Clearing the Air on What to Look for in an Air Purifier

Article by: Lori Wilkerson

If you are dedicated to improving the indoor air , Decorative Touches for Your Kitchen quality of your home, , Research Kitchen Remodeling Trends you're aware that there are certain steps you need to take to reduce the amount of allergens and airborne particles. Two of these, source control and ventilation, you may have already addressed. But the third, finding a good air , Enhance Your Lifestyle and Save Money - Exciting Home Automation Applications purifier, can be confusing if you aren't sure what to look for in this type of home , owners – Here is a Step by Step Guide to Help You Hire a Quality Home Improvement Contractor appliance. Fortunately, once you understand the basic types of air , Work From Home and Make Money from On-line Rewards and Incentives Programs cleaners and how they work it becomes easier to select the right style of air , Cleaning "Green" purifier for you and your family. There are also organizations like the Association of Home , Tankless Gas Water Heaters Appliance Manufacturer , Designer bathroom sinks and basins s (AHAM) who review and certify air , DIY Conservatories & The Home Owner purifiers annually using a standardized testing and ratings system to make it easy for you to compare different models to one another. What Kinds of Air , Purifier - A Brief History Purifiers Are There?

Ozone Air , Shower Filters Reducing Risks Purifiers These release small amounts of ozone , Home Security Tips To Help Protect You And Your Family (positively charged oxygen molecules) into the air , Why Pay For Home Improvement When You Can Do It Yourself? Doen't It Make Sense? to reduce airborne pollutants. They also are very effective at reducing odors, and will sometimes give off a fresh, sharp scent rather like the odor after a thunderstorm.
Electrostatic Air , The Best Way To Clean Carpet? Purifiers These use static electricity , Country Home Accessories to draw airborne particles to the filters contained in the unit. The particles stick to the filter. (Who knew something so annoying could be so handy?) When the filters are full, you throw them out and replace them. These are usually used as a furnace filter or as a pre-filter component on some other type of air purifier (such as an ozone , Home Security Tips To Help Protect You And Your Family or ionizer system).
Electro-Static Precipitators Similar to an electrostatic purifier, these also use a static charge, but there are no filters to throw away. Instead, two metal , Designer bathroom sinks and basins plates create two opposite electrostatic charges. These attract airborne particles, including dust, smoke and pollen, to one of the plates. When the plate is coated, you can remove it, rinse clean and use it again.
Ionizers These release a magnetic charge into the air , Bamboo Wood Flooring Guide that will cause airborne particles to stick to the filter.
HEPA Filters HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air , Feng Shui Interprets the Haunted House Filters, and are designed to remove 99.97% of airborne pollutants as they pass through the filter. Trapped germs die from lack of moisture, , Air Conditioners making them ideal for operating rooms , Antique Art or Painting Restoration Techniques and electronic labs. HEPA filters are sometimes added to an existing system such as your heating and/or air , Decorative Touches for Your Kitchen conditioning unit.

