Air Purifier Advice

Knowing what sets the best HEPA filter air purifiers apart from the mediocre is becoming ever more important.

Why? Because growing public concern about indoor air pollution has moved many companies to cash in on the business of selling air cleaners.

But these companies often have no experience in the field of air purification. Their products are not always manufactured with the user in mind. Suitability of the technology used, soundness of construction and materials, overall effectiveness, and safety with respect to harmful byproducts may take a backseat to profits.

It’s up to you to sort through the multitude of air cleaner brands, models and bold claims.

What glaring flaws will you find in poor quality HEPA filter air purifiers?

The filter is not really a true HEPA filter

There are many sly dogs who want to capitalize on public familiarity with the term HEPA.

You may see air purifiers that claim to be HEPA-type, HEPA-like, microHEPA, microfiltration, 99% something or another, xxxxHEPA or HEPAxxxx, where xxxx may be any number of buzzwords. Don’t be fooled. HEPA filter air purifiers should plainly state that the filter is true HEPA or medical grade HEPA.

The filter uses HEPA media but cannot certify HEPA performance

HEPA filter media is essential as it is the only filter media capable of trapping 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns.

But while the media may be true HEPA what if, due to poor construction, the filter is not?

HEPA filter media is a fine pleated paper and cheaply made media can suffer cracks at the folds that reduce actual efficiency. Be sure to insist on a medical grade HEPA filter that has been warm rolled to prevent cracks and laser tested to ensure integrity.

A manufacturer should be able to assure you the filter is free of defects and capable of actually performing at the rated efficiency of the media.

Air bypasses the filter, reducing the air cleaner’s efficiency

Many air purifiers are promoted as having true HEPA air filters, but these air purifiers do not have high efficiencies as a unit.

The reason is that the filter is not tightly secured in the housing with airtight gaskets to ensure against air leakage around the filter. These gaps reduce actual efficiency. This problem is often seen in air purifiers made with cheap, soft plastic housings that do not securely fit with the filter.

However, do not dismiss all plastic units. Hard, ABS type plastic is a suitable lightweight alternative to metal housings. This is the chosen material for IQAir air purifiers.

Cheap fan motors with no warranty or a very limited warranty

There is another reason the claim of HEPA filtration is not accurate in poorly designed air purifiers where some of the airflow bypasses the HEPA filter. The motor is at the heart of the problem.

A powerful fan and motor made with properly sealed bearings is an essential component of high quality air purifiers. The amount of clean air delivered to your home is directly dependent on the amount of air you can pass through the filter media. The more the better.

A well sealed system with tight gaskets is going to build up a lot of back pressure that requires a strong motor to overcome. Such a motor must also resist the buildup of heat due to strenuous duty. A suitable motor thus adds considerably to the expense of a quality air purifier. Air purifiers with enough fan power can also be noisy, up to 70 decibels.

In order to offer the public a cheap air purifier, designers start with a cheap motor. To accommodate an inferior motor, air is permitted to bypass the filter. This relieves the back pressure and thus the strain on the motor. It also allows the bypassing air to help cool the motor, thus extending its life and reducing warranty claims. This deliberate bypassing and weaker motor combination also helps reduce noise, which seems to be a concern of many consumers.

However the end result is a poorly performing, inefficient, mass market “HEPA air purifier”.

Price may serve as no guide

Most evil of all, these non-performers may not be “cheap” at all. Some are priced similarly to or even higher than superior quality air purifiers in an effort to be viewed as being of the same caliber.

Who offers top quality true HEPA filter air purifiers?

Each of the companies below manufactures some of the best HEPA filter air purifiers available for home use.

• Allerair air purifiers come in over 100 models, most providing true medical grade HEPA filtration. Allerair offers excellent filtration for an economical cost.
• Austin Air.
• Blueair air purifiers use a special approach to HEPA filtration. In addition to providing a large surface area filter, Blueair filters have larger openings in their polymer based media. This allows a much higher airflow and thus requires a smaller, less noisy fan. The trick in these air purifiers is the addition of electrostatic brushes in the airflow prior to the HEPA element. This charges particles and gets them to “stick” electrostatically to the filter media. Blueair thus offers the quitest HEPA filter air purifiers available.
• IQ Air.

Are air purifier manufacturers that claim an activated carbon filter pad can remove chemicals and odors deceiving you?

Many air purifiers use activated carbon for gas and odor removal, but will not mention how much is in their filter. This is because they have simply coated a mat with a few ounces of activated carbon.

In an average home, that small amount of carbon could get saturated in days, even hours. After this, the filter would need to be replaced or it would be doing nothing.

If an air purifier does not make any obvious claims to the amount of activated carbon it uses, you should question the filter’s effectiveness.

To learn more about activated carbon for air purification view these additional articles:

• Why is activated carbon filtration essential in your air purifier?
• Activated carbon air cleaner report | The purifiers that really perform
• Choosing activated carbon filters | How to evaluate air purifier quality
• Activated carbon for odor control in your home

Why an activated carbon filter pad doesn’t give you the air purification you expect

Air purification is big business. Realizing the demand for air purification, many companies have entered the air purifier market.

However, you should take note: These companies are not air purifier manufacturers whose sole business is air purification. They are consumer product sales organizations. Most manufacture nothing at all, but contract design and production to others. Their primary concern is to blanket the market with whatever is the hot seller of the day.

Eager to gain the approval of consumers by giving the appearance of quality and superiority, they hype the fact that they offer a “multistage” air cleaner that can control all sorts of air pollution.

Activated carbon filters are usually featured as one of the stages in these air purifiers. They typically take the form of a foam mesh impregnated with a few ounces of activated carbon.

Is this really good enough? Are these companies really being honest? What about those manufacturers that offer a deep activated carbon bed that includes many pounds of activated carbon?

Question the quality of the activated carbon

First of all, lets bring up the question of the quality of the activated carbon. Activated carbon can vary greatly depending on the methods used to produce it. For instance, the surface area available to adsorb pollutants can vary between 400 sq. meters per gram to over 1500 sq. meters per gram.

Also, it is true activated carbon can generally remove some of any chemical. However, raw activated carbon may not be very effective against some of the very pollutants you’re concerned about. That’s why activated carbon needs to be impregnated with special catalysts and chemisorbers to ensure maximum effectiveness against the pollutants you wish to target.

Air purifiers using an activated carbon filter pad never address these issues in any of their consumer literature.

Question the quantity of filtration

How much chemical contamination can a few ounces of activated carbon adsorb?

Activated carbon can adsorb as much as 60% of its weight in pollutants. This is best accomplished by increasing the “dwell time” or time spent in contact with the pollutants.

An activated carbon filter pad cannot supply much in the way of dwell time. This is why air purifier manufacturers whose real business is nothing but air purification include a deep activated carbon bed that often weighs many pounds.

Question the design of the air purifier

Activated carbon filter pads are often used as a prefilter in front of a higher efficiency particle filter. This exposes the activated carbon to the incoming stream of dust and microparticles. The structure of activated carbon is that of macropores branching into ever-smaller micropores. Incoming particles can easily clog these larger pores and prevent gaseous contaminants from entering the micropores where adsorption takes place. Using an activated carbon filter pad as a prefilter is a bad design decision.

Another bad decision that seems to defy all common sense is the inclusion of scent cartridges in air purifiers with activated carbon filter pads. Since activated carbon is supposed to remove odors and volatile chemicals from the air, why is a source of volatile chemical fragrance included? This seems to defeat the purpose of the activated carbon. The reality is that the scent masks the odors in the air and is intended to lead you to believe the air purifier is doing a good job.

Purification with activated carbon works if you choose the right air purifier

Activated carbon filters have real value when they take the form of a deep activated carbon bed. There are several air purifier manufacturers that design and build there own products with this in mind. Some examples are Allerair, Austin Air, Blueair, and Iqair. These companies understand that a large volume of activated carbon is essential for air purifier performance.

Activated carbon filter pads are a gimmick of marketing companies. These sales organizations are only interested in grabbing a piece of the air purifier market with inferior products. They rely on the absence of consumer education about air purification to succeed.

You can make a much better choice.

Would you like to know more about how you can buy air purifiers while avoiding costly mistakes?

Why not invest the time now to discover the simple rules to getting the clean air you want?

Rule #1: Don’t Be Pressured To Buy The “Best Air Purifier”

Instead, focus on of satisfying your real needs

We all want what’s best for ourselves and our family. But what do you think? Is the best air purifier for you the same one I use, or the one on TV, or the one your brother-in-law recommends?

Or is it the one that satisfies your personal needs, your health and your budget?

Unfortunately, many consumers buy air purifiers based upon misguided advice that doesn’t take into consideration what they really need.

