Portable Air Cleaner Makes Breathing Easier

By Jill Faulkner


If breathing is difficult even in a home a portable air cleaner may help. These devices filter the contents of the home. They are not all created equal however. Some merely offer a mechanical filter that traps a few particles, while others are designed to eliminate odors or gases from the air. Before shopping it is important to decide the features that are wanted or needed.

The first variable to decide is the seriousness of the problem to be addressed. If one requires the cleanest atmosphere, he or she will need to choose a better unit to get the job done. Those who have problems with chemicals or asthma may require a different type device than those who have pollen allergy problems. Chemical allergies can be caused by any number of different compounds and some users have found the glue from a HEPA filter might cause reactions.

Be sure to consider the volume of the room to be treated. To keep the atmosphere clean it must pass through the filter several times every hour. Even if a machine uses the greatest of filters it cannot be effective in a room if it is too small. At a very minimum the device should provide two full exchanges every hour.

Keep the location the unit will be used in mind as well. Some are notoriously louder than others. In the bedroom where noise is sometimes a factor, units that can exchange the minimum amount of air may be quieter to operate. However, in family rooms with higher traffic, there may be a need for a larger exchange rate.

Units barely meet the minimum requirements for a room will need to operate on the highest speed most of the time. However, if the consumer selects a more efficient device, it may be possible to turn the fan speed to a lower setting to allow quieter operation while still exchanging the appropriate number of times.

Some purifiers offer an IR detector to monitor the particulates in the room. These devices automatically run on high speed when turned on, but as the particles decrease through filtration, the device moves to a lower speed. Unfortunately, many users find the area being measured is too small for the device to make the determination.

Two numbers are important to consider when looking at a unit's effectiveness. These are the number of exchanges every hour and the percentage of particulates removed each time. The percentage is reported in a number called efficiency. Machines with higher efficiency ratings remove the most particles each pass. The device efficiency is a more important number than the efficiency of the filter. While a filter may meet all the requirements for HEPA filtration, if the unit allows half the volume each hour to bypass the filter, its overall efficiency is much reduced. This leads to a poor overall performance.

If breathing in one's home is a problem a portable air cleaner may help. These devices remove particulate matter and other pollutants. Choosing the right device can improve the home's atmosphere.




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