Home Air Purification
Home Air Purification
Have you ever asked yourself the question - do I really need a
home air purifier? I did.
Now, mine isn't, but your house may be clean as a
whistle and your cleaning schedule is maintained like clockwork.
Yet you still may suffer from some allergen floating around in
the air of your clean home. So how does the air in the home get
contaminated?
Homes of today are relatively airtight. If some contaminant gets
in your home from the outside and your home is one of the energy
efficient varieties, then it may be that the contaminants have no
way out of your home once they are in. Fresh outside air cannot
come into the house and refresh the air that is already in the
house because the house is so airtight. Adding an air
purification system to your home will remove contaminants that
cannot be naturally removed by air replacement from the outside.
In order to clean your home, you may use a variety of cleaners
and chemicals. Believe it or not, these cleaners are toxic and
the fumes from them have an adverse effect on the air quality of
your home. Good air purifiers remove chemical contaminants from
cleaners and even air fresheners.
Many homes have pets. Pet dander is a main cause of allergen
contaminants in the home. The dander sticks to the pet hair and
the pet hair is all over the house. Certainly the more you clean
the house from pet hair the better, but often some dander is left
airborne or on surfaces that you may have missed cleaning. Use a
HEPA vacuum regularly and consider adding an air purifier as
needed.
Although not a specific cause of allergen contaminants in the
home, forced air furnaces tend to re-circulate air, good or bad,
in the home. An older home with a forced air furnace will draw
in outside air through gaps in the structure and windows, so that
helps a little, but newer homes are more airtight. A forced air
furnace filter therefore must be changed often, every three
months or so. A small micron particle electrostatic filter is
recommended.
Then there are contaminants like cigarette smoke and particles
from the outside environment to consider. Some of these
contaminants may be chemical in nature as from car exhaust or
from some close by industrial activity. Other contaminants may
be from plant growth like airborne contaminants from the
goldenrod plant. Air purifiers can remove these contaminants
from the air in your home.
It may be that you need more than one air purifier in your home
just because of the floor plan layout of your house or from the
sheer square foot size. Air purifiers typically have a specified
coverage area that they will perform well in. Pay attention to
these specifications when looking to purchase an air purification
system.
There are many air purification systems on the market today. The
air purification systems vary significantly in performance and
price too. Higher end air purifiers like the IQAir offer supreme
performance but are pricey. Other air purifiers like the Alen
350 are a good balance between cost and performance and are a
good value.
For smaller rooms you may want to consider a unit like the
Whirlpool Whispure as they perform well in a small area.
In general though, a good air purifier must have a HEPA
filtration system on it as well as an activated carbon filter.
By using one or more high quality air purification systems in
your home, your home will be as clean as it looks and you will
rest well knowing so.
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