What is an Air Purifier?

Air purifiers, also referred to as air cleaners, or air filters, come in many shapes and sizes, from mini air purifiers, that you can carry around in your car or hang around your neck which you can pick up for just a few dollars, to whole house air purifiers which are installed along with your air conditioning unit which can cost up to a few thousand dollars.

Air purifiers in a nutshell clean the air in your home or office or in the case of the mini air purifier the air in your car.

The main use for an Air filter is to remove any airborne pollutants that may be in your home or office. Some of the more common particles that would be targeted by an Air cleaner would be cigarette smoke, pet dander, plant pollen, dust and dust mites, odors and allergens.

Most high quality air purifiers use a filter known as the Hepa filter. These types of filters were originally developed in the 1940′s and can remove up to 99.7% of air borne pollutants in your room.

They also use Hepa filters in many highly technical industries, such as computer chip manufacturing, biological research and hospital laboratories to name a few.

Some Air cleaners also come with UV germicidal technology which kills any bacteria caught up in the filter, this UV germicidal technology is the same technology used in hospitals to kill bacteria.

Most people who would purchase an Air purifier would either suffer from respiratory problems, such as asthma, have allergic reactions such as hay-fever from plant pollen or pets, live with pets or cigarette smokers and want to remove the odors they produce, or parents who have a new borne baby who want to give their child the healthiest environment possible.

Other possible reasons for owning an air purification system in your home may be because of the location of your home. Many people who live in large cities or towns which rely on heavy industry would definitely benefit from coming home to a clean air environment.

Not all air cleaners work in the same way, there are many brands makes and models of air purifiers with many using Hepa filters, while many others use whats known as Hepa Type air filters, the difference being that the Hepa Type are not certified Hepa Quality by an independent test.

Air purifiers shouldn’t require much maintenance, apart from the cleaning or washing of pre-filters and the replacement of the filter, which depending on your machine could range from every six months to every couple of years.