Each of these types is good for different situations, and you can also find many air , Ten Convenience Built-Ins ThatÂ’ll Save Your Busy Household Hundreds Of Hours Each Year purifiers that combine two or more methods for greater efficiency. More important than the particular method you choose is how effective it actually is. No matter which kind you have or how much you paid for it, if it isn't doing the job, you've wasted you money. How Do I Know if the Air , Conditioners Purifier I'm Considering Will Do the Job? There are two things to look for any time you shop for an air , What is the best mattress on the market? Tips while buying a mattress. cleaner: the MERV and the CADR. These are ratings developed to help you compare one brand and style of air , The Best Way To Clean Carpet? purifier to another, regardless of whether they are ionizers, electrostatic, or ozone, , Planting Pines and Spruces Near Doylestown Pa. and get an idea of their relative efficiency. What's a MERV? MERV means Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. The American Society of Heat , A Look at Blue Heron Weather Vanes ing, Refrigerating and Air , Shower Filters Reducing Risks Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) developed a range of numbers to help consumers compare filters. The higher a MERV number, the better a filter performs. A filter generally has two features , Updated Bathrooms Pay When You Sell Your Home that will be important to you: how quickly the air , Unlocking Your Dungeon: How to Finish a Basement Without Finishing off Your Checkbook can flow through it and how well it filters out pollutants. The higher a MERV number, the more dense the filter and the more particulates it will capture. Okay, what's a CADR? We mentioned CADR earlier, and it is the most important rating to look for overall. It stands for Clean Air , Designer bathroom sinks and basins Delivery Rate, and is exactly what it sounds like - it tells you how quickly it will circulate clean air , Unlocking Your Dungeon: How to Finish a Basement Without Finishing off Your Checkbook throughout the room, , Work From Home and Make Money from On-line Rewards and Incentives Programs filtering all of the air , Wool Carpeting For Your Home through the filtering system once. Currently, twenty-nine manufacturers , Do-It-Yourself Foundation Repair of air , Bamboo Wood Flooring Guide purifiers list their CADR rating on their packaging so that you can easily compare them to each other. You should look for an air , Enhance Your Lifestyle and Save Money - Exciting Home Automation Applications purifier with a CADR number that is equal to about two-thirds the size of the room , Dish Network receivers and DVR systems 101: Know more about your satellite TV systems you will be using it in. For instance, if you have a 10' X 15' room , Lodge Decor - For A Home As Cozy As A Cabin In The Woods (150 square feet), then you should get a purifier with a CADR number no less than 100. If you get a rating higher than you need, you will simply have your air , Choosing The Right Chain Link Fence For Your Home cleaned even more quickly and efficiently, but if you get a rating lower than recommended, the efficiency won't be there and the air , Cleaning "Green" purifier will struggle. There will actually be three CADR numbers: one for pollen, one for tobacco smoke, and one for dust. For the best results, use the number for tobacco smoke, which is the smallest particulate in the ratings system. But What About Cost? Obviously cost is an issue to most of us - if we were made of money, we'd simply hire someone to come in and sterilize our homes , Air Conditioners and install whole-house air , Work From Home and Make Money from On-line Rewards and Incentives Programs purification systems, hire daily cleaning teams, have someone follow the dogs around sucking up the pet dander....where were we? Oh! Cost! The cost of air , Are Homes Toxic? purifiers can vary widely, and it's a bit surprising to note that you can't always judge the value of an air , Unlocking Your Dungeon: How to Finish a Basement Without Finishing off Your Checkbook cleaner by its cost. There are several things to consider when you buy one that will impact your decision. While you may pay less for one over another initially, operating costs and accessories , Antique Art or Painting Restoration Techniques can add up over time, making some systems much more expensive in the long run. Filters If you choose an air , Homeowners – Here is a Step by Step Guide to Help You Hire a Quality Home Improvement Contractor purifier that uses paper or fiber filters that are disposable, be sure that they are HEPA filters. These are 99.97% efficient for dust and mold spores and well worth the cost. Anything less is throwing money away. Also check to see if you can order replacement filters in bulk for a discounted price. Plates An air , Antique Art or Painting Restoration Techniques purifier with cleanable plates may cost more initially, but figure out the cost of filters over a few years' time and compare. Will you save , How to Lay Tile: A Beginner's Guide money by paying more up front and cleaning the metal , Tankless Gas Water Heaters plates rather than worrying about the filters? Operating Costs Always try to find out what the estimated operating costs will be. What does the manufacturer , Wow! Outdoor Tile Murals ~ Any Image, Any Size estimate the monthly electrical usage will be? Will the air , The Benefits Of A Hepa Filter purifier run constantly or will it cycle? Extras If you have someone in your family who is particularly sensitive to environmental , Garage Flooring, Floor Coverings, Floor Material, Epoxy, Concrete Floor Paint, & Floor Coatings changes, such as a migraine sufferer, you may consider some extras such as a programmable ozone , Feng Shui Interprets the Haunted House monitor, worth the extra money in order to prevent sensitivities being triggered. With so many excellent air , Garage Flooring, Floor Coverings, Floor Material, Epoxy, Concrete Floor Paint, & Floor Coatings purifiers on the market and the Internet , Unlocking Your Dungeon: How to Finish a Basement Without Finishing off Your Checkbook available as an excellent information , Overhead Doors-Design & Application resource, there's no excuse not to invest in improving the quality of your home's air. , Dish Network receivers and DVR systems 101: Know more about your satellite TV systems It's a relatively inexpensive way to cut down on colds, , Garage Flooring, Floor Coverings, Floor Material, Epoxy, Concrete Floor Paint, & Floor Coatings respiratory infections, asthma attacks and a host of other health problems by allowing everyone in your house , Strapping a Ceiling to breathe easier.

About the Author
Lori Wilkerson is a full-time freelance writer. Right now she knows a little bit about almost everything and a lot about electrical air purifiers, ozone air , Laminated Flooring Installation Tips purifiers, and whole house air , Why Pay For Home Improvement When You Can Do It Yourself? Doen't It Make Sense? purifiers. She is a reformed ex-smoker and regularly offends people by sending them outside , What is the best mattress on the market? Tips while buying a mattress. to smoke.

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