Many air purifiers are designed to clean only one room. Making a good choice for a one room air purifier depends on several important criteria.
What criteria should you use to decide?
1) What is the size of the room or space you would like to to clean?
2) What contaminants are present in your air?
3) What quality level of room air purifier are you after?
4) Should you use passive or active technology or both?
5) What is your Budget?
Let's cover these one at a time
1) What is the size of the room or space you would like to to clean?
The first point to consider would be the actual square footage of the room you want cleaned. Make sure this is a reasonable match to the room air purifier you select. It is ok to get a
purifier that can do more than your rooms square footage, but generally you want the purifier rated for at least as much as the size of the room. Over-powered ok; under-powered not as
desirable.
Other considerations on size: standard ceiling height is 8'. Anything above 8' needs to be taken into account. To get a basic estimate, add 10% to the overall square footage of your
room to be cleaned for each foot above 8' ceiling height.
Example: Your room is 15 ft x 20 ft = 300 sqft. The ceiling is about 10' high. Since it is 2' higher then standard, add 20% to your figure and search for an air purifier that will
handle at least 360 sqft.
Other factors that may cause you to consider a higher capacity air cleaner would be strong room air flow, an open plan layout, or extra contaminants. Strong room air flow in and out of the
room is good, but will make the purifier work harder at keeping that one room clean. An open layout would stretch the purifiers cleaning power to adjoining rooms. Extra contaminants such as
multiple pets or tobacco smoke may require a stronger purifier.
Many purifiers have multiple speed fan adjustments or even square footage adjustments that allow you to tailor the purifier to your space as needed. Review each air purifier's
specifications to see if it is adequate.
2)What contaminants are present in your air?
Knowing the basic contaminants in your air will help you choose the best purifier. If you do not know what is in your air and you are concerned, it may be best to get a purifier that offers
the most complete cleaning. Generally speaking, the more complete the cleaning, the more expensive the air purifier. Finding a balance between wants and needs may be necessary. Review all your
options.
3) What quality level of room air purifier are you after?
In my opinion, quality always pays. There are many brands of purifier on the market that can be had for less than £100.
Generally there are 4 reasons not to purchase a cheap model.
- may do a poor cleaning job because of inefficiencies of design
- may have higher filter cost or may need replacing more often
- may be less energy efficient
- may be noisier
Look at a purifier as an investment. A little more upfront will pay dividends in the long run. Choose wisely and realize quality is usually a good investment.
4) Should you use passive or active technology or both?
If you read through the technologies section of this website, you will realize that there are several choices available to clean your air. The first basic choice you need to make is between
a passive or an active technology. If you have made up your mind on technology already, that's ok, review the purifiers with that type of technology. If not, you will need to review both
technology types and make a decision. The purifier review section will help as it provides in-depth reviews and research.
5) What is your Budget?
You may have a budget in mind. If so, you can view the reviews by price and get an idea which purifiers are in your range.
If you haven't decided on your budget yet, you can browse all of the reviews. Keep in mind the upfront cost as well as the ongoing costs. These costs as well as other factors will be
presented for each purifier.
Congratulations! You are now ready to review the top brands of air purifiers. Go ahead to STEP 3 Reviews.
Return to STEP 2 Types from One Room Air Purifier