Home Air Cleaners
Are They Really Any Good?

By Irina Gray of Top-green-products.com

Home air cleaners...Do you need one?

As of today many people, especially those with a highly sensitive constitution, face an issue of dealing with indoor air pollution on a day-to-day basis.

The US Environmental Protection Agency ranks indoor air pollution as one of the top five environmental risks to human health.

It is no surprise then that the popularity of home air cleaners has experienced an unprecedented rise in the last 10 – 20 years.

Considering all the marketing hype that the industry has experienced due to such strong and consistent demand, the questions many potential users ask themselves is whether home air cleaners can really deliver what their manufacturers claim, or if the money they spend will bring them little value.

It is important for every user to understand what exactly they are hoping to achieve with their air purifier.

Our average home air environments contain both particulate pollutants and gaseous pollutants.

Particulate pollutants are larger in size than gaseous pollutants, but gases & odors are much more dangerous to human health as they can easily enter the bloodstream and cause havoc directly inside one's body.

If you are looking to get an air purifier for general housekeeping purposes, then the one that aims to remove only particulate pollutants, should suffice.

But if you are seriously concerned about tiny gaseous pollutants in your house, or especially if you have allergies or asthma, the air purifier which targets both particles and gases & odors is highly recommended.

Now whether home air cleaners can really work for you will largely depend on the air purifier's quality and technologies used.

You'll not be surprised to hear that, the more money you are prepared to invest the better the results you can expect in return.

There are several main technologies utilized in most home air cleaners.

HEPA technology has been in use for many decades and is considered to be among the best ones. It removes particulate matter from your air.

Other technologies include electrostatic precipitation / ionization (for particles), and the use of activated carbon / activated alumina (for gases & odors).

Among more novel technologies we have ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) and photocatalytic oxidation (PCO).

These technologies have their own pluses and minuses and we urge you to learn more about them before making a buying decision.

If you ask us to recommend a specific air purifier, then our favorite is IQAir HealthPro Plus, a model presented by the manufacturer of arguably the best home air purifiers in the world – Switzerland-based IQAir.

IQAir HealthPro Plus targets both particles and gases & odors and utilizes HEPA technology for particles and activated carbon / activated alumina for gases.

If you are only after particles, then you can purchase a simplified version of IQAir HealthPro Plus – IQAir HealthPro – which can later be upgraded to include a gases & odors filter as well.

Our second runners-up are certainly Blueair air purifiers. They use a combination of HEPA-like technology and electrostatic process.

Blueair offer a number of models for different room sizes which are otherwise absolutely identical. For example, for a room up to 580 sq. ft. in size, you can use a Blueair 503 model which is a replacement for Blueair 501.

These two brands offer premium air purifiers which are priced accordingly. There are cheaper high-quality home air cleaners on the market which may be more suitable for those with tighter budgets.

Remember to remove sources of pollution and ventilate your house first before letting your air cleaner finish off the job.