Air pollution is worsening by the day, and it increases the risk of respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, heart diseases, stroke attacks and infections at large. People who are part of the lower income threshold are more susceptible to the diseases than anyone.
Covid-19 was a wake-up call to many about how many airborne diseases affect our quality of life. Especially in crowded environments, an air purifier becomes a necessity rather than a luxury. Even though it is a basic human right to breathe fresh air, only a handful of us has access to clean and fresh air. But What is an Air purifier?
What Is An Air Purifier?
An air purifier can be used to improve the quality of air in any indoor environment. For example, depolluting an enclosed space of dust particles, reducing the effect of airborne diseases and cleaning the existing micropollutants in your air. Air purifiers are known to capture a good percentage of allergens and irritation flowing through the air. However, its efficacy is highly dependent upon the quality and type of air purifier you are using.
What Are The 3 Types Of Air Purifiers?
There are several types of air purifiers on the market, and some are made for professionals while others are better suited for domestic use. Each one has distinct features and areas that they specialize in. But there are three which constantly become the talk of the town, and we will break them down for you so that you can make a wiser choice.
HEPA Purifiers.
Absorbent Purifiers.
Ultraviolet Purifiers.
HEPA Purifiers:
Hepa purifiers have been around for over six decades. Even though the idea has gone through several revolutions over the years, the main concept still remains intact. It works by drawing air from the indoor spaces in the devices, and in most instances, the fibreglass filter cleans the air. When the air passes through the filter usually, there are three phenomena that occur:
Inception: The phenomena where particles stick to the fibres.
Impaction: Some pollutants become embedded in the filter.
Diffusion: The process in which particles bounce around and collide with each other. Even though diffusion itself does not purify the air, it contributes to it the aforementioned filtration process. The whole process is essential to capture the particles that are smaller than 1um. Deflection makes their path zig-zag, eventually leading those particles to get caught at inception or impaction.
This is a generic process, yet, as mentioned earlier, the technology has advanced over several decades. The latest variant of smart HEPA Air Purifier is capable of trapping 99.97% micron airborne particles and 99.99% of air disinfectants and covers a huge area of 635 sq ft. The infrared sensor scans the air in real-time and updates the PM 2.5 display in real-time. When it comes to domestic use, HEPA air purifiers have been as great as it gets. With no by-products or cons to it, except the usual upkeep of the filter.
Adsorbent Purifiers:
Adsorbent Purifiers are much different than HEPA purifiers, instead of relying on the old school mechanical, which by the way, is pretty efficient. Nonetheless, as the name suggests, "adsorbents" are materials that eradicate pollutants and contaminants from liquid and gasses. These quite often are made of activated charcoal and clay minerals which traps the odours and chemicals present in the indoor environment. Because of their ability to suck up toxic pollutants, you might see them being used in an industrial setting. But it can be used in home settings as well, as the popular type has no by-product. Another pro of adsorbent cleaners is that, unlike their competitors, it removes odours and volatile organic compounds, which HEPA and UV purifiers seem to miss. On the negative side, it tends to miss the airborne particulate present in the indoor environments, which means it is not as efficient as a stand-alone item in the household, requiring you to invest in another air-purifier.
In the smarter version of the best type of air purifier, i.e. HEPA Air Purifier, you can find adsorbent pre-filters as one of the components, which is fairly easy to find.
UV Purifiers:
Following the manual mechanism of HEPA Air Purifier, UV purifiers also work by sucking the air in from the environment and exposing it to UV air lamps that produce UVC light which kills the bacteria present in the environment and as well as the air. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation is an established and renowned means of disinfection in the health community. It is used to break down the DNA compounds formed and eliminate viruses and bacteria in the environment.
However, it has been under discussion and usually remains under consideration by various organizations because of the by-product: ozone gas, which can become the root cause of chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and shortness of breath. But on the bright side, UV filters available for HEPA Air Purifiers can target the living organisms in the air, i.e. bacteria and viruses, which serves to neutralize microbes filtered through the purifier.
There are many types of air pollution, and they all have their own effects on the environment. The type of pollution that you need to combat can depend on the type of air pollution, the health effects it has on people and what causes it.
The most common types of air pollution are particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. All these pollutants have different sources and effects. The type of pollutant that you need to combat depends on which pollutant is causing the problem.
The variants and huge range of air purifiers can leave everyone confused, so you are not the only one who is scratching your head deciding which air purifier to settle on.
The air cleaning technology is still far beyond perfect. Each has its own flaws, and opting for the smartest air purifier like HEPA Air purifiers are great at clearing particulate matter; it might become a source of creating odour, and the same is the case for other purifiers.
Apart from air quality, you need to take into consideration the size of the room. As the price of air purifiers increases with the radius, it tends to cover. The best large room air purifier will definitely make a bigger dent in your bank account. This is why a good air purifier can cost you anywhere from 200$-3000$. However, by opting for great quality air filters, you can make the most out of the air cleaners. While the noise emitted by air purifiers is often regarded as white noise, it does not necessarily mean that the noise doesn`t get irritating, which is why while narrowing down your list of options for air purifiers, you should definitely keep this metric into consideration.
The air purifier you should opt for varies greatly as per your requirements. There are many people who believe that the best way to get the best quality air is by breaking the bank. But this is not always true.
There are many small room air cleaners that provide quality air without costing an arm and a leg. The prices of these filters vary depending on their size, capacity, and features. But the author`s choice would have to be this Levoit Core 600S Smart True HEPA Air Purifier, which not only encompasses great qualities but is quite budget-friendly. It covers an area of 458 sq ft in thirty minutes, comes with CADR and filtration rate of airborne particles of up to 0.3 microns and is compatible with your phones. You can opt for later models of the same cleaner if you are looking for the best large room air purifier.