As a skilled craftsman chooses the right tool for a task you should choose the right air purifier for your circumstances. Before you buy air purifiers know the health benefits you want to achieve.

For instance, do you need an air purifier for allergies? Particles in the 2.5 to 10 micron range often cause sinus irritation and allergies. How effectively will your air purifier remove these? How often will it cycle your room air each hour? A minimum of four air changes is best for allergies.

If you have asthma, COPD, emphysema, MCS or other breathing ailments then particles smaller than 2.5 micron are your greatest concern. Only buy air purifiers rated to remove these particles while delivering six air changes per hour in your room.

I invite you to read more about how your health is improved by the right air purifier in my article, Buy An Air Purifier That Really Works.

Whatever your health need, the idea of a single best air purifier is a myth. Each air purifier is an exercise in trade-offs. Compare air purifiers based on the performance balance you wish to strike.

Certain air purifiers deliver high air flow but sacrifice odor removal. Some tackle odors exceptionally well but the dense activated carbon filter reduces air flow. Others balance both needs but at greater cost and noise. Some air purifiers perform well at a reasonable price but without extras you may want.

Lesson: The best way to buy air purifiers is to focus on your personal health needs and get value for your budget. A good place to begin is achoo!Allergy’s Air purifier Buying Guide.

Rule #2: Don’t Trust Air Purifier Reviews

Do your own careful research

Lesson: Do not rely upon air purifier reviews to compare air purifiers. What air purifier reviews don’t tell you is that they may exclude the best air purifiers simply because they aren’t available in the big box retail stores.

Or they exclude air purifiers clearly superior to whatever they’re promoting.

Or their testing criteria fails to address dangers like ozone, or realistically evaluate long term performance for the particles most harmful to your health.

These problems plague even the best air purifier reviews. For instance, the highly respected Consumer Reports has drawn fire for ill advised air purifier reviews. The primary complaints against Consumer Reports on air purifiers are:

• Flawed selection criteria based on sales volume not quality
• Flawed testing based on AHAM CADR (More about the flawed AHAM CADR ratings here.)
• Failure to evaluate permanent particle removal, allowing units that “static cling” particles to the test chamber walls
• Testing for only the largest 20% of particles, not the most harmful ultra-fine particles
• Failure to test for removal of gases and odors
• Basing results on a 30 minute test, not long term performance
• Accepting and recommending air purifiers that produce ozone despite the health risks of ozone

Here is one mother’s experience with Consumer Reports on air purifiers:

Lesson: Do not rely solely upon air purifier reviews to buy air purifiers. The results reflect the prejudices of the reviewers. Do your own research. A good place to begin is here on my site or achoo!Allergy’s Air purifier Buying Guide.

Rule #3: Don’t Trust Industry Air Purifier Ratings

Search out accurate third party air purifier information

Consumers almost always buy air purifiers that under-perform because air purifier ratings are subjective at best, deceptive at worst and almost always overstate the area that can be cleaned.

Air purifier experts recommend four air changes per hour (ACH) for allergy relief and six ACH for those with more severe and chronic respiratory ailments.

But how can you compare air purifiers for air changes per hour? Performance statistics are often not published. So there is little basis for trusting a manufacturer’s room size recommendation.

Where performance numbers are available manufacturers often make room size recommendations for one or two ACH. They base this estimate on air delivery at the maximum fan speed.

Even worse, some size recommendations are based on “free flow” ratings. Free flow means without any filters in place. Since you’re using your air purifier with filters installed this rating is useless for air purifier comparisons.

You should buy air purifiers based on how much clean air is delivered at low speed. That way noise is kept to a minimum. It also gives you surplus capacity when indoor air pollution is unusually high.

The CADR air purifier ratings should also be taken with a grain of salt. They often overstate performance for many air purifiers because the test is of short duration.

A case in point is ionic air purifiers. They do well initially but performance can slide by 80% in as few as three days as collection plates load with particles. Most consumers will let days or weeks pass between maintenance cleanings during which time little air purification is happening.

CADR ratings are based on large particulates like dust, pollen and smoke not the far more toxic and harmful ultra-fine particles smaller than 0.1 micron. CADR ratings provide no help to the consumer seeking to compare air purifiers for these more important health hazards.

Lesson: Don’t buy air purifiers based on manufacturers’ air purifier ratings. Seek out resources that honestly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of products like Allergy.com’s air purifier comparison chart.

Rule #4: Air Purifiers Alone Can’t Do It All

Take personal responsibility for your indoor air quality

Far too many buy air purifiers as a cure-all for indoor air quality problems without taking any other action.

What can you do to clear the air in your home and make certain you’re not countering the benefits of any indoor air purifiers you may be using?

You and I both choose the indoor environment we live in. No government agency holds sway over how you clean and maintain your home, what products you use, whether you keep pets, or whether you provide yourself with clean air. You alone make the decisions that affect your indoor air quality.

If you want to make the best decisions about your health then begin by learning how you can protect yourself by eliminating the sources of indoor air pollution.

Lesson: Indoor air purifiers play a role in clean air at home but the single most effective step is eliminating pollution at the source first.

Rule #5: Take Ozone Seriously

Ozone kills

Ozone has a fresh, after-the-rainstorm smell. Don’t be fooled! This is not the smell of clean air.

Exposure to ozone is the last thing you need. Ozone exacerbates asthma and other breathing difficulties. It increases sensitivity to allergens.

A 2004 EPA study found increased ozone concentrations were directly related to premature deaths. The study found that lowering outdoor concentrations of ozone by a mere 10 ppb (parts per billion) would result in some 4000 fewer premature deaths each year.

Yet ozone generators sold as air purifiers can increase indoor ozone levels by 300 ppb! How many may have paid the ultimate price, their very life, by using these machines?

Ionic air purifiers should also be considered with caution. While not emitting such high levels of ozone as ozone generators, they do produce ozone as a byproduct of normal operation. Do you really need this?

Lesson: Any product producing the pollutant ozone shouldn’t even be considered as an air purifier. Under no circumstances buy air purifiers that produce ozone.

Rule #6: Don’t Try to Buy Air Purifiers on the Cheap

Instead, shop for true value

Many who buy air purifiers mistakenly consider only the price, not long-term cost or value.

But can you really afford the cost of a wrong choice? Always consider long-term performance and cost. Discount and cheap air purifiers offer only cheap quality and poor performance.

Cheap air purifiers typically have higher maintenance costs. One of the “dirty little tricks” is to sell a cheap air purifier and then rob the customer with high priced replacement filters.

These air cleaners may also have poor prefilters that allow rapid clogging of the main filter, forcing you to regularly replace the filters.

Cheap air purifiers also have cheap motors prone to early failure. Cheap ionic air purifiers have cheap electronics, ionizing wires and pins that fail all too quickly.

Particle collection efficiencies and airflow rates in discount air purifiers may make upgrading your furnace filter a far better and cheaper option.

Lesson: Buy air purifiers that offer true value.

Rule #7: Always Consider Routine Maintenance

Unless you have a maid

Most consumers buy air purifiers without ever considering the true maintenance needs. Certain infomercials have misled the public into believing that filter maintenance is a laborious, messy and expensive chore.

HEPA filter air purifiers of superior quality and value may need a filter change only once every five years and take no more than ten minutes.

On the other hand, ionic air purifiers are presented as needing little more than a quick wipe or toss into the dishwasher.

But let’s dig deeper. In as few as three days ionic air purifier efficiency can become less than 20% resulting in very poor air cleaning.

To maintain efficiency regular cleaning is necessary. Many consumers complain that the plates are hard to disassemble and reassemble, are hard to clean between and don’t always fit in a dishwasher.

What is the five-year cost of running the collector plates through the dishwasher every second or third day? What about the time cost? How does a ten-minute filter swap once every three to five years compare to the time spent removing and cleaning a collector grid three times a week?

Lesson: Filter Free and Living Easy is a false promise. For set it and forget it operation that also delivers best performance go with a HEPA filter air purifier. I invite you to read more in my article about Why a HEPA air purifier is best.

Rule #8: Don’t Consider Only Popular Air Purifiers

Unless you don’t mind paying for their celebrity

Many consumers buy air purifiers they’ve seen on TV, often as a result of some infomercial. Sharper Image took advantage of this fact to such an extent they secured 25% of the air purifier market at the height of their product’s fame.

But saturating the airwaves with radio and TV spots, infomercials, print ads and celebrities costs millions. Who really pays for this? You do, that’s who. How much of an air purifier’s cost is tied to the hype? How much to its design and engineering?

Did you know that buying top billing in the ads listed above Google’s search results can cost an air purifier vendor 7 to 20 per click. How many of those clicks result in sales? Even if one in twenty buy air purifiers from the vendor that means 140 to 400 in advertising has to be covered by that one sale.

