If you opened this article, you probably do not have a question Why do you need an air purifier? But how to choose an air purifier that will serve for many years, will purify the air in the room, solving all the problems associated with air pollution and at the same time will not break down and much noise – not an easy task. In the Russian market today presents such a number of HVAC equipment that even a professional does not always immediately understand what air cleaner is better, let alone a normal person who has never been interested in air purifiers, quite simply get confused. We do not want to leave you alone with the problem of choosing an air purifier, and honestly tell you about all the advantages and disadvantages of different devices. Here are our tips:
1. Each air purifier is designed for a specific area of the room, so you must first decide on the size of the room.
Are you ready to buy an air purifier for every room, or will you carry it behind you when you are in one of the rooms for a long time?
- If in each room, then choose clearly according to: the size of your room – the service area of the air purifier.
- If you plan to relocate, you should take into account the size of the largest room in your apartment (house, office). It is better to choose an air-cleaner model that is designed for a larger area. The air will be cleaned faster and better.
- If the room is very small, you can choose a car air purifier, which can also be used in the room, and clean the air with one unit both at home and in the car.
2. Determine what problems you are going to solve with your air purifier.
The price will depend on that. There are many air purification technologies, each solving some problems better and others worse. How much air purification technology the chosen model uses will determine how much it costs.
Large amounts of dust.
- Air cleaners with electrostatic (plasma) filters: these filters attract dust with an electric charge, are easy to wash, you do not have to constantly order replacement filters. But if there’s really a lot of dust, the machine won’t be able to handle it. Also keep in mind that electrostatic cleaners can remove no more than 90% of the dust. If you need a higher-quality cleaning (there are children, allergies, asthmatics in the house), it is better to choose the following option.
- Air purifiers with HEPA filters: the filter is easy to care for: vacuum once a month and change every six months to a year depending on the degree of air pollution. HEPA-filters are the most effective against dust, as they form a solid barrier on the path of the moving air, and even a microscopic speck of dust or bacteria can not fly past, being trapped in the pores of the filter. When a high degree of dust purification is required, an air cleaner with a HEPA filter is the best choice.
- Air purifiers – ionizers deposit the dust flying in the air onto horizontal surfaces, thereby purifying the air. They do not collect dust inside the body of the air purifier, you do not have to wash or change the filter. Therefore, these air cleaners are suitable for those who want to avoid the extra cost of maintaining an air cleaner, but are willing to collect dust from surfaces with a vacuum cleaner or a rag more often.
Dust allergies. The main problem here is the tiny invisible dust, which causes sneezing attacks, red eyes and allergic runny nose. Your Choice
- Air cleaners with HEPA-filters – removes the smallest particles of dust from the air with the cleaning efficiency up to 99,9%. The best allergy preventative has not yet been invented.
- Air cleaners with electrostatic filters are less effective than HEPA-filters, as the dust is attracted to the plates only by the electric charge, and the plates are located at some distance from each other, i.e. a part of the dust flies by. The cleaning efficiency is 81-90%.
- Air washers – clean the air by running it through a spray of water. The water washes away the smallest particles of pollutants, leaving them no chance to return to the room’s air again. Pre-ionized air washers are the most effective, because charged dust is better attracted to the drum plates. The cleaning efficiency is 80-95%.
- Air purifiers-humidifiers humidify with an evaporative filter in the water or with water atomized inside the unit itself. Purification is also carried out with the help of a water suspension. The quality of purification is 80-90%.
- Air purifiers – ionizers with remote ionization, which produce a large number of ions around the air purifier, are able to remove a maximum of allergens from the air, precipitating them on the surface.
It is important to remember that allergies are caused not only by dust itself, but also by dust mites, mold, fungus, which by destroying them, you will eliminate the very cause of allergies. Photocatalytic air purifiers and ozonators will help to cope with dust mites and mold, but photocatalysis and ozonation in the selected air purifier must be complemented by one of the previous cleaning options – the filter that removes the dust itself.
- Photocatalytic air purifiers purify and disinfect the air through the interaction of UV light and a catalyst, decompose toxic chemical compounds, and destroy microorganisms.
- Air purifiers – ozonators – ozone also decomposes toxic substances, kills microorganisms and germs due to its powerful oxidizing properties. Ozonators can be used when there are no people in the room.
Tobacco smoke, any other smoke. Your choices
- Photocatalytic air purifiers – ionizers, better if they have an electrostatic filter as it’s easier to wash out the precipitated nicotine resins. If you choose a HEPA filter, you will have to change it quite often. Photocatalysis breaks down the toxic elements of tobacco smoke, ionization disperses the smoke, and an electrostatic filter precipitates tar and cleans with microdoses of ozone.
- Air purifiers – ozonators decompose smoke into harmless carbon dioxide and water.
- Air washers are less effective, because they do not have time to capture most of the smoke rushing to the top, and the water itself is not as effective against smoke.
- Air purifiers with charcoal filters – also do not have a high degree of efficiency, since it is quite problematic to quickly pass the smoke through the body of the air purifier (so that the smoke particles are adsorbed by the filter).
