There are different types of air purifiers. The right air purifier for you largely depends on what pollutant you want to eliminate and what kind of allergens you are trying to avoid. For condominium units, apartments, and houses that are under 500 square feet, medium-capacity air purifiers will do. However, if you need to sanitize spaces that are 1,000 square feet and above, you need specific air purifiers that sanitize bigger rooms.
Regardless of the air purifier size, it is essential to learn the basics first for you to find the best air purifiers accurately. Here are the basic types of air purifiers.
Air purifiers with True High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters
HEPA filtering is the gold standard in air purification. Its mechanism includes a highly dense filter made of thin sheets that can trap all kinds of airborne contaminants. The same mechanism is found in top-tier machinery. Air purifiers with a True HEPA filter system are capable of getting rid of 99.97% of all the minuscule particulates that are 0.3 microns in size.
Ionic filtration air purifying system
If you want to target airborne contaminants that are lingering in the air, you can also use air purifiers that emit charged ions. With these ions, the air impurities are forced to scatter and fall onto the surfaces and floor. The filtration process can get rid of ultra-fine particles that are as small as 0.01 micron.
Air purifier with carbon filtration system
If you are targeting fumes, gases, and odors, then air purifiers with a carbon filtration system are the right ones for you. These air purifiers come with absorbent and ultra-small pores. The same pores are responsible for making bigger surface areas that function as odor, fumes, and gas traps. This is not the right air purifier for those who want to eliminate allergens that are causing health issues.
Air purifiers with Ultraviolet (UV) light
Some purifiers utilize invisible UV light to round up and kill pollutants. These lights are contained within your air purifier and not released directly to the disinfected surfaces and spaces. The main goal of this type of air purifier is to kill bacteria and viruses by destroying their DNA. As a result, the sanitized room becomes sterilized and free from bacteria, viruses, and other disease-causing particles.
What are the salient features of top-grade air purifiers?
When you shop for the best air purifiers, you have to consider essential features like the following:
- Capacity: To determine the maximum room size an individual air purifier can clean, multiply its specific Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) by 1.55. Pass on air purifiers with lower air changes per hour rate. Instead, choose those that are meant to purify the air in a space more significant than your room. For example, your room is 500 square feet, instead of selecting an air purifier that can clean 250 square feet in 30 minutes, choose a device that can clean a 1,000 square feet room within the same time frame. This can guarantee optimum function.
- Operational efficiency: If you want to get rid of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses, buy those that come with a true HEPA filtering system. If you intend to clean your house from disease-causing bacteria, go for purifiers with a built-in UV lighting technology. And for smoke and odour, go for those with an activated carbon filtering system.
- Energy certification: Your standard air purifier will charge you around 550kWh of electricity usage per year. If you want to reduce this usage by 60%, choose air purifiers that are certified by Energy Star.
Now that you have enough knowledge about the basic types of air purifiers and what features to look for when buying one, it is time to apply what you learned. Be patient in selecting your air purifiers as this can determine your family’s well-being.