Lesson: Your best value is in manufacturers specializing in air purification, not in marketing companies specializing in cleaning out your wallet.

Rule #9: Buy Air Purifiers From A Trustworthy Vendor

One that sells nothing but air purifiers that really work

If you really want a satisfying experience as well as an air purifier that really works buy from a supplier specializing exclusively in allergy relief products. Verify that they carry a a 100% satisfaction guarantee on every product.

Determine whether they offer immediate shipping on your order and how much it costs. Free shipping is good!

Is ordering secure and easy. Do they protect your privacy?

Is their return policy generous, up to 60 days?

Do they provide numerous customer reviews from real people? Is there a large body of educational air purifier information to help you choose?

If you call them do you get a real person that knows what they’re talking about?

Do they offer lifetime product support?

• Discover why the best air purifier for your needs includes HEPA filtration.
• Build the foundation you need to buy air purifiers like an expert.
• I’ll show you how…

HEPA Filters Meet The Challenge of Medicine

Your air purifier should clean your air sufficiently to give you real health benefits.

Will a HEPA air purifier provide you with these benefits better than any other?
What do you think? Would you trust the choice of hospitals as a guide to the best air purifier?

Medical facilities need air purification to control infectious microbes that spread through ventilation systems causing illness and death. Thus operating rooms, outpatient surgery, labor and delivery, isolation rooms, intensive care and other areas require high efficiency filtration.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects, (AIA) and the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) all recommend HEPA filters for medical facilities.

Likewise, in Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Healthcare Facilities, the CDC recommends HEPA filtration to remove airborne contaminants. No other air purification method receives this endorsement.

If a HEPA filter is the best air purifier choice for hospitals then what is your best choice?

The Best Air Purifier For Health Benefits Is HEPA

Only HEPA filter air purifiers have the efficiency you need to improve conditions like:

• Allergic rhinitis
• Allergic conjunctivitis
• Asthma
• Allergic sinusitis
• Allergic bronchitis
• Animal allergies
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

A HEPA filter air purifier is effective at removing many types of airborne allergens, asthma triggers and infectious agents such as:

• Pollens
• Molds and mildews
• Dust mite debris
• Animal dander
• Cockroach debris
• Tobacco smoke

Facts About The Best Air Purifier Technology

HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air filter. A HEPA air filter must be 99.97% efficient, allowing no more than 3 particles in 10,000 to penetrate the HEPA filter media.

HEPA air filters were developed to contain radioactive particles at nuclear facilities. Since then, HEPA air purification has been used in industrial, medical and military clean rooms.

There are two very different types of air filters on the market that use the term “HEPA”.

• A true HEPA filter must remove 99.97% of all particles 0.3 microns in diameter.
• HEPA-type filters use similar media as true HEPA. However, their efficiency may be no more than 55% at removing particles regardless of diameter. These filters are much cheaper than true HEPA filters.

Avoid products that hijack the HEPA term but provide no performance guarantee.

HEPA filter material causes a great deal of resistance to airflow so a powerful fan is needed to push air through the air purifier.

Because of this resistance neither a HEPA air conditioner filter nor a HEPA furnace filter is practical. A whole house HEPA filter system is not recommended as your best air purifier choice. They filter only a portion of the air passing through your ductwork and provide you with less benefit than HEPA room air cleaners you can place wherever needed most.

HEPA filter replacement is essential to best air purifier performance. Your HEPA air purifier filters need to be changed when they are dirty or else your clean air will steadily dwindle. How often they need to be changed depends on several factors:

• How large the air purifier HEPA filter is. The greater the surface area of the filter the longer it will last. Some filters can exceed a five-year useful life expectancy.
• The best air purifiers use a prefilter. Prefilters stop larger particles from reaching the HEPA filter. Prefilters can often be cleaned and allow the HEPA filter to last longer.
• The kind of environment where the filter is being used. Homes with mold, pets or smokers require filter changes more often.

Now that you understand why HEPA filters are at the heart of the best air purifiers as well as some background information it’s time to move on.

I’d like to invite you now to consider why not all HEPA filter air purifiers are created equal and how it affects your choice of the best air purifier.

Buyer’s Advantage or Buyer’s Remorse: Does your air purifier supplier respect you?

Let me share how to buy air purifier and allergy relief products at no risk to you.

What is your biggest personal risk of loss when you buy air purifier and allergy relief products online? …Fraud? …Identity theft?

Try customer unfriendly policies.

Retailers once valued you as a customer. They knew displeasing you with poor service and inferior products was an unacceptable practice. They could lose your business and their reputation.

Unfortunately, Internet retailers seem unaware of such considerations. Access to a billion customers has killed responsible retailing.

Consider what happens when you buy air purifier and allergy supplies online.

You expect your air purifier to be an investment in the health of your family. What if the air purifier isn’t right for you?

With many air purifier suppliers this can be a costly mistake. Typical Internet retailers and auction sellers require you to pay restock fees as great as 25%. Given the cost of air purifiers (including those that don’t work, but that’s another story) you could easily lose as much as 200 on this transaction.

Some air purifier suppliers, especially auction sellers, have an “All Sales Final” policy, refusing any return. This is a significant risk to you.

I was once an auction seller. Returned air purifiers cost me a filter replacement refurbishing fee so the air purifier could be resold as new.

The company I represented encouraged me to charge restock fees that not only covered this cost but allowed me to make a profit on the return. So yes, air purifier suppliers can actually profit on a return transaction!

Never be exploited when you buy air purifier and allergy supplies online

I believe air purifier suppliers should never impose policies to abuse you while making profits from your loss.

That is one of the many reasons why I am pleased with achoo! Allergy. Apart from the usual guarantees of satisfaction, they actually have customer service and return policies that show they really believe in taking care of you.

Except for a few select products, some non-returnable by law like pillows, or custom made items, achoo! Allergy gives you sixty days to decide if an air purifier or allergy product is right for you.

One of the biggest surprises about their return policy is no restock fees!

There is one caveat to that policy. If an order is refused on delivery they do impose a small fee of 15%. This discourages frivolous ordering by non-serious persons who aren’t willing to try the product once it arrives.

That’s not a bad idea. I once delivered pizzas. It’s disgusting to hustle to someone’s door only for them to say, “I wanted to cancel that”. It’s only fair for a company to protect itself from frivolous people.

What about you? Would you prefer to buy air purifier and allergy supplies from an air purifier supplier that guarantees your satisfaction, gives you sixty days to try their products, and doesn’t impose heavy fees if you need to return an air purifier? If so, simply follow the banner below.

Do you have allergies, asthma or other respiratory troubles? HEPA room air cleaners are often presented as a complete one size fits all solution. I personally use a HEPA air cleaner in my own home, so my position is that they do offer benefits.

However, I find that much of the marketing is a little overly enthusiastic to put it kindly. Some claims simply are not supported by the research and the true measure of benefit is not as you might be led to believe.

The reality is the air in your home is influenced more by what you put into it than what you can take out of it. Does that sound reasonable?

HEPA room air cleaners can and should be only one part of a greater effort. My purpose in this article is to discuss some of the most common reasons for buying a HEPA filter air purifier and to what extent that air purifier will really help. I also will offer some alternatives that are even more effective. When these steps are taken together with air purification you’ll see the best results.

HEPA Room Air Cleaners For Seasonal Allergies

HEPA filter air purifiers are a great benefit if you suffer from seasonal allergies. HEPA filters trap both large and small particles so you aren’t breathing them in. Allergy triggers that cause itchy, water eyes, sneezing, and coughing are effectively removed from your air allowing you to breathe easy. This is one of the best uses for HEPA filter air purifiers.

HEPA Room Air Cleaners For Pet Allergies

If you have pets and you or someone in your home is allergic, then an air purifier may help the situation. However there are limits.

Cats are especially allergenic and are prolific creators of allergen. Worse yet, their allergen aggravates sensitivity to other allergens like pollen, making the allergic person even more miserable. One Japanese study found levels of cat allergen 160 times that of dust mite allergen in a typical home. The primary cat allergen, Fel d 1, is not only airborne but sticks to surfaces and textiles throughout the house. The allergic person is as likely to contact it via household furnishings and objects as to breathe it in.

A cat can also be compared with a lit cigarette; as long as it is present the continuous pollution exposes you even as the air purifier tries to remove it. Most studies have found air purifiers provide limited benefit to households that keep pets indoors. The best option is to remove the pet entirely. Even then pet allergens can take 6 to 12 months to subside from carpets and furnishings sufficiently for the allergic individual to be symptom free.

Some place the air purifier in a specific room, such as the bedroom, and forbid the pet from entering. This helps create a safe room for the allergy sufferer to go to for relief. However, the best option is to eliminate the source by removing the pet. Once you’ve come to grips with this reality, an air purifier will remove residual background allergens and help you breathe easier.

