Choosing the Right Air Purifier for Your Home

The right air purifier for your home is one that fits your health needs without breaking your personal budget. It’s one that fits well into the size of your rooms as different purifiers are labeled as covering a set amount of square feet. It’s one that meets your particular environmental needs, whether you’re a pet owner, a smoker, or a parent of kids with allergies.

Ionic Systems for Cleaner Air on a Budget

An ionic air purification system charges the foreign particles that you want taken out of the air, and it does so at a lower price than many other systems. An ionic system is pretty quiet, and also doesn’t require filters. However, it does release a bit of ozone into the air, which could cause asthma flare-ups. Ideally, look for a model that conveniently catches trapped particles. However, if you do choose a model that lets the particles drop to the floor, remember to clean them up quickly so they don’t re-enter the airflow.

Air Purification for Pet Owners

Image via Flickr by brileybo2

You may notice your allergies start to flare up when you’re sitting on your dog’s favorite loveseat. Plus, there’s probably an odor coming from the room where you keep your cat’s litter box. These are common problems of pet owners, which is why there are specialized air purification systems meant to address both pet dander and household odor. 

Charcoal filters absorb odors, so if you’re having that issue, go ahead and invest in making your home smell more pleasant. Also consider fine-meshed HEPA filtration purifiers for your pet’s favorite area to trap allergy-causing dander that may be spread in your home. Just don’t forget to change them regularly, as allowing dirty filters to remain in place can make the problem worse. Remember that new products are coming out all the time, and that HEPA purifiers come designed for homeowners these days, sometimes even for pet owners in particular. A fine mesh might not work on your whole home but might be great for your pet room.

The Right Product by the Label

Air purifiers will say on their product descriptions how many square feet of your home they can clean effectively. Many people have difficulty estimating the number of square feet in any particular room, but a visual guide can help. Once you know what size you need, you can determine what Clean Air Delivery Rate, or CADR, works best for you. Remember that the filtration on a standalone air purifier system will likely differ from what works best for a whole-home HVAC system. 

Although many air purifications system filters are labeled “true HEPA,” meaning that they meet the Department of Energy requirements for this classification, some nicer purifiers use UV-C systems to help with Volatile Organic Compounds, which standard HEPA would miss.

Regardless of which air purifier system ends up having the right size and filtration level for particular rooms or your whole home, it’s critical to keep it clean and the filter changed according to the recommended schedule to avoid reintroducing pollutants into your home.