Showing posts with label dust mites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dust mites. Show all posts

Saturday, August 7, 2010

How To Choose An Air Purifier For Allergy Relief

Are you looking for relief from your allergy symptoms?  If you are, you may want to examine air purifiers.  Air purifiers are a great way to seek relief from many of the most common allergy symptoms.  In fact, some individuals see a complete elimination of allergy symptoms when they are in a home that has an air purifier.

If this is the first time that you are interested in buying an air purifier, you may be looking for guidance. After all, there are hundreds of air purifiers currently available for sale.  If you are overwhelmed with all of your options, you will want to continue reading on.  A few tips to help you buy an air purifier are outlined below for your convenience.

When looking to buy an air purifier for allergies, it is first advised that you examine HEPA air purifiers.  Air purifiers that use HEPA technology come highly rated and recommended.  All air purifiers capture and hold potentially harmful particles from the air, including mold, dust mites, and pet dander, but some do it better than others.  It has been said that HEPA air filters trap around 90% of particles in the air, on average.  This percentage is much higher than most other air purifiers and air filters.

Another great way to go about buying an air purifier that will produce good, quality results is by asking those that you know for recommendations.  You can and should speak to your neighbors, coworkers, family, friends, and well as your doctor.  Air purifiers have increased in popularity over the past few years.  This is mostly due in part to the fact that many want to improve their health and the air insider their homes.  If an individual that you know uses an air purifier, ask them for information on their purifier.  Do they like it? What are the pros and cons of owning?

Another tip to help you choose an air purifier for allergy relief is by doing research online.  If you like the price of an air purifier that you see available for sale locally, you may want to refrain from buying it right away.  Instead, write down the make and model and do the research online when you get home.  Many air purifiers are rated and reviewed online.  Reading reviews and examining ratings can help you save money by avoiding air purifiers that are not worth their cost or too costly to maintain.

When looking to buy an air purifier for allergy relief, it is important to take quality into consideration.  As previously stated, rating, reviews, and recommendations can help you gauge the quality of an air purifier.  It is also important to restate that not all allergy air purifiers are created equal, as they do tend to produce different results.  If you suffer from allergies, you will want to seek the best relief possible.  Also, examine air purifiers for allergies that come with warranties.  Generally speaking, a warranty means that a manufacturer completely stands behind their product, which should help to give you comfort and peace of mind.

Cost should also be examined when looking to choose an air purifier.  When it comes to cost, it is always important to remember that you get what you pay for.  You can expect to pay more money for high end air purifiers, but most find it more than worth it.  To help you save money, consider shopping online or at least comparing prices online first.  It is also important to examine the long-term costs of owning an air purifier.  If filters are used, how often do they need to be replaced?  What are the cost of them?  Remember that you often end up paying more than just the sticker price when buying an air purifier.

The above mentioned factors should all be taken into consideration when looking to buy an air purifier.  As a reminder, not all air purifiers are created equal, so make sure that you are buying the best.


Thursday, August 5, 2010

Nasal Allergies - What They Are And What You Can Do

Nasal allergies are better known by its common name, allergic rhinitis. This type of allergy is extremely common.

But, if these reactions only happen during specific periods of the year, then you have a seasonal allergy, usually caused by pollen grains being spread out in the air at about the same time as your allergies. There are also perennial allergies that can happen no matter what day of the year. But the good part is that you and your doctor can work out a treatment for you that will minimize the occurrences and keep your allergy in check.

Nasal Allergy Manifestations
A nasal allergy reaction is a bit like getting a sudden bout of the colds. You"ll sneeze, have watery eyes, have a runny nose with a clear liquid discharge, and all the other unpleasant side effects coming in with colds like having a sore throat and cough. This may seem like just an irritation, but there's more to your nasal allergies than just that.


Common Causes


All allergy attacks are triggered by an allergen, which is the substance that your body recognizes as an outside threat and will attempt to block it. A common allergen during the summer months when flowers are in bloom is pollen, which can float around in the air and end up entering your respiratory tract.


Mold also does the same thing, so you can really feel like you"re having a mix of irritants, which is probably also the case. The last common sources of nasal allergies are animals, whether it's from dust mites or pet dander from your dog. These can all trigger allergic reactions from your body.