HEPA Room Air Cleaners For Dust Mite Allergies

Dust mites are tiny organisms that live off material such as dead skin flakes.

The dust mites themselves are not likely to ever become airborne and so a HEPA filter air purifier is not going to become a breeding ground for them as some competing air cleaner marketers wrongly claim. However, particles from their droppings and dead bodies can contaminate the air and a HEPA filter air purifier will remove these.

In all honesty though, most persons encounter dust mite allergen through their mattress and bed sheeting. Since your face is essentially lying upon the source of allergen an air purifier elsewhere in the room has limited effect with this allergen while you are sleeping.

Pillow and mattress casings specifically designed to prevent dust mites are your best option for reducing this exposure. Regular washing of sheets in hot water is also helpful. Dehumidifiers that keep humidity low also prevent them from multiplying since they require moisture from the air to live and breed.

HEPA Room Air Cleaners For Asthma

HEPA filter air purifiers are the most effective way to improve your indoor air if you suffer from asthma. Asthma triggers saturate indoor air and an HEPA filtration can help to diminish them.

There are many HEPA air cleaners on the market today designed to target asthma triggers. They can add a real piece of mind, knowing you are doing all you can to stop an asthma attack before it starts. For asthma, you may also wish to choose a unit with substantial carbon filtration, to address things like perfumes and other indoor chemical pollutants that can aggravate asthma conditions.

HEPA Room Air Cleaners For Smoke

Smoke: Smoke from your fireplace, cooking, or tobacco are potent irritants that can aggravate many respiratory conditions as well as cause them in otherwise healthy persons.

Getting rid of the smoke through source control is a far better choice than any air purifier. However, for intermittent exposures HEPA filter air purifiers coupled with activated carbon can quickly clear the air of both smoke particles and odors.

If this is your number one concern, then choose a unit that is specifically designed to handle this problem. There are air cleaners with specialized carbon blends designed to handle smoke more effectively than standard models. Allerair offers a number of excellent smoke air purifiers.

HEPA Room Air Cleaners For Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Chemical sensitivity can be divided in two categories.

First, some individuals are sensitive to one chemical or a number of chemicals present in their home and need an air purifier to address this specific issue. A high-quality unit with ample carbon and good filtration will be able to solve this problem easily.

The second type of chemically sensitive person is one who is highly reactive to most chemicals they come in contact with and, in general, that includes the glues, filters, and plastic material found in many air purifiers.

If you feel you fall into the latter, don’t despair. There are great units on the market that are specially made not to off-gas.

When you are ready to purchase a unit, just remember you want to take special care in choosing your air purifier, as many units claim to not off-gas but still do. Individuals with severe chemical sensitivities should only consider air purifiers designed for individuals with these specific needs. Typically, these are going to include large quantities of activated carbon, often specially blended to give added control of specific vocs.

The key to picking the right air cleaner for your indoor space lies in knowing what problems you want the unit to address.Some air purifiers can be custom created to suit a variety of needs, such as customer-specific carbon profiling to make sure you get the right activated carbon for your chemical sensitivity.

Allerair provides this service prior to purchasing their MCS model air purifier. A sample carbon test kit is sent to you to determine your sensitivity to a variety of carbon blends. Once you have indicated which one is most acceptable they will include that blend in your new air purifier. The cost of the test kit is deducted from your air purifier’s purchase price.

Are you considering activated carbon for odor control? If possible, it’s always best if you can remove the source of the odors.

Of course, there are circumstances where this is not practical. Baby diapers or a health problem are simply part of life. Perhaps your favorite hobby or a loved pet raises a stink and you have no wish to part with these.

That’s where an air purifier with a large bed of activated carbon for odor can help you. Activated carbon is an effective way to remove odors from cooking, cleaning products, tobacco smoke, human and pet waste, and VOCs.

In selecting the best air purifier for odor control you should remember that the effectiveness of any filter corresponds to the quantity of activated carbon contained in the filter.

One of the preeminent air purifier manufacturers, Allerair, has invested much energy into developing activated carbon filters to cover most any odor problem you may face. Allerair offers over forty specialized carbon blends covering industrial, commercial, medical, and military uses in addition to home use.

Allerair activated carbon air filters are more effective than other odor control filters because they contain more carbon. A greater amount of carbon solves your odor problems by removing odor concentrations and providing protection over a longer period of time. The true test of a carbon filter is how long it will continue to remove objectionable odors. Allerair carbon filters deliver fresh air longer, from two to three years.

Allerair’s off the shelf coconut shell derived activated carbon can take care of odors associated with normal home cleansers, mold, personal care products, and new furnishings. This is possible with other high quality air purifiers also, like Austin Air, Blueair, and IQAir.

However, Allerair also offers a wide variety of blends under their “Vocarb” trade name. The most common Vocarb offered handles the extra pollutant load of new carpets, wood furniture (stains, sealants, etc.), computers, and particleboard. They also have specialized blends to deal with pet odors (Vocarb PO), urine and incontinence odors (Vocarb IN), and tobacco smoke (Vocarb SM, found in their DS, DXS, and other “S” suffix models).

You can also choose carbon blends specially made for beauty salons, artists, glues and embalming fluids, welding and soldering fumes, and persons with multiple chemical sensitivities.

If you feel you need specialized activated carbon for odor control then my first recommendation is Allerair air purifiers. My second recommendation is a knowledgeable dealer with personal service that can guide you in choosing the best unit for your circumstances. Allergybuyersclub.com is your best online air purifier source.

To learn more about activated carbon for air purification view these additional articles:

• Why is activated carbon filtration essential in your air purifier?
• Choosing activated carbon filters | How to evaluate air purifier quality
• The activated carbon filter pad in multistage air purifiers isnt good enough
• Activated carbon air cleaner report | The purifiers that really perform

Are you considering a portable HEPA filter air purifier for relief of allergy or asthma symptoms? Would you like to know whether it would be a good investment? What can you do in your home to get the greatest symptom relief? If buying a portable HEPA filter air purifier is part of your strategy how can you be certain you’ve chosen well?

These are important questions both from a health perspective and financially, since high quality air purifiers are not inexpensive.

I have faced these very questions myself. My wife suffers from allergies, asthma, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), as well as fibromyalgia. Air quality makes a tremendous difference for her ability to engage in normal activities around the house, let alone out of doors.

You Can Sink Or Swim

The good news is that buying a portable HEPA filter air cleaner can be a good investment. Expert opinions hold that they do reduce airborne concentrations of many irritants. This can bring a measure of relief. However it is also agreed that you cannot rely on them entirely.

Think of it this way. A ship at sea has pumps to remove unwanted water that reduces its buoyancy. But this doesn’t enable the ship to remain afloat with a gaping hole in its side. Better to have structural integrity than the best pumps in the world.

Your home air can be likened to that ship and its pollutant load to the water. Is it better to have the best portable HEPA filter hard at work pumping pollutants out? Or to maintain a home that doesn’t introduce those pollutants in the first place?

Lifestyle Changes Are First And Best

Keeping pollutants out will involve certain changes, some of which may even be called sacrifices. Easy enough is purchasing cleaning and personal products that are fragrance and dye free. Discontinue the use of so called “air fresheners” that only mask odors by introducing fragrant chemicals to the air. Candles, whether natural beeswax or not, also add soot and unburned hydrocarbons to the air.

Many people have found that removing carpets is of great benefit. Not only do they outgas volatile organic compounds, they harbor dust mites and their allergens. They also retain pet dander and pet allergens, increasing the total quantity of these.

More difficult is the necessary step of eliminating smoking from the household. Even if smoking is relegated to outside, the smoker brings in on their person enough residue to be a problem. Some studies have shown that negative health effects in children are not improved at all when smoking is done outside versus inside.

Another difficult choice is removal of a pet. Pet allergens, especially cat allergens, can exacerbate all other allergies. Even if you are not allergic to cats, you have a high likelihood of developing one. As many as 80% of persons with a cat in the home show signs of cat allergy whereas only 10% to 20% of the population at large has cat allergy.

All the above mentioned pollutant sources are things for which people often wish to buy a portable HEPA filter air cleaner. They are also the sorts of things that stream a steady load of pollutants greater than any purifier is designed to handle. That is why air filtration cannot be your first and only choice. You must take responsibility for air quality in the home and remove the things that cause your health problems.

More Information About Buying A Portable HEPA Filter Air Purifier

A portable HEPA filter air purifier will now be a much better health aid once you have eliminated the bulk of pollutants from your home. That is really the purpose of its design, to purify the air to a higher degree than good housekeeping alone can achieve.

What should you consider when buying a portable HEPA filter air cleaner for allergy relief?

Overall capacity should be first and foremost for two important reasons.

