Selecting an Air Purifier
For the home or office, air purifiers can make a big difference in the quality of the air we breathe, especially to allergy sufferers or people with asthma.
However, the endless number of features available as well as the techincal terms
make purchasing an air purifier confusing for the first time buyer. At ABC
Vacuum Warehouse, we wish to help you select the air purifier that's right for
you. Here are some good things you should consider when looking for an air
purifier.
Questions
Click on the question in which you are interested.
- What is the best filtration type for me: HEPA, Carbon,
Electrostatic/Ionizing, or Anti-Chemical/Microbial?
- Which machine matches best with the square footage of the room I wish to
clean?
- What is the CFM air flow rating?
- What is the best air purifier for removing tobacco smoke?
- I don't have much space in my home, what is a good air purifer that
doesn't take up much room?
- I have a limited budget, which air purifiers can I buy for less than $200?
- I don't like loud air purifiers, which one is the quietest?
- Which is the best air purifier for a commercial/business or special use
setting?
- Which air purifier is the easiest or least expensive to maintain?
What is the best filtration type for me: HEPA, Carbon,
Electrostatic/Ionizing, or Anti-Chemical/Microbial?
HEPA filtration is the industry standard. If refers to filters
that trap 99.97% of all particles down to 0.3 microns (1/1000th of an inch). As
a HEPA filter gets used, it becomes more efficient as the dust particles shorten
the width of the holes in the filter, allowing it to trap smaller particles.
Most of the air purifiers in our inventory come with HEPA filtration or an
equivalent. HEPA filters need to be changed every 1 to 2 years depending
on the conditions they are used in.
Our best-selling HEPA air purifiers are made by
Blueair,
Hunter,
Sharp, and
Whirlpool.
Carbon filtration uses active carbon to trap and absorb odors.
Many air purifiers use a carbon filter in conjunction with a main filter system
such as HEPA or Electrostatic. Carbon Odor filters need to be changed every 3 to
6 months depending on the conditions they are used in.
Electrostatic/Ionizing filtration gives particles an electric charge
as they pass through the machine. The particles then cling to an
oppositely charged array of metal plates. A special feature of
Electrostatic filtration is that the main filter plates are washable and do not
have to be replaced. A drawback to Electrostatic filtration is that the
filter loses its efficiency as the dust particles build up and block the static
charge from drawing in new particles entering the air purifier. However,
this can be avoided with regular cleaning.
The following household air purifiers come with Electrostatic/Ionizing
filtration:
Generally, HEPA machines tend to be quieter and cleaner if you are trying to
eliminate odors, small pollens, and or smoke. Electrostatic machines are
effective on dust and larger common pollens.
Some air purifiers come with Anti-Chemical/Microbial features. Most of
them are made for commercial settings such as microchip cleanrooms, doctor's
offices, or dentist's offices.
The following household air purifiers come with anti-chemical and anti-gas
features:
The following household air purifiers use an ultra-violet lamp to kill
harmful microbes:
All Air Fantastic Purifiers
as well as the Sharp Plasmacluster series
of air purifiers releases charged molecules into the air which bind to and
destroy harmful airborne particles which contain bacteria, viruses, and odors.
All AirFree Purifiers have a
miniture internal furnace. Inside, 99.99% of all micro-organisms: spores,
fungus, bacteria, virus, mold spores, are incinerated at temperatures around
400ºF (250ºC). This is done without significant heat contribution to the
environment.
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Which machine matches best with the square footage of the room I wish to
clean?
It is best to use an air purifier that is made for rooms equal to or larger
than the room you wish to clean. You can use a machine made for smaller
rooms, but it will take longer to filter all the air in your room. To
calculate the square footage of your room, multiply the length of your room by
the width.
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What is the CFM air flow rating?
The CFM rating is a measurement of the Cubic Feet per Minute of air that
flows through the machine. A larger CFM means that the machine will filter
more air in a given amount of time.
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What is the best air purifier for removing tobacco smoke?
Any air purifier with HEPA filtration is excellent in removing smoke. Our best-selling HEPA air purifiers are made by
Blueair,
Sharp, and
Whirlpool. Also,
All Air Fantastic Purifiers
as well the
Aller Air 5000 DS Air Cleaner and the
Airpura T600 Tobacco Smoke Air Purifier are specifically designed to remove tobacco
smoke.
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I don't have much space in my home, what is a good air purifer that
doesn't take up much room?
Air purifiers range from the size of a VCR to the size of a large pet carrier
and beyond.
The following air purifiers are the size of a desktop computer or smaller:
Some of our best selling air purifiers are rather large. The
Friedrich
C-90B is the size of a large pet carrier. All of the Whirlpool air
purifiers are the size of a laundry hamper. Our biggest air purifier, the
HealthWay 20600-02 Oyster/White Air Purifier is the size of a small refrigerator.
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I have a limited budget, which air purifiers can I buy for less than $200?
We have the following list of air purifiers on sale for less than $200.
However most of these are made for smaller rooms.
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I don't like loud air purifiers, which one is the quietest?
Many air purifiers have a low or quiet setting which makes the least noise.
The most quiet machines are made by
Air Fantastic, Air Free,
Aller Air,
Blueair,
Hunter and
IQAir.
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Which is the best air purifier for a commercial/business or special use
setting?
Aller Air and
IQAir make air purifiers for
commercial, medical, industrial, and tactical use.
The following air purifiers are made for medical/dental offices and
industrial use:
The
Aller Air 5000 DS Air Cleaner and the
Airpura T600 Tobacco Smoke Air Purifier are made for high tobacco smoke areas such as
bars and nightclubs.
The
Shop-Vac® 1030000 Air Cleaner is made for cleaning workshop environments.
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Which air purifier is the easiest or least expensive to maintain?
Electrostatic/Ionizing air purifiers such as those made by
Air Fantastic, AirFree,
Friedrich or
Lake Air are the least expensive
to maintain. Air Fantastic and AirFree purifiers have no filters to replace. The
UV lamp on the Air Fantastic need to be replaced every 1 to 3 years. On
the Friedrich and the Lake Air, all you have to replace is the carbon odor filter, Which costs
about $24 to $30. The main filter unit is washable and does not need to be
replaced. HEPA filtered air purifiers require the least amount of work to maintain since
there is no washing involved, you only have to change the filters as needed.
The HEPA filtered air purifiers with the easiest available replacement filters
are made by IQAir and
Whirlpool. The filters
for these machines are available in most shops that sell air purifiers.
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