Diagnosis of Allergies

A simple evaluation by your doctor of your nasal symptoms can define the best way on how to diagnose if you have a nasal allergy. Then you can undergo tests to determine the best method of treatment for your case.  It would also be very helpful to your doctor if you provide some medical background and history on your allergies, such as when it started, which periods of the year it occurs, and heredity factors.
A physical exam could also test your body parts for faults. Once it's all finished, you and your doctor can plan a way on how to treat your allergies with medication, allergen avoidance, and possibly immunotherapy so that you won't have to endure those allergies forever.
The most effective treatment of allergies, however, is to avoid being exposed to it as much as possible. If you"re allergic to pollen grains, then it might be a good idea to limit your time in parks during the summer, where there are lots of trees and other plants who spread pollen quite well.
Depending on the medical advice your doctor gives, you just have to follow it to make sure that your nasal allergies are minimized and possibly avoided entirely.
Animals are also good sources of nasal infection, so keep your surroundings clean of pet hair and other materials by cleaning and vacuuming often.
You won't have to do so many complicated things just to avoid a simple allergen material, and common sense still applies. Wherever your allergen is bound to be grown or found, better keep yourself away from it.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Air Cleaners Help in Reducing Indoor Air Pollution

Indoor air contaminants are undesirable, occasionally dangerous materials in the air. Indoor air pollution is among the top four environmental health risks. Generally the best method to address this risk is to manage or even get rid of the actual sources of contaminants, and to ventilate a home with clean outside air. The air flow technique may, nevertheless, end up being restricted through weather conditions or unwanted amounts of pollutants included in outdoor air. In the event that these types of steps tend to be inadequate, an air cleaning system might be helpful. Air cleaners are designed to get rid of pollutants from indoor air. Some air cleaning devices are designed to be set up in the ductwork of a home’s central heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system to clean the air in the whole house. Portable space air cleaners may be utilized to clean the air in an individual room or particular places, however they are not designed for whole-house purification. In following blogs, I will inform you of different types of air cleaning devices and how they work.

Indoor Air Pollutants

Pollutants which may have an effect on air quality within the house fall into the following categories: 

 Air particle matter consists of dirt, cigarette smoke, plant pollen, pet dander, cigarettes smoke, contaminants produced through combustion home appliances such as cooking ovens, as well as particles connected with tiny microorganisms such as dust mites, molds, bacteria, and viruses.       

 Gaseous contaminants come from combustion procedures. Sources include gas cooking stoves, automobile exhaust, as well as cigarettes smoke. They additionally come from building materials, home furniture, and the use of products such as adhesives, paints, varnishes, cleaning items, and pesticide sprays.

What Kinds of Contaminants Can a good Air Cleaner Remove?

There are a number of types of air cleaners available, each designed to get rid of particular kinds of contaminants.

Particle Elimination

Two kinds of air cleaners can get rid of contaminants through the air — mechanical air filters and electronic air purifiers. Mechanical air filters remove contaminants through capturing them on filter materials. High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are in this class. Electronic air cleaners such as electrostatic precipitators utilize a procedure called electrostatic attraction to trap charged particles. They pull air through an ionization area where contaminants acquire an electrical charge. The charged particles then build up on a series of flat plates known as a collector that is oppositely charged. Ion generators, or ionizers, disperse charged ions into the air, similar to the electronic air cleaners but without a collector. These ions attach to airborne particles, giving them a charge so that they attach to nearby surfaces such as walls or furniture, or attach to one another and settle faster.


Gaseous Pollutant Elimination

Gas-phase air filter systems remove gases as well as odors by using a substance known as a sorbent, such as activated carbon, that absorbs the contaminants. These types of filter systems are usually designed to remove one or more gaseous pollutants from the airstream that passes through them. Because gas-phase filters are particular to one or a restricted quantity of gaseous contaminants, they will not diffuse concentrations of pollutants for which they were not designed. Some air cleaners with gas-phase filters may rid a portion of the gaseous contaminants and a few of the related hazards temporarily. Nevertheless, none are expected to get rid of  all of the gaseous pollutants present in the air of a normal  home. For example, carbon monoxide is a dangerous gaseous pollutant which is created whenever any fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood, or charcoal is burned, and it is not easily captured using currently available home gas-phase purification items.

Pollutant Destruction

Some of the air purifiers utilize ultraviolet (UV) light technology designed to destroy pollutants in indoor air. These types of air cleaners are known as ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) cleaners and photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) cleaners. Ozone machines which are sold as air cleaners deliberately create ozone gas, a lung irritant, in order to destroy contaminants.    

UVGI purifiers use ultraviolet radiation from UV lamps which may destroy biological pollutants such as viruses, bacteria, allergens, and molds that are airborne or growing on HVAC surfaces , such as found on cooling coils, drain pans, or ductwork. They should be applied with, but not as a replacement for, filtration systems.   

PCO cleaners utilize a UV light together with a substance, known as a catalyst, that reacts with the light. They are intended to kill gaseous pollutants by converting them into safe products, but are not really designed to get rid of particulate pollutants.
      
     Ozone machines use UV light or an electrical discharge to intentionally create ozone. Ozone is actually a lung  irritant which can trigger adverse health effects. At concentrations that do not exceed public health requirements, ozone offers little impact in getting rid of the majority of indoor air pollutants. Therefore, ozone generators are not always safe and efficient in managing indoor air pollutants. Buyers ought to rather utilize techniques verified to be both safe and effective to decrease pollutant levels, that consist of getting rid of or controlling pollutant sources and increasing outdoor air ventilation.
    

 Go to www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html for more information on ozone machines sold as air cleaners.

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