First you want a unit that can give multiple air changes per hour (ACH) for the size room you’ll be using it in. The more times the room air passes through the filter the cleaner it will be and the better relief you will get.

Second, you want a unit that will give you the needed ACH on its lowest or intermediate settings. These are its quietest settings and noise is often a complaint with portable HEPA air purifiers.

There are of course many other important considerations beyond the scope of this article. Please review these articles about buying a portable HEPA filter air cleaner and HEPA air filtration.

How To Know If An Activated Carbon Filter Won’t Clean Your Air

How do you feel when someone sells you a product and afterward you discover it doesn’t do what was promised? Would you return again and again to the same vendor? This is precisely what you will do as you continue to buy filters for air purifiers that don’t clean the air.

Is my contention true, those manufacturers who claim an activated carbon filter pad removes chemicals and odors are deceiving you? Please allow me the opportunity to present my case and you be the judge.

Many air purifiers include activated carbon for gas and odor removal, but will not mention how much is in their filter. This is because, at best, they have coated a mat with a few token ounces of activated carbon.

In an average home, that small amount of carbon could get saturated in days, even hours. After this, the filter would need to be replaced or it would be doing nothing.

If an air purifier does not make any obvious claims about the amount of activated carbon it uses, you should question the filter’s effectiveness.

Why activated carbon filter pads don’t give you the clean air you expect

Air purification is big business and many companies have entered the air purifier market.

However, these companies are not air purifier manufacturers solely in the business of air purification. They are consumer product sales organizations. Most manufacture nothing at all, but contract design and production to others. Their primary concern is to market whatever is the hot seller of the day.

Eager to gain the approval of consumers they hype the fact that they offer “multistage” air cleaners that can control all sorts of air pollution.

An activated carbon filter is usually featured as one of the stages in these air purifiers. They typically take the form of a foam mesh impregnated with a few token ounces of activated carbon.

Is this good enough? Are these companies being honest? What about those manufacturers that offer a deep activated carbon bed that includes many pounds of activated carbon?

Question the quality of the activated carbon

Activated carbon can vary greatly depending on the methods used to produce it. For instance, the surface area available to adsorb pollutants can vary between 400 sq. meters per gram to over 1500 sq. meters per gram.

Activated carbon can generally remove some of any chemical. However, raw activated carbon may not be very effective against many of the pollutants you’re concerned about. That’s why activated carbon needs to be impregnated with special catalysts and chemisorbs to ensure maximum effectiveness against typical pollutants.

Air purifiers using an activated carbon filter pad never address these issues in any of their consumer literature. How can you know the real capabilities of their filter? You can’t.

Question the quantity of filtration

How much chemical contamination can a few ounces of activated carbon adsorb?

Activated carbon can adsorb as much as 60% of its weight in pollutants. This is best accomplished by increasing the “dwell time” or time spent in contact with the pollutants.

An activated carbon filter pad cannot supply much in the way of dwell time. Air passes through such thin filters quickly. Filter pads with only a few ounces of activated carbon have precious little time or capacity to make any real difference in your air quality.

This is why high quality air purifier manufacturers whose business is nothing but air purification include a deep activated carbon bed that often weighs many pounds.

Question the design of the air purifier

All too often, activated carbon filter pads are used as a prefilter for a higher efficiency particle filter. This exposes the activated carbon to the incoming stream of dust and microparticles.

The structure of activated carbon is that of macropores branching into ever-smaller micropores. Incoming particles can easily clog these larger pores and prevent gaseous contaminants from entering the micropores where adsorption takes place.

Using an activated carbon filter pad as a prefilter is a bad design decision.

Another bad decision that seems to defy all common sense is the inclusion of scent cartridges in air purifiers with activated carbon.

Since activated carbon is supposed to remove odors and volatile chemicals from the air, why is a source of volatile chemical fragrance included? This seems to defeat the purpose of the activated carbon.

The reality is that the scent masks the odors in the air and is intended to lead you to believe the air purifier is doing a good job.

Activated carbon filtration works if you choose the right air purifier

Activated carbon in air purifiers has real value when employed in a deep bed.

There are several air purifier manufacturers that design and build there own products with this in mind. Some examples are Allerair, Austin Air, Blueair, and Iqair. These companies understand that a large volume of activated carbon is essential for air purifier performance.

Activated carbon filter pads are a gimmick of marketing companies. These sales organizations are only interested in grabbing a piece of the air purifier market with inferior products. They rely on the absence of consumer education about air purification to succeed.

You can make a much better choice.

Have you ever wondered why activated carbon filters are included in so many air purifiers? How necessary is activated carbon to fulfilling your desire for clean air? How can you judge which air purifiers use it to best advantage?

I’d like to offer you a short series of articles that address the most important things you need to know about activated carbon. Understanding why you need activated carbon and what you should look for in an air purifier that includes it will help you make the best choice for your needs.

Activated carbon is the most effective way to remove volatile organic compounds, gases, tobacco smoke, and odors. This goes a long way toward protecting your health and ensuring a more pleasant home environment.

Activated carbon can be enhanced to be even more effective at controlling chemicals by the addition of special catalysts and chemisorbers.

Learn more about how activated carbon filtration protects your health with our article, Why is activated carbon filtration essential in your air purifier?

How to evaluate air cleaners with activated carbon air filters

Is removing chemical air pollution important to you? An activated carbon air filter is the most effective way to accomplish that task.

An air purifier without an activated carbon air filter is only half an air purifier. What features should you look for in an activated carbon air purifier? How does activated carbon work?

Learn how to choose your air cleaner in our article, Activated carbon air filter performance | Choosing an effective air cleaner.

Why a simple activated carbon pad isn’t good enough

Are air purifier manufacturers that claim an activated carbon filter pad can remove chemicals and odors deceiving you?

Many air purifiers claim to use activated carbon for gas and odor removal, but have simply coated a mat with a few ounces of activated carbon.

Understand the limits of an activated carbon pad and learn why an air purifier needs a deep activated carbon bed to be effective. See our article, The activated carbon filter pad in multistage air purifiers isn’t good enough.

Clean, unpolluted, healthy air should be a simple thing to find. With your reliable air purifier comparisons in hand, all you need to do is pick a superior quality air purifier, right?

But when faced with the diverse array of potential contaminants, whether particulate, gaseous, or biological, how can you choose the best air purifier for your needs. A dizzying variety of air cleaners built around combinations of various air cleaning technologies, each with their claims and counterclaims is nothing short of confusing.

Most air purifier comparisons you find in magazines or on the web review only a limited number of products. They also do not do a good job of clearing the air of confusion surrounding competing technologies.

Should you buy an ionic purifier or a HEPA purifier? Is ozone bad or good? Should you avoid units that produce even the smallest amount of ozone or go completely in the opposite direction and buy an ozone generator to produce as much ozone as possible? Electrostatic precipitators, negative ion generators, electronic air cleaners, electrostatic filters, UV purifiers, activated carbon, and on and on – What can really benefit you?

Further complicating the matter is the way some sellers make extravagant claims for their own products while making acrimonious accusations against competitors, watchdog groups and even against government agencies.

In the US, the battle between Sharper Image’s Ionic Breeze and the Oreck XL plays out during what seems to be every television commercial break. Sharper Image also initiated a lawsuit against Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports Magazine, for reporting negatively on one of its products.

Alpine Air launched a lawsuit against the US Federal Trade Commission to overthrow restrictions placed on it’s advertising because the FTC found its ads misleading.

This outrageous boldness in seeking to throw off criticisms and restraints in advertising claims is the result of a general slackness in regulation of air-cleaning devices that has been termed by Consumer Reports Magazine as “a regulatory black hole”. New Concerns About Ionizing Air Cleaners Consumer Reports May 2005 p. 23.

Regulations in other countries are likewise weak, though in Canada, Health Canada has issued warnings against the use of devices specifically designed to produce ozone and has given the public a list of devices to avoid. Health Canada Warning

With your family’s health at stake who is to be believed?

I believe that air purifiers can be of great benefit to you in promoting a healthy living environment. But it is also obvious that not all methods of cleaning the air are equal. That is why thorough and reliable air purifier comparisons of both products and technologies are needed.

The rest of this article will seek to detail the competing technologies in air cleaners and provide you with links to more information on them. The various types of air cleaners are listed alphabetically with a link to an article discussing their merits and flaws. These air purifier comparisons will give you clear direction as to what constitutes a superior quality air purifier. Those methods that are ineffective and even dangerous are clearly exposed and the reasons why they should be avoided are given.

At the bottom of the page is a link to my home air purifier guide. It provides air purifier comparisons of products commonly found on the market with a short review and whether it is recommended or not.

Discover the Top Ten Cut-to-the-Chase Rules for Buying HEPA Filter Air Purifiers

HEPA filter air purifiers can be expensive. Of course, expense does not always equal value. Obviously, no air purifier has any value unless it does what you want – clean your air.

