24 Jan Choosing Air Purifiers
Every day our bodies are exposed to small amounts of toxins, carcinogens, and organic pollutants, and over the course of our lives this can have a very harmful effect, and lead to an increased risk of serious disease. Our health is influenced the most by what we do with the most consistency. Regular exercise, even in small amounts, helps keep us healthy. A healthy, balanced diet does the same. Unfortunately, the unhealthy things in life work the same way, and smoking even one cigarette a day, for example, can be very dangerous to your long-term health.The same is true for all inhaled pollutants, many of which are exuded by the modern things in your house such as carpet, furniture, and the very materials your home was built from. The consistent exposure to these things over time will affect your long-term health, and fighting this requires a steady, everyday solution with the same constancy.
Don’t Pay Top Dollar For Performance That Stinks.
Not all air purifiers are equal. In fact, some are real garbage!You have undoubtedly seen air purifiers for sale in most big box stores, many of which are from major, well-known brands, and costing into the hundreds of dollars. Some of these are good products, but some are outright junk! The key as a consumer is to understand what you’re getting, and evaluate for yourself whether the performance of a product matches the price.Make sure you understand the difference between a true air purifier and all the junk being sold these days…
Step 1: Know What You’re Getting.
Most air “purifiers” on the market are really just dust filters, and not very effective in many cases. They have basically just a fan, some type of filter, and some controls. These units are only as good as their filter elements, and at best can only reduce some allergens in your home. They do not have the capability to deal with any truly dangerous contaminants like gases, viruses, or bacteria, or even to filter out fine particulate.Higher-priced units in this class will sometimes add a token technology to justify their price, like a “carbon”, “electrostatic”, or HEPA filter, but don’t be fooled by their claims of fully cleaning your air. Removing some particles is not the same thing as purifying the air.Examine the carbon filters in these types of units and you will see only a light mesh of black fibers or a thin sheet with carbon dust on it, nothing like the solid carbon found in a true air purifier.Electrostatic filters remove large particulate only, and are often not even as effective as a paper dust filter, so they are far from adequate on their own.HEPA filter membranes have a wide range of abilities and ratings, and the HEPA filters in these units are often of a low grade, and do not trap as high a percentage of particulate or as small a size of particulate as a proper HEPA filter, making them incapable of properly removing allergens.To be fair, these cheap filter systems can be useful in reducing some amount of household dust, allergens, and odors, but they are rarely worth the asking price. That’s the bottom line, price vs. performance. Many of these units cost $10 – $15 to make, and selling them for $50 – $250 is normal business for some companies. Don’t pay top dollar for junk performance!
Step 2: Understand Your Needs.
Do you want to see less dust on your furniture? Sneeze less often? Help relieve asthma symptoms? Reduce odors? Eliminate mold and fungus spores? Remove airborne bacteria that can cause serious illnesses? Destroy airborne viruses? Remove toxic gasses and chemical compounds that can lead to lung cancer?These are all excellent goals for an air purifier, but each one requires an increasingly capable and complex system. Do you want to accomplish more than one of these goals, or maybe all of them at once? Removing airborne particulates such as dust and pollen is all that most air “purifiers” do, but what about reducing the potentially dangerous airborne bacteria, viruses, and fungus? What could be more important for an air purifier than that?There are some very expensive units out there that can do this with ultraviolet light or even convection heating elements. Oops, do they also adequately filter allergens and particulates at the same time? Do they truly do double or even triple duty, or do they really only do one thing well while making a token effort at another? Do they even pretend to take care of really dangerous things like hydrocarbons, toxic gasses, and VOCs? OK, you get the point; half the junk out there isn’t worth the cardboard it’s boxed in, and true air purification is something far above air filtration that takes specialized and carefully engineered technology. You must think about what you need an air purifier to do for you, and then look past the marketing claims and see what objectives a specific unit can actually accomplish for sure. It’s not always as clear as they make it seem!Maybe you haven’t previously considered purchasing an air purifier with comprehensive protection because it seems too expensive. People seem to spend an awful lot of money to sneeze less often, but what about attacking dangerous airborne contaminants which can actually threaten your life? There is a real and ongoing benefit to taking steps against serious airborne health risks, and the most effective solutions are rarely sold on a store shelf. Consider Bio Smart Solutions.Source: Bio Smart Solutions