Hello, today I want to tell you something about healthy living. It is a simple trick that guarantees one of the best lifestyles. I am talking about using the best air purifiers with the right type of air filters.
So why are air purifiers important? Put simply air purifiers clean the air you breathe. What many people don’t know is that the normal air that we breathe is full of different types of pollutants. It is filled with dust, pollen, dirt, and sometime animal dander.
Since this is the case, breathing normal air may have several unhealthy effects on the body. For instance:
It is due to these reasons that the air you breathe should be cleaned or purified. From my personal experience, the use of the right air purifier can leave you with a number of health benefits including:
Even so, for your best air purifier to work there several things that you must put in mind. Some of these things are easy to remember and will require less of your time. They include:
NOTE: For you to clean all air contaminants you need a combination of different air filter types such as these.
Type of Air Filter : What you Need To Know
While all these tips are vital, today I want to focus more on the filtration technology. The right filtration technology demands that you get the best air filter for your air purifier. Well, there are several types of filters that you can focus on. Let’s take a look.
HEPA Air Filter
HEPA is the acronym for the High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance. This acronym is often used in reference to the type of filters that are designed to operate in line with HEPA filter standards.
What are they made of?
The True HEPA filter is forged from borosilicate glass fibers. It can also be designed from special plastic fibers such as polypropylene that are bound together. Up to 5% acrylic binder is often used.
What Does HEPA Filter Do?
True HEPA filter will enable your air purifier to capture at least 99.97 percent of the air contaminants. It will clear various particles of air pollutants that are as small as 0.3 microns. These pollutants include a range of unwanted allergens and odors such as these:
How Does HEPA Filters Work?
HEPA filter works by simply forcing the dirty air through the fine mesh of fiber where harmful particles are trapped. Once these harmful contaminants such as the pollen, pet dander, and dust mites are cleaned, the air released is usually fresh and clean - purified.
Is HEPA Filter Best for Bacteria?
HEPA will remove any large particles such as what we have listed above. However, they won’t be as effective with particulates that are under 0.3 micrometers. These types of particulates will include:
Even so, there are some best air purifier brands that have improved their HEPA filtration systems to clean also bacteria and viruses. A good example is the Rabbit Air Purifier with BioGS HEPA filter technology.
Ionic Air Filter
Also called the Air ionisers, Ionic air filters are best for air purifiers that work in a home setup. They employ a smart technology that removes airborne particles through charging them up. Once these particulates are charged up, they will attract charged ions from this ioniser through electrostatic attraction technology.
Are the ionic air filters safe?
Yes. Most of these ionic air purifiers or ionizers are safe. They are not bad for your health and will not harm you in any way.
The reason why these filters are safe is this. Ionizers emit negative ions in the air we breathe as a method of cleaning it. Negative ions are harmless to the body.
However, sometimes, these ions are confused with the ozone generators, which will emit VOCs that are bad for your health.
How Does Negative Ions Purify the Air?
Once the ionizer has shot out the negative ions, these ions will enable the unwanted particles to stick to the surface of the filter. The two are bound as a single unit while the air is left to pass through the filter.
The result is clean air and trapped contaminants. Eventually, highly purified air will be released into the atmosphere.
You can then have contaminant free air to breathe. You will also minimize the chances of chronic illnesses.
How does the Ionizer Compare to the Purifier?
Ionizers and the electrostatic purifiers are both effective at the removal of small particles that contaminate the air we breathe. They will wipe off bacteria and viruses from the air and leave you with odorless air to breathe.
However, they are not as effective as the mechanical filters when it comes to trapping larger particles. This means that dust particles, animal dander, and pollen may still seep through.
That’s why they are less helpful at combating allergy and other chronic diseases such as cough and asthma.Activated Carbon Filter
The activated carbon filters come in granular form. They are made up of tiny granular, powder, orvery small pieces of carbon.
These powdered granules are usually treated to give them extreme porosity. They are treated so well that one gram of this activated carbon will have surface area of about 500m2 or sometime more.
What Pollutant Does It Remove from the Air?
Due to its high porosity, activated charcoal carbon filters are often effective at eliminating many delicate pollutants from the air and water. It is for this reason that they work best in the following:Some of the most notorious contaminants that activated carbon filter will help you to remove include
How Long Can Activated Carbon Filters Last?
