Maintaining your home’s indoor air quality (IAQ) is important to overall household health. This is doubly true with tighter seals for greater home comfort and energy efficiency, as indoor air becomes more polluted with less air circulation. Allergy sufferers, specifically, can find relief through air purifiers, but all members of your household will benefit from better IAQ.
Types of Cleaners
Mechanical air filters clean your home’s air through different filter media, where airborne particles are captured. These work best at collecting larger particles like dust, allergens, mold spores, and animal dander. The most popular variety, and best for cutting levels of airborne allergens, are High Efficiency Particulate Air filters (HEPA).
Electronic air cleaners work best for smaller particles. Air is moved through an ionization portion of the cleaner where airborne particles become charged. They are then attracted to metal plates with opposite charges, where they are captured.
Gas-phase air filters reduce levels of gas pollutants or odors and rely on sorbent materials, such as activated carbon. These media adsorb pollutants, and gas-phase filters work best with gaseous pollutants, smoke and toxins.
Lastly, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) cleaners rely on UV lamps to eliminate airborne biological pollutants like mold spores, bacteria, allergens and viruses. These are used within your home’s HVAC system or larger filtration system, rather than independently.
The Benefits of Air Purifying:
Although air cleaners will not work miracles, they do reduce levels of airborne allergens, particles, and pollutants. Other benefits include:
- Air cleaners help decrease allergen levels to prevent reactions.
- They make sleeping and breathing easier in your home.
- Energy costs are relatively low, especially for a one-room cleaner, which uses about as much energy as a 60 watt light bulb.
- They create white noise that helps people relax and sleep easier.
- In short, cleaners make it easy to live a healthier life.
For more expert advice on maintaining IAQ in your Calgary area home, contact Arpi’s Industries Ltd. We have been serving Western Canada for 50 years and look forward to applying that valuable experience to serving you today.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about air purifiers and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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