What reason did you have in purchasing an air purifier? In most cases it was probably in getting relief from some kind of allergy, asthma..or just for clearing the inside air of smoke and odor.
Before you rely and expect on getting cleaner and fresher indoor air from your air purifier, I'd like for you to consider the following issues...and how they relate to your air purifier...
1) What are you sensitive to?...
2) Reducing the concentration of pollutants in your home...
3) The dispersion of the pollutants in the room...
4) The persistence of pollutants...
5) How often is your air being cleaned?..
6) How efficient is your air purifier?
How does this relate to air cleaning benefits from my air purifier?...you may ask.
Each person has their own "tipping point." Personal health and environmental factors make this a moving target. Certain allergens may trigger a reaction today, but not tomorrow. It all relies on your total load and concentration of irritants and physical stresses.
The goal of air purification is to gradually replace contaminants with clean air, keeping them below the threshold at which you get a reaction.
Why dilution?...and not "elimination"? Because particles and gases are not "static", standing still, in order for the air purifier to trap them one by one. Normal particle motion disperses them equally throughout your room air.
Therefore, clean air exiting your air purifier is almost instantly re-contaminated by the still un-cleaned air. You can't hold clean air on one side of the room, while cleaning the air on the other side.
That's the reason why your air purifier should run continuously. Constant treatment reduces airborne pollutants and keeps them at a low level.
Countering air cleaning is the re-introduction of new pollutants. The continuous bombardment of these airborne pollutants is like a leak in a boat. In time the boat sinks. It's the same principle with your indoor air. You need to be one step ahead of these new pollutants.
Just as the boat needs steady bailing to stay afloat, your room air needs continuous cleaning to stay healthy.
This is where ACH, or air changes per hour, comes into play. ACH indicates how fast you can bail your room air of airborne pollutants.
ACH is determined by dividing the cubic feet of cleaned air your air purifier can deliver in one hour by the cubic feet of the room. Say your room is 12 x 16 with an eight foot ceiling. That's 1536 cubic feet (12 x 16 x 8). Say your air purifier is rated to deliver as much as 200 cubic feet per minute (200 CFM) or 12,000 cubic feet over an hour. Dividing 12,000 by 1536 reveals your air purifier can deliver 7.8 air changes per hour in this room.
That air purifier would be an excellent choice for that room. Most experts agree that 6 ACH is needed for those with severe respiratory problems. At least 4 ACH is recommended for typical allergy relief. In any case, never less than 2 ACH for any benefit at all, and then only with the most efficient air purifier.
Which brings us to the issue of "actual" efficiency...not "theoretical" efficiency. Theoretical efficiency is what manufacturers claim their machine can do in based on one hundred percent of filtration. But "actual efficiency is how much of the actual air is drawn through the filter and treated. Not all the air passing through an air purifier may be cleaned. Some may by-pass the filter, or the machine simply can't remove one hundred percent of the particles passing through.
The lower the total system efficiency, the more times the air needs to pass through the air purifier to achieve the same cleaning result as a higher efficiency unit. This is why I recommend using only air cleaners with proven high system efficiency, such as the IQ Air HealthPro air purifiers. They do the job most effectively with HyperHepa filtration, high CFM and room coverage.
Not All Air Purifiers Are Created Equal...
Efficiency ratings of many air purifiers sound very impressive, but the actual air purifier effectiveness does not mirror the claims made for the product.
HEPA-Air Purifiers will often boast of removing 99.97% for particles of 0.3 microns and larger. Very impressive, BUT this claim is based on theory and not on the actual clean air produced by the air cleaner. System leakage and sub-par construction can greatly reduce the air filtration efficiency of an air purifier. Independent testing has shown that many popular air cleaners don't even meet 10% of the claims stated on their label. This is where the IQ Air Health Pro Plus stands above the rest.
Advanced "individual unit" testing in their laboratories determines the actual air filtration efficiency of each unit. Add the fact that the IQ Air Health Pro Plus model was the first air purifier ever to get a "0" rating on the particle counter test...meaning that no particles escaped the advanced Hyper-HEPA filtration
system. Swiss-made IQ Air purifiers are regarded as some of the highest-quality units in the air purification industry. For more than 40 years, the company has manufactured units using superior filtering technology, quality components, and skilled craftsmanship. As a result, their air cleaners have received more #1 product reviews than any other air cleaner manufacturer.
Designed for residential use, the HealthPro series of room air purifiers have a modular tower design and are available in several models including the HealthPro, the HealthPro Compact and the HealthPro Plus.
Here's how they work: The machine draws in air from below, at foot level, picking up airborne mites and dust in the process. It circulates the air inside the machine and filters particles and pollutants through a series of internal filters. Four advanced filtration technologies remove particles, pollutants, odors and allergens. Once purified, the air is released out of the top of the machine, bringing clean air back into the room. Some HealthPro models don't have all four internal filters, so check the model details carefully in deciding which one may be right for you.
Six fan speeds are featured on every model in the series, which allows the user to choose the ideal performance level desired. Included with each model is a remote control, a Programmable Control Panel and an Intelligent Filter Life Monitor. I really like the IQAir control panel because it gives you simple, accurate information about what the unit is doing, while making it easy for you to control its operation. The LCD display tells you the cubic feet per minute (CFM) of air being drawn through the machine, and an LED light reminds you when to change the filter.
With 6 fan speeds, you can set the unit to run on certain speeds at certain times of the day, so that, for example, you can run it higher at night, but slower during the day, in order to reduce noise. The only complaint.... I noticed, that at high speeds, the fan was really loud....noticebly loud enough to interfere with communication with my colleagues.
IQAir machines produce no undesirable by-products that could harm the consumer or the environment. All IQAir purifiers are certified by the International Association of Air Cleaner Manufacturers (IAACM) to be 100% ozone-free. Ozone is a highly reactive gas that, while killing bacteria, can also affect the respiratory system and irritate lung function, causing coughing, throat irritation or an uncomfortable chest-sensation. It can be especially hazardous to people with debilitating respiratory systems.
Being a former distributor for an ozone air purifier company, I fully experienced the irritating effects of ozone. I like the IQAir much better than the Ecoquest Living Air air purifiers. IQAir moves a lot of air, and after reviewing these units, I simply don't believe that you can clean a large volume of air without moving a large volume of air through a filtration unit. A "silent" or "breeze" air purifier, in my opinion, isn't moving enough air to be effective.
After testing the IQ Air Health Pro Plus, I highly recommend these units as the best over-all air purifiers. If you'd like more information on the company and the IQ Air Health Pro air cleaners, click on link or images below...
