Air Purifiers

Types Of Home Air Purifiers
Room Air Purifiers

Room air purifiers replaced tabletop units in the 1990s as the leading .....

5 Things Air Home Purifier Manufacturers Don't Want You to Know

"Cough, cough, sneeze, sneeze, oh what a relief it is"

You've surely seen those late-night infomercials for air purifiers. But until a few allergies paid me a visit I never
gave them any attention. Being a diligent health expert (and frugal as well) I decided to do some research before plunking down the $449 they were asking me for a small home air purifier.

Air Purifiers To Eliminate Viruses And Mold
Most homes or business only have air conditioning filters to filter the air that we breathe. .....

Last year close to 4 million air purifiers were sold in the US. The rise of childhood asthma, up 60% over the last 6 years, was a major cause of that number. Allergies were the #1 reason people looked for a purifier. With close to 240 manufacturers, mostly in China, there are basically 12 technologies available for purifying the air.

With all those choices I was a little confused, and as it turns out the marketing efforts feed upon this confusion:

1) Most of the technology you see on the market has been around over 40 years.

Air Purifiers And Dusting
If you are looking for a way to cut back on your dusting, there are several options that you can choose from. One would .....

2) Most people didn't know what technology matched their needs (allergies, asthma)

3) This confusion played right into the marketers hands, as most people end up paying more than they had to for the wrong technology.

Here are 5 things I discovered which most consumers should know, along with remedies and suggestions:

#1: Most Replacement Filters and UV Bulbs are Over-Priced

In Japan air purifiers come with 2-3 extra replacement filters included. WHY? Because the Japanese think ahead and demand it.

In America manufacturers realize most people don't think ahead so they overcharge us. Reminds me of my $89 inkjet printer -the replacement print cartridge is $28 every month! (So the manufacturer basically gets me on the backend)

Once you purchase an air purifier you'll be stuck paying what they ask.

Remedy: Think ahead before you buy. On average every 6 months you'll need to change filters. Make sure you ask (or search online) for the prices of replacement HEPA and/or UV bulbs before you buy.

Consider: Anything over $10 for a UV bulb, and over $30 for a HEPA and over $20 for a Carbon filter is too much. They don't cost the manufacturer much money to produce (one exception: HEPA filters over 3 inches thick will cost twice as much).

Buying Strategy: When you find your air purifier ask them to give you a discount on the replacement filters as a point of buying it and get 1-2 years worth.

#2: Purifiers That Say: "No Replacement Filters" Don't Work

The idea sounds great: No Replacement filters. However once you see a dirty HEPA filter (HEPA's are a cloth-like filter which grabs a lot of dust and pollution) you realize that purifiers without HEPA are not catching the dust, soot and pollen - YOUR LUNGS ARE! If "no replacement filter" purifiers really worked HEPA filters would already have dissappeared.

"No Replacement Filter Models":

Air Purifier Ratings
Before you shell out any money for an air purifier, you want to make sure you are getting your money's worth. You can find this out .....

Ionic Breeze

Oreck Models (although they contradict themselves on their website. as they do have replacement filters)

Remedy - Get an air purifier that has affordable HEPA replacements and UV bulbs. Especially important if you have allergies.

#3: "Fanless" Air Purifiers Won't Move Enough Air

Many of the ionic purifiers sell you on how quiet they are and how little electricity they use. The problem is they simply don't move enough air without a good fan.

(Note; Sharper Image made "quiet/low electricity" claims earlier that were true - but it also didn't move any air. They went to fans in their new models as of 2007 because of this problem)

Remedy: Get one with a fan, and avoid buying older ones without fans. They don't work. And if you have a HEPA filter it has to be strong enough to pull air through the filter.

#4 Beware of Loud Fan Motors

A few people have emailed me that after buying an air purifier they discovered it was loud and they couldn't run it at night. I've had a few purifiers that rattled all night like a fan myself.

Remedy: For a super quiet fan ask for one with brushless motors. Make sure you ask or read the box for the decibel levels. 20-35 decibels ......