Air Purifier

You see them advertised on TV and many disregard them as useless household appliances sold to housewives, but air purifiers have a very specific purpose and significantly help people in a number of situations.

Basically air purifiers are used to mask and clean the air of smoke, excess dust, allergens, mould, bacteria, poisons, unhealthy smells (such as rubber from equipment), and pet odor. This not only allows the home or room to smell nice in some cases, but also cleans the air for healthier breathing.

On the face of it they may not look like a must need item, but if you suffer from asthma, breathing conditions, sleep apnea, bad smoker’s lungs, are allergic to certain household items or you are exposed to poisons or bacteria then it can make a great difference to your health. It can also lessen the stress put on family members when one smokes and the others don’t, or if one is allergic to a pet and the others are not.

Although there are a lot of smaller air purifiers marketed towards the typical household living room, traditional air purifiers are large radiator sized units that are used in commercial, medical and most commonly industrial surroundings. For example they may be used in stores to keep bad smells or other air issues from disturbing customers, they may be used in hospitals to rid of airborne germs and to clean the air for those with breathing issues, and they may be used in factories for those exposed to excess dust, chemicals, and synthetic odors. Technology is advancing greatly in this field and more and more viruses and germs are being purified, which in theory can help prevent illness and disease.

There are many methods of air purifying, depending on the manufacturer, but the most common techniques include simple filtering where grates are used to prevent larger particles from passing through, activated carbon which can suck in harmful chemicals in the air, oxidization to improve the oxygen flow in the air, air ionizing which attracts bad air with small electrical charges, and Ozone generators, which have the ability to oxidize many chemicals from the air. Ozone is becoming more common in household air purifiers.

Due to the nature of air purifiers and their technology they often fall under criticism, with claims that the purifiers themselves can be dangerous and unhealthy should they breakdown, or somehow give out their own chemicals.