, however; the others require do replacement filters as usual.
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