But there are other considerations that are important to your satisfaction. Allow me to share these top ten rules for buying a HEPA filter air purifier.

• Most HEPA indoor air purifiers are to be used in a single room. Will this satisfy your needs? Air movement from room to room is restricted by walls and furnishings. Even with a large capacity air purifier you are unlikely to affect the air across multiple rooms or throughout the house. It is better to buy multiple air purifiers or a portable air purifier sized to the largest room it will be used in. Easy portability allows you to move it where you need it most.
• Your HEPA filter air purifier must be large enough.
  To save expense, some buy an air purifier that is not adequate for the room they wish to clean. A smaller air purifier will not simply “take a little longer” to purify the air. You must consider the concept of “reintroduction rate”. New pollutants are continually introduced into the air. Your air purifier must provide sufficient air changes per hour to overcome this continuous reintroduction of pollutants.
• Noise is determined by size and fan speed.
  Do not buy an air purifier based on its maximum cleaning capacity. Selecting an air cleaner that can provide sufficient air changes per hour at its lowest fan speed means you will be using it at its quietest setting.
• Make certain it will remove what concerns you most.
  HEPA filter air purifiers are the most effective means for removing particulate allergens and irritants. However, if odors and chemicals greatly concern you then HEPA filters alone will not help. Significant odor removal requires significant amounts of activated carbon, many pounds of it.
• Is it a true HEPA filter or a HEPA type?
  To qualify as true HEPA, a filter must be rated to remove 99.97 percent of all particles at 0.3 microns. HEPA type filters often use similar technology as true HEPA. However, their efficiency may be only 55 percent or less of particles that are 0.3 microns. These filters are often much cheaper than true HEPA filters but are unlikely to provide you with much relief from allergens and irritants.
• Regularity and expense of HEPA filter replacements.
  The cost of replacement HEPA filters may seem high. However, consider that replacement may be once every two, five, even eight years. Since HEPA filtration efficiency does not diminish with loading, the only reason to change one is when air flow becomes too reduced to deliver the clean air you need. For greatest economy, buy a HEPA air purifier with a long duration filter.
• Total system efficiency should be close to the HEPA potential.
  In some HEPA air cleaners as much as 40% to 50% of the air may bypass the filter. Reasons for this range from poor sealing of the housing, cracks in the filter and even intentional design to reduce backpressure on an inferior motor. Most air purifiers provide no documentation on efficiency of the unit as a whole. The most notable exception is IQAir. Their HealthPro series are each tested, certified and sent to you with documentation of total efficiency. Other high quality air purifier manufacturers are Allerair, BlueAir and Austin Air.
• Buy a HEPA purifier with durable, nontoxic construction.
  The best air purifiers have a solidly built housing with high quality gaskets and seals. Look for an air purifier that will not outgas VOCS. Metal housings will not expose you to off-gassing like many plastic cheap air purifiers. Soft plastics are often a problem, both in out gassing VOCS and failing to maintain an airtight seal around the filter. Hard ABS plastic as used in IQAir does maintain a firm seal with the filter and is not prone to giving off VOCS. High quality, sealed bearings and motor windings will eliminate burning smells from the air purifier.
• Additional Features To Look For In A HEPA Filter Air Purifier
  Many air purifiers have special features that can enhance your experience. These features add convenience and give you options that ease the care and maintenance of your air purifier. Some of the features to consider when buying your air cleaner:
  1. Casters for ease of mobility
  2. Remote control
  3. Digital controls
  4. Multiple fan speeds
  5. Handles
  6. Ease of filter change
  7. Filter-change indicator light
  >
  • The air purifier supplier is essential to your satisfaction.
  • Why buy an air purifier from an over-the-top hype monger? Ominous statistics, astonishing quotes from presumed “experts” and “falling over themselves to gush praise” testimonials from “JD in South Dakota” are a sure sign you should move on. Reputable online air purifier sources (my own favorite is Achoo! Allergy) provide abundant educational information that is both expert and comprehensible. Their air purifier comparisons are fair and objective, not one sided. They willingly share potential negatives so you have no unpleasant surprises. They screen their product line and never offer you inferior products that do harm or don’t perform to expectations. Look for easy return policies that allow you a full sixty days to see the benefits of your purchase. Reject suppliers that will charge you exorbitant restocking fees.

How to eliminate 95% from consideration now.

Which air purifiers are best?

It’s good to have choices, but not when you’re unable to choose confidently.

Comparing air purifiers for the home is confusing for many consumers.

The bewildering claims made for each type may make it difficult to focus on the best air cleaner for your needs.

If you’re already familiar with the secret to top performing home air cleaners then you’re ready to use that standard to rate each type of air cleaner.

More importantly, you’re ready to completely reject poor performers.

True HEPA Air Purifiers – The Industry Standard

Unsurpassed filtration efficiency

Only HEPA air filters meet a verifiable performance standard.

HEPA filters remove 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles, slightly smaller than tuberculosis bacteria at 0.4 micron.

One misconception is that HEPA filters perform less well with smaller particles. In reality, HEPA efficiency is higher with smaller particle sizes.

An effect called Brownian diffusion helps trap particles smaller than 0.3 micron in the HEPA filter, enabling it to capture bacteria and viruses.

Because of this incredible efficiency the Hong Kong Hospital Authority chose HEPA air cleaners like the IQAIR HealthPro at right to control the spread of the SARS virus.

HEPA filters may last two to five years. Thus, your actual cost for exceptionally clean air may be quite low in comparison to air cleaners that require filter replacement every few months.

HEPA Type – Poor Imitations Of The Real Thing

Reject cheap air cleaners

A mark of cheap air purifiers, HEPA type filter media may provide no performance indications or specify a standard clearly less than true HEPA.

These air cleaners will not give you significant air quality improvement.

Why? Because total system efficiency is often no greater than 50%.

The Holmes air purifier at left claims a filter efficiency of 99% at 2 micron. This is much larger than the most harmful fine and ultra fine particles.

Filters like these may be completely unable to collect the sub-micron to 2.5 micron particles that most seriously affect your health.

Even larger particles up to 10 microns, like pollen, may not be removed effectively due to filter bypassing common in cheap air cleaners.

Short filter life is also common. The greatest scam on the market is to sell cheap air cleaners and bilk customers later with costly filter replacements.

Electrostatic Precipitators – AKA Ionic Air Purifiers

Reject ionic air cleaners

Ionic air purifiers use electric charges to remove allergens and irritants. They have no effect on gases and odors.

Particle collection efficiency tends to be no greater than 80%.

Studies show efficiency dwindles to as little as 20% in as few as three days as collector plates load with particles.

Regular cleaning is a must for continued performance, yet many owners complain it is difficult cleaning collector plates.

These models are praised for being silent. This is a marketing ploy designed to present as an advantage the fact that they move little air.

Ionic air cleaners also produce ozone which is lung damaging and elevates sensitivity to allergens and irritants. This is the last thing anyone with respiratory problems should be exposed to.

Air Ionizer Purifiers – Wishful Thinking At Best

Reject air ionizer purifiers

Ion generators, or air ionizer purifiers, release charged ions into the air that attach to particles, statically charging them.

There is no method of capturing these charged pollutants.

Instead, they stick to surfaces such as walls and furniture or combine with other particles and settle on room surfaces.

This produces the common problem known as “black wall effect” buyers of these units complain about.

The most significant problem with air ionizers is the health threat posed by the “black wall effect” taking place in your lungs.

Studies have shown electrically charging very fine particles results in their higher deposition rate in the lungs compared to uncharged particles.

So using ion generators may actually increase the dose of particles to the lungs, making your situation worse than if you were using nothing at all.

Ozone Air Purifiers – Hazardous To Your Health

Reject ozone machines

Proponents of ozone generators claim ozone oxidizes pollutants, reducing them to water and carbon dioxide.

In the real world such textbook reactions rarely happen. Instead, numerous by products are created.

These byproducts can be more dangerous than the original pollutants.

Ozone cannot distinguish what is and is not a pollutant. It reacts with almost anything it contacts, degrading materials and creating additional pollutants.

Supporters claim ozone kills bacteria but deny it kills cells in your airway. They reject all scientific evidence and warnings that ozone is harmful.

Sellers of ozone machines are perpetrating a fraud. They get away with it in the US because no federal agency regulates these products. On the state level, at least California has banned their sale.

An ozone generator is ineffective and exposes you to danger.

UV Air Purifiers – Is This Extra Really Necessary?

Is UV light worth the cost?

UV air purifiers create ultraviolet light that may destroy some biological pollutants like viruses and bacteria. Higher doses of UV light may be reqiured than than a home air purifier

UV air cleaners have no effect on gases or particles. UV germicidal irradiation should not be used to replace filtration.