That depends on your use and whether the filter can be cleaned or not. Nonetheless, due to their high ability at capturing pollutants, activated carbon filters will last one month at most. Thereafter, it is advisable that you vacuum or clean them.
Without changing your activated carbon filter after every few months, you will find that the efficiency will go down.
Will Activated Carbon Filter Eliminate Everything?
Any purifier that works with activated carbon is ideal. However, like many other filters that you will find, charcoal filters will hardly cover all the contaminants. That’s why it is often advisable to combine the filtration processes for an effective result.
A four-stage filtration system for instance will combine different types of filtration processes which maximizes efficiency. Nonetheless, the filtration process that uses charcoal filters are effective and works with medical based filters too.UV Light Air Filter
The UV light air purification technology does the one thing that many other filters don’t do. It kills bacteria and viruses.
The system combines the UV lamp with the traditional filtration. This method maximizes the removal of all particulate contaminants from the air and also kills germs and bacteria.
The UV purification system is often most effective if the microorganisms are left to have an extensive contact with the filter’s UV lamp.
It follows, therefore, that the amount of time needed to destroy a mold or bacteria will defer from one type of mold to the next.
Mold in air is easily eliminated once the air you breathe passes through the UV light filters. Some of the best UV-Light filters for any HVAC include the following:Thankfully, this system is affordable and will not eat so much to install. They are easy to work with and will leave you with pure air.
Electrostatic Filters
Electrostatic filters are the modern air purification filters that use static electricity to eliminate contaminants. By using this technology, most electrostatic air filters are capable of successfully removing large particles of contaminants including:
Unfortunately, they will not trap small particles such as mold spores unless they are combined with other filtration processes.
How they Work
Electrostatic air purifiers use static electricity to simply charge the contaminant particles that go through the purifier.Once charged these particles will stick to the internal filtration system and left there until the filter is cleaned.Do Electrostatic Filters Produce Ozone?
No. Electrostatic air filters do not emit ozone. Instead, they are designed with high-efficiency particulate air filters (HEPA filters) to purify the air. This is unlike the ionizing air purification systems.
How Often Should Electrostatic Air Filters Be Replaced?
This will depend on the recommendations of the manufacturer. Even so, most reusable filters only require you to wash them up and then restore them in the furnace, once after every 3 to 6 months.
Washable Air Filters
Cleaning or washing an air filter will help you to remove any buildup of gunk or contaminants. By doing so, this process helps you to restore and prolong the life of your air filter. It also allows the air filter to be reused.
There are two common types of filters; washable and the non-washable filters. Nonetheless, one thing that you have to know is this.
The permanent washable air filters are designed to be cleaned once after every one month or as recommended by the manufacturer. This process will guarantee an even better air filter quality and reliable filtration process.
NOTE: When choosing washable air filters including the panel air filters and air filter rolls you should ensure that they have a comprehensive user manual.
Fiberglass Filter
The choice between the fiberglass air filter and any other air filter is basically a choice between cost and filter effectiveness.
Fiberglass air filters are usually inexpensive. They have a lower rating and are, therefore, best at catching only the larger debris from the air. However, if combined with other forms of filtration processes, fiberglass filters will work just fine.
This means that they will work best for pollutants such as lint and dust. They also work best for almost any type of airflow system.
However, if you run fiberglass air filters for long, they will consume more energy and eventually cost you more moneyNOTE: Fiberglass filters are cheap and disposable. They will catch up to 80% of the particles that are 50 microns orlarger. This means that their air filter quality is lower compared to the true HEPA filters as most contaminants are often at the 3 to 10 micron range.
Conclusion
Different air purifier brands have different type of air filtering systems. We have the Blue air brand with its HEPA Silent Technology, Rabbit Air with BioGS HEPA filter technology, and IQAir brand with the Hyper HEPA air filter.
Whichever the model that you choose make sure that your needs are always met. This is a very important factor especially when comparing an air filter vs air purifier.
Choose the type of air filter that suits you. More importantly, focus more on the best that you can afford. Filters are designed to address specific needs. From washable air filters, HEPA filters, electrostatic filters to fiberglass, every model is unique.
I have highlighted every air filtering process so we can get a better understanding of the filter in relation to our needs. So, do not hesitate to buy a filter that you will find to be ideal.
