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.
America’s homes and garages are full of toxic and hazardous products. Paints, lacquers, paint thinners, pesticides, lye, acids, and solvents are examples of the products that can be hazardous to your family and simultaneously pollute our environment when they are tossed aside. Many of these chemical contaminants are not even needed. I'd like to share with you safer products and alternatives.
Paint is big business. Manufacturers distribute over one billion gallons of paint annually. While most homeowners have one or more cans of paint in their garage, few of them realize the potential health hazards and environmental toxicity if it is not used, stored and disposed of properly.
Water based paints are considered the safest to use. Paints manufactured before 1990 could however, contain mercury, which even at low levels of exposure, can cause neurological damage without giving you noticeable symptoms. There's also a small percentage of alcohol solvents and glycol ethers found in most water based paints.
Although the EPA banned the use of lead in oil-based paint in 1981, oil-based paints still have toxic emissions, which you could easily inhale, ingest or absorb through your skin and into your bloodstream. Some of the chemicals are known carcinogens, others cause nervous system depression, and the majority have not been tested long enough for their long-term health effects.
Definition of PAINT
Paints are made up of resins (film formers), diluents (solvents), pigments (color), and additives. The paint products category also includes coatings such as varnish, shellac, polyurethane, and stains. Paints are generally classified on the basis of the solvent. The two main categories are oil-based and wate- based (latex) paints. Depending on the type of paint you select for painting, you may need additional paint-related products, such as thinners and brush cleaners may also be needed. Latex and other water-based paint products are the safest to use. They don't require any organic solvents, they dry quickly, and flow evenly.
Definition of SOLVENTS
Solvents are liquids that dissolve other substances and act as carriers for pigments. The useful benfits of solvents in paint products is their ability to dry quickly, their ease of application, even flow and their ability to dissolve paint and grease. Oil-based paint solvents pose several immediate and long-term health and environmental concerns.
You may ask yourself..."What are signs of Mold?", or ..."Should I test for Mold?"
I say..Investigate! Don't test!.. The simplest way to find a mold problem is by looking for mold growth and by using your sense of smell to find the source of a suspicious odor. If you see mold or if there is an earthy or musty smell, you should assume you have a mold problem. Signs of excess moisture or the worsening of allergy-like symptoms by family members should be additional clues you have a mold problem.
Look for visible mold growth. They may appear cottony, leathery, velvety, or granular, and have various colors. Mold often appears as discoloration, staining, or fuzzy growth on the surface of building materials or furnishings. When mold is visible, testing is not recommended.
Search areas with noticeable mold odors. Search for signs of excess moisture or water damage. Look for water leaks, standing water, water stains, condensation problems. For example, are there any watermarks or discoloration on walls, ceilings, carpet, woodwork or other building materials?
Look behind and underneath materials, such as carpeting, vinyl flooring, furniture, stored items in bins and boxes, in cabinets or under flooring. Sometimes destructive techniques may be needed, such as making a hole in a wall, to inspect for possible mold breeding places.
Should I test for mold?
Most experts do not recommend testing for mold. Instead, you should simply assume there is a mold problem whenever you see mold or smell mold odors. Testing should never take the place of visual inspection and it should never use up resources that are needed to correct moisture problems and remove all visible growth.
Sometimes, mold growth is hidden and difficult to locate. In such cases, a combination of air (outdoor and indoor air samples) and bulk (material) samples may help determine the scope of mold contamination and where clean-up and removal is needed. However, mold testing is rarely useful for trying to answer questions about health concerns.