Because HEPA filtration captures most biological pollutants, adding UV light sterilization offers minimal benefit.

Because mold spores can cause allergic reactions whether dead or alive, UV sterilizers or sanitizers by themselves will not help your allergies or asthma.

Photocatalytic Air Purifiers – New, But Is It Better?

PCO is of limited benefit

Photocatalytic air purifiers are promoted to destroy gases and odors.

They have no effect on particulates despite the fact that some marketers would have you believe this.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used as a catalyst in the presence of UV light to cause a chemical reaction between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and water molecules in the air.

Ideally this reaction reduces gases and odors to water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Unfortunately, textbook reactions are not always the result.

Incomplete destruction of VOCs results in creating additional pollutants that may be more irritating and potentially toxic than the original compounds.

Activated Carbon – Chemical And Odor Control

Activated carbon for gases and odors

Gas phase filters remove gases and odors and are often added to HEPA filtration to enhance air cleaning.

The most effective gas filtration is by activated carbon. It removes up to 60% of its own weight in chemicals.

A deep bed of activated carbon is best. That is why the best home air purifiers include many pounds of activated carbon.

Thin activated carbon pads are practically worthless. They neither have sufficient activated carbon to be effective nor do they supply the dwell time needed to remove pollutants.

Rather than a competing technology, gas filtration is complementary to HEPA air purification. Combined with HEPA air filters it creates the most effective air cleaning available.

So, What’s Your Next Move?

Why not learn more before choosing?

Buying air purifiers for the home is a serious matter.

Please carefully consider your needs and research what will meet them.

I cannot overemphasize how important this is.

I face MCS, allergy and asthma daily in my family.

By carefully comparing air purifiers for the home I proved to myself that HEPA filters combined with large capacity activated carbon chemical removal was best for my own needs.

Why not take the time now to consider convincing proof why hepa filters are best?

Do you dread the thought of buying a HEPA air purifier online?

Online air purifier information is often contradictory, blatantly false or even incomprehensible. Almost all of it is nothing more than calls to “buy me, buy me, buy me”.

You deserve a simpler, helpful air purifier guide.

It shouldn’t waste your time.

That is what I hope you find in this guide to buying HEPA air purifiers. Please take a few moments to see if it answers your questions. All you have to lose is hours of pointing and clicking elsewhere.

About HEPA Air Purifiers

Portable HEPA filter air purifiers are designed to remove particles from the air like dust, pollen, pet dander, allergens, bacteria, and viruses.

HEPA filtration is used in hospital operating rooms and intensive care units for just such purposes. HEPA filters are recommended by government agencies as helpful in controlling communicable diseases like tuberculosis, SARS, influenza, bird flu and other infectious agents.

Most incorporate add-on technologies like activated carbon or germicidal UV lights to extend performance beyond what the HEPA filter media can achieve.

When buying a HEPA air purifier you’ll find models designed for specific problems. There are air purifiers available for particle filtration, smoke and odor removal or relief for allergy, asthma and multiple chemical sensitivities.

Understand the Features of HEPA Air Purifiers

HEPA Filters

A true HEPA filter removes 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns in size. Many sites state “and larger” implying this is best-case HEPA filter efficiency. This shows a lack of understanding about HEPA filter material. The efficiency rating is not the best a HEPA filter can do, but the worst.

To understand, picture a child throwing balls at multiple layers of chain link fence. Tennis balls do not pass at all. This represents particles larger than 0.3 micron.

Ping-pong balls represent particles smaller than 0.3 micron. They are smaller than the gaps but lack the mass necessary to bully through the layers. An effect called diffusion causes particles to follow an irregular path. Picture a ping-pong ball corkscrewing through the air. It could never pass through the fence layers.

A golf ball is small enough and has the mass to follow a more direct path to avoid being stopped by the layers of fencing. This represents particles 0.3 micron in size. This is referred to as the Most Penetrating Particle Size.

A HEPA filter’s worst performance is at 0.3 micron. All other particles, whether larger or smaller are stopped with greater efficiency. This makes HEPA filter air purifiers ideal for removing allergens such as pet dander, dust mite residue, and pollen. These air purifiers are beneficial for those who suffer from respiratory conditions like asthma and allergies.

Activated Carbon Filters

Activated carbon filters are often used within HEPA filter air purifiers to remove odors and chemicals from the air.

An activated carbon air filter contains specially treated carbon that has had millions of tiny pores opened up enabling it to trap gases by a process called adsorption. The adsorption occurs when chemicals are attracted to the activated carbon by a force known as the van der Waals force.

An activated carbon filter is able to adsorb a wide range of chemicals up to 60% of its own weight. Once the carbon reaches its full capacity the filter needs to be replaced. How often will depend on the contamination level of the environment and how much carbon you have to begin with. This is why a HEPA filter air purifier that includes many pounds of activated carbon is recommended on this site.

Activated carbon filtration is most often used to adsorb:

• The chemicals in smoke (from cigarettes and fireplaces)
• Formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (from furniture, carpet glues, paints, plastics, new building materials, etc.)
• Odors (pet, kitchen, urine, etc.)

Pre-filters

Pre-filters help trap large particles before they reach the HEPA filter. Having this pre-filter is a great benefit. It helps extend the time between filter changes and keeps the unit working more efficiently.

Costs of HEPA Air Purifiers

The price of HEPA filter air purifiers can range from the low 200s to more than 1,000. Deciding whether to choose the low-end or high-end model can be confusing.

There are real differences in models, total capacity, actual system efficiency (not to be confused with the HEPA filter efficiency), and additional features like germicidal UV light or photocatalysis. The quality and quantity of clean air coming out of the unit is the basis of how each air purifier is different from one another.

You don’t have to be an air purifier expert to figure out which unit is best for your needs, you simply need to consider clearly what your needs are. For example, you might ask the following questions to get the process started:

• Why am I getting this unit? Allergies, asthma, chemical sensitivity, odors?
• Is it for a single room? Or am I trying to clean all the air in my house?
• How big is my space (estimated square footage and consider high ceilings)?
• How long do I expect the unit to last?
• What is my budget?
• How much does it cost to maintain/replace filters?
• Do I want special features, like a “change filter” indicator light?

Answering the above questions is a useful method to help you decide what type of unit you need to address your specific indoor air issues.

Maintaining Your HEPA Air Purifier

Maintaining an air purifier is an important part of keeping the unit working effectively, and there is a certain amount of cost and effort involved. Certainly air purifiers work for a time as a “turn it on and forget it” appliance; however, to get the most out of your investment you must keep the filters changed as needed.

The cost of filters varies by unit and by type of filter, so it is important to check the price point on filters and the frequency of filter changes before you decide to purchase. Also, consider the environment in which you want the unit to function.

For example, if you smoke in your home and you want a unit that will help to filter the smoke and the smell of the smoke, you will want a unit with an ample amount of carbon. You should evaluate the cost of replacing carbon filters as they become saturated.

HEPA Air Purifier Size And Efficiency

Air purifiers work best in the room they are placed in, and lose effectiveness the further you move away from that room. Single-room units cannot effectively clean the air in your entire house, as only the air that gets sucked into the unit gets cleaned. However, multiple units, or single-room units in combination with a whole-house unit is the best choice for total home air purification.

When choosing what size unit to buy, you should consider the size of the area you want to clean. Ideally, your air cleaner should be able to provide five to six air exchanges per hour. However, any calculation of air exchanges per hour is only a foundation for helping you consider how a unit will perform in your home. This is because factors like the design of your home, which affects air flow from room to room, ceiling heights, the amount of furniture in your home the air must circulate around, the insulation of your rooms/home, and the amount of indoor air pollutants, such as pets and dust all impact an air purifier’s ability to clean the air.

Air purifiers are rated by the cubic feet per minute (CFM) of clean air they deliver. You can determine how large an air purifier you need by determining the cubic feet of the room you wish to use it in. Multiply the length, width and height of your room. This gives you your room’s cubic feet. Divide that number by five; for the number of air exchanges you need to have. The final number is the CFM necessary to give you those five air exchanges. You should then look for air purifiers rated at that capacity or greater.

Another consideration when it comes to efficiency is the fan in a unit. A general rule of thumb is the larger and stronger the fan, the more air the unit can clean and the faster it can clean it. A unit with multiple fan speeds will allow you to customize your air cleaner to better suit your needs. Choosing a unit with sufficient capacity to clean your air on a low setting will also mean quieter operation for you.

Also, remember an air purifier can improve the quality of your indoor air, but it cannot eliminate pollutants completely. It won’t suck all the dust from your hard surfaces or prevent pollen from entering your house. However, it will help you to breathe easier, lessen your allergies, and give you a piece of mind that indoor air contaminants are minimized.

