Allergy Air Purifiers - 5 Answers to Questions About Air Purifiers For Allergies
By Debbie Davis
With so many allergy air purifiers on the market, finding one that can serve as an effective tool in your allergy management plan can be frustrating. Knowing the answers to the following 5 questions before you buy will mean having a cleaner that will help you feel better in your home or office.  
Which technology is best? High efficiency particle arresting (or HEPA) filtration technology is used by hospitals to insure clean air, and is the best method for home and office filtration as well. By definition this process will remove airborne allergens down to .3 microns; with a micron being defined is one millionth of a meter.  
How can I tell if it will remove the allergens that affect me? Different filters are designed to remove different allergens so this is critical information to have. HEPA filters with a multi-tiered filtration process will remove contaminants as small as .3 microns (household dust, mold and mildew spores, pet dander and hair, pollen, bacteria, and viruses) but a good one will also have an inner filter that targets other contaminants as well such as smoke and odor, or airborne volatile organic chemicals, and even pet odor. Check the technical specifications to pinpoint exactly what the cleaner's filter is designed to remove, and if you don't see it there, call and ask the company to make sure it will do what you need it to.  
How much area should it be able to clean? It is always better to oversize your unit for the area rather than undersize it. Measure the space that you want to clean and add ceiling heights greater than 8 feet as additional area in your calculations. Then look for a purifier that has the ability to clean that square footage or slighter greater. Unless you close doors to your space, the cleaner will eventually pull air from all over, so be careful to measure accurately.   For instance, if you are buying an air purifier for a bedroom, unless you close the door, it will pull air from all over your house. If the area of your house is greater than the purifier is designed to clean, the results will be less than effective. Careful thought to issues such as these will insure effectiveness.  
How often should I expect to have to change the filter? This is a great answer to have before you buy the purifier as the cost and frequency of replacing the filter will directly impact your out of pocket expenses. Look for a purifier that has a 5-year filter life, and a prorated filter warranty. Only having to change the filter once every five years greatly reduces your operating costs, which means you are more likely to use it without worrying about how much it will cost you when the filter fills up. Look for a purifier that has a prorated filter warranty as well. This gives you confidence that should anything go wrong with the filter before the 5 year warranty runs out, you still don't pay full price for the replacement.  
How long should it take to be effective? If you have sized the unit correctly for your space, and you run it on high for the first several hours, then turn it back to medium or low and leave it on 24 hours a day, you should see a difference fairly quickly. Again this will depend on what you are trying to remove from your air, and the amount of contaminants that have built up in your air. The key to success is to have the filtration be constant rather than turning it off and on.
An excellent HEPA air purifier to remove allergens from your air, and that has a 5 year purifier warranty as well as a 5 year prorated filter warranty is offered by PurerAir.com-- the
Allergy Machine Air Purifier which can be seen at http://purerair.com/allergy_machine.html
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