There’s no denying that indoor air quality can have as much of an impact on our well-being as the weather outside. For families with asthma, allergies, and other respiratory ailments, indoor air quality can be especially important to maintain if you want your family to stay healthy and comfortable. If you’re looking for ways to improve indoor air quality in your home, try installing a whole-home air purifier like the ones we review here in this article!
5 Things to Know Before Buying an Air Purifier
Not every air cleaner will work for your home. Before you buy, you should make sure you’re getting an air cleaner that cleans indoor air and helps reduce allergens in your home. To do that, look for these five things when searching for an air purifier. Make sure your family’s needs are covered. Whole-home air purifiers usually cover homes up to 3,000 square feet; if your house is larger than that, consider a central air unit or use more than one system.
Where Do I Start?
An air purifier’s job is to remove pollutants from your indoor air, so if you’re looking for a whole-home air purifier for the living room and other rooms in your house, you’ll want one that can cover all of them. Look for an air cleaner with a decent-sized filter; too small and it won’t catch much of anything. The two major types are HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) and carbon/ion, but most luftrenare bäst i test on our list use both methods to remove indoor pollutants. These filters also need to be replaced from time to time, which can get pricey—so look for a model that comes with replaceable filters or check out how often you should replace them before buying a system.
Which Size Do I Get?
Whole-home air purifiers come in a variety of sizes, from single rooms to whole homes. So how do you know which size is right for your family? Before purchasing an air purifier, find out how many square feet it can clean by conducting an air cleaner test with smoke. Try blowing smoke into a room and then place an air cleaner inside to see if it reduces visibility. An effective purifier will have a clear impact on visibility—if you can still see plumes of smoke billowing after running an air cleaner in a room for half an hour or more, consider purchasing a unit that is bigger than what you need.
What About HEPA Filters?
HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Arrestance) filters are key features to look for in an air purifier. Also called HEPA filters or HEPAs, they’re considered among the best air purifiers because they can capture up to 99.97 percent of particles as small as 0.3 micrometers, including pollen, dust mites, and cigarette smoke. This is important because smaller particles can remain suspended in your home’s air for hours or even days at a time. They’re also good to have on hand in case you experience any sort of flooding damage—which makes these devices particularly good for anyone with allergies who lives near bodies of water prone to flooding.
Is My Home Toxic?
Before you run out and buy an air purifier, it’s important to know if your home is causing indoor air pollution in the first place. In general, indoor pollution can stem from any number of household sources including cleaning products, synthetic fabrics and furnishings, pet dander, cigarette smoke (if you’re a smoker), and certain types of food preparation. Be aware of these pollutants—and then do what you can to get them under control. For example, while air purifiers are a valuable tool in protecting luftrenare hepa pollutants like dust mites and pollen (yay!), they won’t help that much if your couch or carpet is coated with pet hair (boo!). Air cleaners simply aren’t designed to handle microscopic threats on their own.
How Does an Air Purifier Differ from an Air Cleaner?
If you look closely at air purifier product pages on Amazon, you’ll see a distinct emphasis on air cleaner quiet mark. This is one of several ratings developed by Germany’s VDE test institute and enforced in EU markets. It’s also something to look for if you have small children and pets—high noise levels are less than ideal in such situations. However, keep in mind that all air cleaners make some noise. In fact, louder isn’t necessarily a bad thing; your unit could simply be blowing more air through its vents and thus cooling itself more efficiently and effectively.