Unpleasant odors (automobile, industrial emissions from the window, the smell of the kitchen, cooking, rotting, from pets, finishing materials, office equipment, etc.)
- Photocatalytic air purifiers – decompose any odor in the presence of people.
- Air purifiers – ozonators – oxidize and decompose any chemical and organic components in the air including odors.
- Air purifiers with charcoal filters – odor molecules are adsorbed in micro pores on the surface of charcoal granules, but the efficiency of the charcoal filter will be many times lower than the photocatalytic one.
Air disinfection (if children or yourself are often ill, during epidemics of viral diseases, in children’s institutions, etc.). You are better to choose
- Photocatalytic air purifiers – disinfecting, disinfecting air with ultraviolet light and photocatalytic reactions, in which most germs, bacteria and viruses are killed.
- Air purifiers – ozonators are the best choice, because ozone is 2-3 times more effective than ultraviolet, i.e. it takes much less time to process. In standard mode such devices are able to disinfect the air with ionization.
Significant dryness of the air in addition to its contamination.
- Air purifiers-humidifiers – humidify and purify the air through filtration.
- Air washers – purify the air with water and humidify it at the same time.
Poor health, fatigue, lack of sleep, tiredness, and frequent illness.
- Ionizer – the ionization improves the general state of the body, strengthens the immune system, improves your mood.
- Air purifier – ozonizer – small doses of ozone are very good for your health, it is a natural immunostimulant.
3. Decide if you are ready to incur additional maintenance costs for your chosen air purifier or if you want to buy it now and spend a minimum of money to keep the air clean in the future.
If you are not afraid of expenses, you can safely choose air cleaners with filters, as they have the highest degree of air purification, since several stages of air purification are better in any case. If the extra cost is onerous for you, then choose filterless air purifiers: air purifiers – ionizers, ozonators, photocatalytic, electrostatic (plasma), air washers.
4. А very important point! If you choose an air purifier with replaceable filters (not photocatalytic, electrostatic or plasma), make sure it has an ionization function.
The air passed through any filter loses its natural charge and becomes absolutely “dead”, it is not safe for people and animals to be in such air, because its inhalation leads to various diseases. All air purifiers presented in our online store, purifying the air with filters, are ionizers. Therefore, if you choose an air purifier from us, you can be absolutely safe for your health. This advice comes in handy only if you decide to buy an air purifier elsewhere.
5.Answer yourself honestly how often and how much time you can devote to your air purifier.
It cleans the air for you, but you in turn must clean it, or it just won’t work and will break down.
- If you are willing to go near it every day, choose either an air washer or an air purifier-humidifier-where you have to change the water every three days and add more water when it runs out.
- If you can easily take care of your air purifier once a week, your choice is an electrostatic (plasma) air purifier. Roughly once a week you should wash the electrostatic plates (filter) in it.
- If you want to put as little effort as possible into cleaning the unit once a month, then you should choose an air purifier with an ionizer, a photocatalytic purifier, an air purifier with an ozonator, or an air purifier with replaceable filters (most often HEPA filters) which require only vacuuming once a month.
6. Think about how often you plan to use your air purifier.
Ideally, it should be running all the time and your indoor air should be clean and of the highest quality for your health at all times.
- If you plan to run the air purifier around the clock, and economy is important to you, choose an air purifier with low energy consumption (see the parameter – power consumption).
- If you prefer to use your air cleaner only occasionally, then air washers or humidifiers that cannot be left running with water in them for long periods are not the best choice, as they can become sour. If you are willing to drain, disassemble and dry the parts every time, then choosing air washers or air cleaners-humidifiers should not scare you.
7. Decide what features you need and who in your family will control the air purifier settings.
Do you only need a few fan speeds to choose more intense or background air cleaning and reduce noise at night? Or do you want your air purifier to have the most features – a timer for automatic cleaning in certain modes, air pollution sensors, a hygrometer (to measure humidity), nighttime illumination, and an unattended air disinfection function? You understand that all the additional “frills” cost extra money, so you should decide right away whether you want them or you will not use them and will only confuse a large number of buttons and modes. It all depends on what you want to get: some people are interested in all sorts of functions, and someone just does not want to understand them. So decide right away, so you won’t regret.
8. Answer the question if you sleep well, and how much the extraneous noises bother you.
If noise is not a critically important issue, you can skip this point, if not, then choose an air purifier with a night mode that has a reduced noise level, or even silent air purifiers such as air ionizers or photocatalytic air purifiers, units without a fan, or with the ability to turn it off.
9. Decide where you want to place the purchased air purifier, where it will fit best in your room, office.
There are models that need to be placed about 1.80 m above the floor, there are floor models, wall-mounted or plugged directly into an outlet (with a plug on the body). This is really important because if you choose the wrong air purifier model now, you can simply push it into a far corner where it can’t clean the air optimally, and you’ll still be breathing dirty air and getting sick. In addition, many air purifiers purify the air effectively when installed at a certain distance from the wall, usually 10-50 cm, this too should be taken into account when choosing where to install the device.
10. And now that you wrote down all the important air purifier parameters, you can choose the optimal model that has all the features you need. Have a good choice and good health!
Leave a Reply