What are air purifiers for?

The air purifier is such a device which is used in a certain room or space like in-home or office to make the air inside that particular room clean from dust, germs or some other types of pollutants. More precisely, the air purifier is a device which removes different contaminants, pollutants, germs like bacteria or virus, allergens, mold spores, pollens, fine dust particles, pet dander, smell, smoke, asthmatics, etc. If you have been looking for the answer to the question of what are air purifiers for, I think you have got it.

Do I need an air purifier?

Well, that depends completely on you and your choice. If you need a good air purifier then you can choose the best air purifier from our top air purifiers list.

Ask these to yourself—

Do you have allergy or asthma problems or sinusitis? Or does anyone in your family have such kind of problems? Do you live in a place where there is too much pollution which is causing respiratory problems or other disease caused due to pollution from airborne particles? Or do you want to breathe clean air or not? Or do you want the people of love to breathe clean air and live a healthy life or not?

Answers to your questions—

If your answer to the questions given above is in affirmative then yes, you need an air purifier in your living place or working place. If you are a patient of these lousy and irritating problems like sinusitis o asthma or allergy and if you have an air purifier in your room then you will be able to see the benefits of using an air purifier clearly. But people who are not suffering from such problems might not be able to see or feel the benefits provided by an air purifier directly. To them, it will all be more or less same.

On the other hand, the person with allergic or asthmatic problems will know when his body will take in the clean air free of pollutants and germs and contaminants. He will be able to feel the difference between polluted air and clean air offered from the air purifiers.

Even if you are not a patient of such diseases then still you are allowed to have and use an air purifier. Although you might not feel the difference made by it, still there is no harm in breathing a little more clean air unlike the other people, is there?

However, to get benefits from your air purifier, you need a good one which can actually clean the air.

Various types of air purifiers—

There are various types of air purifiers found today in the markets. Some of them are good and some of them are not as useful and efficient as the others. Some of them actually clean air and some of them do not. To help you select the best product, here is a brief discussion of different types of air purifiers.

•    True HEPA air purifiers: HEPA is the short form of High-Efficiency Particulate Air. This is a differentiable unit for all the types of air purifiers. The true HEPA air purifiers can remove 99.97% of the airborne particles of up to 0.3 microns. When used together with UV or active carbon filters, their working capability and efficiency increases in a great amount. For example, there are certain types of air purifiers available in the market which have both HEPA and UV feature together. With such air purifiers, you can not only remove 99.97% of the airborne particles, but also the UV feature of them can remove airborne bacteria and viruses. The air purifiers which are true HEPA cost a bit more than the other type of air purifiers.

•    HEPA type air purifiers: The HEPA type air purifiers are also can purify the air. But they are not as efficient as the true HEPA air purifiers are. They remove less than 99.97% of airborne particles. Or some of their efficiency is way less than that. They are useful for you if you are on a budget. They cost less than the true HEPA air purifiers. Nonetheless, I would like to suggest, if are to use an air purifier, use a true HEPA one.

•    Ionizers and ozone generators: There are another two variety of air purifiers called ionizers and ozone generators. Well, you cannot call the ionizers as air cleaners. Because they do not remove any airborne particles from the air. They release ions from them which attract the ions of dust particles of opposite charge and attach them to the wall or floor nearby. You will breathe good air. But the bad things will still be stuck in your room unless you clean it. Some of the ionizers produce ozone as waste products. This is not a very good compound for human health.

The ozone generators release ozone molecules in the open air. The ozone generally removes odor from the surrounding air. Before you decide to set an ozone generator as your air purifier target, you should know that the ozone generators are respiratory irritants. They create problems in breathing when they get inside your lungs. They are the least recommended type of air purifiers.

•    UV air purifiers: The UV air purifiers are not usually used alone. They are mostly used with true HEPA or HEPA type air purifying machines. The main service provided by the UV filters is that they clean the airborne germs.

Of all these types of air purifiers, if I were to but one then I would prefer the true HEPA air purifiers best. And I would like to suggest you also to have a true HEPA air purifier if you are going to but one.

How do they work?

The working mechanism of air purifiers is very easy. There are fans inside it which sucks in the air from the room and then pumps out after filtering. And then there are filters in between the fans. Some air purifiers have multiple filters. Some have multiple types of filters. For example, some have the HEPA standard filters with UV filters or active carbon filters to increase the efficiency of the air purifiers. I have discussed these earlier as you have already read it so I am not going on about that in too many details now.