The Elusive Silent HEPA Air Purifier

You cannot find silent HEPA air purifiers because they must physically force air through the filter using a motorized fan. While HEPA air purifiers are not silent, the amount of sound they produce varies considerably. Many factors contribute to the sound level and whether you will be disturbed by it.

The most common area air purifiers are placed is the bedroom. However, this is the number one area where people find the sound the most intrusive. The ideal way to have a quiet HEPA air cleaner is to choose a unit that can clean the room air at its lowest setting.

Another option is to choose one of the Blueair air purifiers. These are not technically HEPA air purifiers but they achieve HEPA grade performance. They are a hybrid design that uses an ionizer ahead of the filter to boost collection efficiency of the filter. The filter itself offers lesser resistance to airflow than a standard HEPA filter. This lesser resistance means a lesser fan and quieter operation.

Either way, it is important to understand that a sound will come from these units and it’s just a matter of finding the level of sound you are comfortable with.

Many units list the decibel rating of the system at each fan speed. You can compare these ratings to other indoor appliances, such as the level of sound you hear from a normal box fan or the hum of the refrigerator, which can give you a point of reference.

Sound is different to each individual, and even decibel results can sometimes be misleading as many things can affect sound level, such as position of the unit, carpeting, furniture, distance from the unit while it is running, fan speed, etc.

Additional Features In HEPA Air Purifiers

Many air purifiers special features that can greatly enhance your air cleaning experience. These features add convenience to your life and give you the additional options that allow you to optimize your air purifier to best fit your needs. Some of the special features to consider when shopping for your air cleaner:

• Casters for ease of mobility
• Remote control
• Digital controls
• Multiple fan speeds
• Handles
• Ease of filter change
• Filter-change indicator light

If you would like to protect your health from indoor air pollutants then buying a HEPA filter air cleaner is a practical first step.

Of course, that is easier said than done. Widespread concern over indoor air pollution has created a market filled with half measures, to be generous. The odor of cash bearing customers is the one odor most air purifiers are designed to handle best.

Are you concerned about the harm poor indoor air can do to your family? Do you believe you deserve true value for the money you invest in your family’s health? Before you entrust your family’s health to any air purifier shouldn’t you determine if it is really adequate for your needs?

What standards should you use when buying a HEPA filter air cleaner?

Certainly not price. Inferior products are often priced similarly to the best air purifiers simply to be perceived as being of the same caliber.

What is needed is a clear and simple home air purifier guide. The air purifier information you find throughout this site and the following guidelines will help you make an informed decision.

Features to look for when buying a HEPA filter air cleaner

Buy a HEPA filter air cleaner designed for years of minimal intervention and maintenance

Cheap air purifiers can often be much more costly in the long run. Think about it, how do they reduce the cost?

By building around a cheap motor that can’t meet the challenge of a large area HEPA filter. This means reducing the size of the filter and allowing bypassing of air around the filter to reduce backpressure and also to help cool the lesser quality motor.

What does this mean to you? Smaller filters require more often replacement due to loading and thus greater maintenance cost for you.

These cheap motors can be spotted chiefly by short warranty periods. Of course, they’ll fail as soon as the warranty expires!

You should look for air purifier manufacturers that are willing to stand behind they’re product five or even ten years as Allerair does.

Look for assertions that the motor uses closed, sealed motor windings. These give you clean operation without off gassing and burning smell, a problem owners of cheap air purifiers complain about.

Quarterly maintenance should only take a few seconds to replace or clean the prefilter. The life expectancy estimated for the HEPA filter should be three to five years depending on the environment where it is used, such as a smoking home versus a nonsmoking one.

Activated carbon filters likewise should last as long as possible, but this often depends on the total quantity of carbon in the filter and the circumstances of use.

Buy a HEPA filter air cleaner that can remove odors and harmful chemicals

Any HEPA filter air cleaner should also include a large activated carbon bed. No particulate filter, even HEPA, will remove gases and odors. Effective removal of gaseous toxins requires a large bed of activated carbon to ensure sufficient dwell time to trap the gases.

All high quality air cleaners offer many pounds of activated carbon to trap noxious gas and odors. The deep bed of activated carbon has the capacity to adsorb thousands of chemicals, gases and odors that can cause health problems for you and your family.

Most air cleaners have a only a thin layer of carbon sprayed on a mesh. Which is not enough to make any real difference. Its sole purpose is to enable cheap air purifiers to add another bullet point on their feature list. Many retail corporations in typical “me too” fashion have jumped on the air purification bandwagon by contracting with manufacturers to build snazzy looking but poor performing air purifiers.

Why buy an “air purifier” with only a few token ounces of carbon sprayed on a mesh? It’s only going to add to your filter replacement costs while providing no real benefit.

Also, consider a manufacturer that offers a wide variety of specialized blends of carbon and catalysts so you can customize the air purifier to your needs. For instance, a care facility where urine odors are common would require a different carbon blend than a beauty salon or welding shop.

Likewise, someone with MCS may need an air purifier specifically designed for MCS sufferers. Even then, some activated carbons may prove unacceptable due to source or added chemisorbers and catalysts. Allerair offers a test sample kit of carbons for an MCS sufferer to determine beforehand if a particular carbon blend is problematic.

Buy a HEPA filter air cleaner that is durable and safe with nontoxic construction

Would an “air purifier” company have your best interests in mind if their unit were itself a source of pollutants?

The best air purifiers have a solidly built housing with high quality gaskets and seals to ensure no leakage of air around the filter.

These internal components should be sealed with a glueless gasket that protects you from odors and volatile organic compounds that off gas from the glued rubber gaskets found in most other air cleaners. Look for an air purifier that the manufacturer assures you will not outgas VOCS from the sealants used.

A durable all metal housing will never expose you to off-gassing vapors like many cheap air purifiers that are all plastic in their construction. It also maximizes filtration of your air by providing optimal airflow through the filter as opposed to bypassing the filter because of allowing for a tight seal.

However, don’t dismiss the use of plastics entirely. Soft plastics are often a problem, both in out gassing VOCS and failing to maintain an airtight seal around the filter.

Hard ABS plastic such as is used in quality leader IQAir does maintain a firm seal with the filter and is not prone to giving off VOCS. In fact, IQAir is the only manufacturer to certify their purifiers as a whole to be 95% efficient. So plastics, the right kind of plastics, can be put to good use.

Also, as mentioned earlier, the motor can be a source of contaminants as it heats up. High quality, sealed bearings and motor windings, even unvarnished motor windings, will help eliminate burning smells coming from the motor.

One last point, no high quality air purifier attempts to mask its failure to perform with scented fragrance cartridges. The last thing anyone needs in their home is more petroleum based VOCS, no matter how sweet or “natural” they may smell.

Buy a HEPA filter air cleaner that doesn’t cost you a small fortune over the life of the purifier

Would you like to know the “dirty little secret” of the air purifier industry?

Filter replacement costs! A cheap air purifier can cost you a fortune in regular filter replacements. In fact, it is one of the biggest scams going: Sell a cheap air purifier to an unsuspecting consumer, then require filter replacements every three to six months that cost almost as much as the unit itself!

Unlike air cleaners that incorporate filter elements in a single cartridge, high quality air cleaners separate the HEPA and carbon filters to allow for individual replacement. You save the cost of replacing both filters when one is used.

You ultimately save due to the long life of your filters when buying high quality air cleaners. Your HEPA filter should last three to five years under normal home use and the carbon filter two to three years.

Only pre-filters require regular replacement every 3 months. Some of these can be vacuumed and reused.

This approach to filter life and replacement gives you the lowest long-term costs.

Speaking of filters, did you know many air purifiers are not living up to their owners’ expectations?

Why? Even though they are advertised and sold as HEPA filters they do not, as a unit, provide HEPA filtration. The HEPA designation only applies to theoretical efficiency.

In actual practice improper seating, poor construction, and cracks in the media due to cheap construction severely limit actual performance.

The best method used to manufacture HEPA media is what is known as “warm rolled”. This prevents cracks from forming in the HEPA media, cracks that allow pollutants into your air. Also, a HEPA filter air cleaner should use separators between the pleats of the filter to maintain proper spacing and allow for maximum airflow and top performance of the filter.

Buy a HEPA filter air cleaner that doesn’t harbor illness-causing germs

Because a HEPA filter air cleaner can trap microbes in the media they sometimes become a breeding ground for potentially harmful pathogens.

Allerair air purifiers include two anti-microbial wraps, one on either side of the carbon bed. This suppresses any microbe growth and ensures that your air purifier will always protect your health.

Other manufacturers’ products should likewise be evaluated as to whether they include some means of eliminating mold and bacteria growth in the filter media.

If it doesn’t specifically state how or even if microbe growth is prevented then you can be certain no protection is offered at all.