The following was from a question regarding which air purifier is the best (home or residential model), the short answer is it depends, and as long its HEPA you won’t go too far wrong.
Before an answer, I have a question for you: “What problem do you want the air filter to fix ?”
The most effective air filtration method for particulates is High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA). A properly fitted and mounted HEPA filter device, will filter out 99.97 particles 0.3 microns or larger. Most air purifiers combine HEPA (beware HEPA type or HEPA-like they aren’t the same) with some other technology such as - charged plates (Ionic), germicidal light (UV), ozone, or carbon filters.
Ionic - interestng idea I believe HEPA is superior, though HEPA will require periodic filter replacement. I would not purchase just an Ionic machine without HEPA.
Germicidal light or ultraviolet-c will kill mold and bacterial, I am unsure if the particles will have adequate dwell time in the UV chamber to be killed. Stand HEPA filters may be degraded by UV light exposure. This is a could be nice feature, depending on how it is implemented in the individual machine.
Ozone - pass on it. In order for the ozone to be effective the machine would need to generate enough ozone to be potentially harmful to you. Ozone can actually be a lung irritant. Ozone works by oxidizing some substance, be it a germ, or the plastic seal on something, the substance formed by the oxidation reaction may be worse than the original. Skip this one in general.
Carbon Filters: If you believe there is some sort of volatile organic chemicals (fumes, off-gassing new home materials, etc) then the carbon filter could be a good addition to HEPA. Look for a device with a separate carbon and HEPA filter.
Air Volume! This is an important criteria, if your bedroom has an area of 120 square feet with 8 foot ceilings, then it has a volume of 960 cubic feet. Most air purifiers probably have a low end through-put range somewhere between 20-50 cubic feet for minute (CFM). Assuming the theoretical bed room was sealed so no air moved in or out it would take a 20 CFM unit 48 minutes (960/20 = 48) to potentially move all the air in the room through the room.
Given that your room will not be hermetically sealed the air purifier is only going to have a limitted area of influence. Place the unit so that the filtered air is directed to the area you are occupying most of the time — couch or bedroom ?
With that in mind your best bet is an affordable HEPA based unit that moves a good amount of air (within a tolerable noise limit). Don’t believe the HYPE on maintenance free, any product that are you are probably going to use on a near continuous basis is going to require some maintenance. When checking on a model look for the cost of replacement filters. Some machines may be more expensive upfront, but have a lower cost over the life of the machine based on filter replacement costs.
Tags: Air Purifier · HEPA · Ultraviolet CNo Comments
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