When you are searching for an air cleaner for your homes, you might have come across two terminologies – air cleaner and air purifier – on the search results of Google, leaving you confused which one you should purchase.
They are the same. The terms air purifier and air cleaner are interchangeable.
If you understand what air purifiers are, you can easily find the ‘right’ one for yourself.
Before finding the ‘right’ air purifier, or air cleaner, let us understand the common types of air pollutants often found in homes. Having this knowledge will make it easier for you to find the ‘right’ air purifier or air cleaner that effectively clean air.
Types of air pollutants:
a) Airborne Particles: Many people are looking for air cleaners or air purifiers to get rid of airborne particles such as dust mites, fungi, bacteria, pet dander, mold spores, pollen, and plant spores. They aggravate conditions like allergies and asthma.
They vary in size but all microscopic. They are measured in microns (1 micron = 1/25,000 of an inch).
HEPA filters are the most effective in getting rid of these airborne particles because they are able to pull 99.97% of airborne particles that measure as small as 0.3 microns.
Airborne particle types and its sizes:
• Smoke (0.003-0.04 microns)
• Bacteria (0.3- 3 microns)
• Fungi (0.5 -5 microns)
• Pet dander (0.3-100 microns)
• Mold (2-20 microns)
• Pollen (10 to 100 microns)
• Dust mite (10 to 40 microns)
• Plant spore (10 to 70 microns)
b) Volatile Organic Compounds, of VOCs
VOCs are vapors or gases emitted by household items. It may be released by paints, varnishes, adhesives, glues, carpets, and disinfectants.
To ensure that a household product contains VOCs, check for ingredients like benzene, toluene, chloride, formaldehyde, and ethylene. Some air purifiers are designed to filter VOCs from the air, while others are not able to do the job.
If VOCs is a major air pollutants you want to rid of, we highly recommend that you search for air purifiers with filters that pull VOCs out of the air.
c) Gases and Odors
Some air purifiers are capable of eliminating gases and odors from the air. They remove gases and odors, such as aerosols, cooking odors, kitty litter, toxins, and tobacco smokes, with “activated” carbon filters, which are found in almost all air purifiers.
These carbon filters utilizes a process called “adsorption” to force these odors and gases to become attached using a special chemical reaction.
d) Microorganisms
There are air purifiers in the market today designed specially to remove microorganisms from the air. There are also air cleaners capable of killing microorganisms, using UV rays and other advanced technologies.
Microorganisms are bacteria, pathogens, antigens, mold, and viruses.
Types of Air Cleaners
There are three types of air cleaners, or air purifiers available in the market today – whole-house air filters, whole-house air cleaners, and portable air purifiers.
a) Whole-House Air Cleaners: These types of air cleaners need to be directly wired into one’s home electrical system – cooling and heating system. However, installing this system is not a job of an average householder. Rather, a professional has to install this system for you. The home must also have a force-air ducts in order to make it work.
b) Whole-House Air Filters: This air cleaner type offers an alternative way for cleaning massive amount of air at one time. It was designed to the standards furnace filter. This option is somewhat effective, but not as efficient as other types of air cleaners in eliminating nearly all types of air pollutants from your home.
c) Portable Air Purifiers – Portable air cleaners/purifiers are highly efficient machine to clean air in single room environment. There are many affordable portable air cleaners available in the market today, making it affordable to place one in each room.
Whether you call it an air purifier or an air cleaner, there is one single component that is found in all units: “air filters.”
Click here to read air purifier reviews.
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