According to the National Asthma Council of Australia, over 2 million Australians have asthma and of these about 80 percent have allergies like hay fever1. In fact Australia and New Zealand have the highest occurrence of all allergies when compared to other developed countries.2
According to research from the Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside a home can be up to five times dirtier than the air outside triggering allergies in the home dwellers particularly young children.
In this post, we tackle some of the questions you might have on air purifiers:
1. What is an air purifier?
An air purifier is a machine or device which helps in removing impurities from the air in a room like dust mites, pollen blown in from outside or tobacco smoke. While these contaminants may not affect a healthy person, adults or children with allergies can become ill if exposed. Many of these toxins are invisible from the naked eye and cannot be removed by dusting or vacuuming.
2. How does it work?
Air purifiers work by sending out a stream of negatively charged ions that attract positive airborne dust and allergen particles in the air. Or they can have a filter which acts like a sieve trapping fine particles in it. The more air circulates in the filter, the cleaner it becomes.
3. Which air purifier is best for me?
When shopping for an air purifier, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers recommends checking some key numbers such as Clean Air Delivery Rate which shows how quickly the cleaner will filter dust, pollen and tobacco smoke and the size of the room the purifier will cover. Experts suggest that you should buy an air purifier with a higher capacity to clean so you can use the machine on its quiet settings.3
4. Does the filter system matter?
Yes they do. Unlike electronic air cleaners which produce ozone gas in small amounts as they clean; air purifiers which use HEPA filters are more effective at removing dust and other toxins from the air and produce no ozone. When buying your device, ensure it comes with a HEPA filter and check the price for replacement filters as they can be a little expensive.
5. What features will I need?
As with any device, consider what extra or special features you need to make best use of the machine. For example, how important is price compared to how effective the air purifier is, do you need auto touch or does manual speed changing work? Does it need to be easy to move around, and does it come with a remote control? Always think quality and how much it will save you in the long term.
REFERENCES
1. http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/publication/asthma-allergy
2. http://www.allergycapital.com.au/allergycapital/allergies_in_australia.html
3. http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20307209_2,00.html
