How to Choose an Air Purifier to Clean Your Home and Special Savings!

Make your home a safe and comfortable place for your family by breathing cleanly using a high-quality air purifier!

As part of this month’s series on healthy natural living, today’s post covers the importance of clean indoor air and how to choose a high-quality air purification system to keep your family safe and healthy. Having clean, safe indoor air is a key component of a home detox and the right air purifier can help you achieve this.

This is NOT a sponsored post. These are products I actually use in my day-to-day life, and all opinions are my own based on personal experience. I do receive a small affiliate commission if you choose to purchase products which goes to support this blog to allow me to continue to bring you free resources and content. Thank you!

Why Indoor Air Quality Matters

We spend the majority of our lives indoors, dining, working, sleeping and living our lives. Unfortunately, indoor air is often more toxic and contaminated than the air outdoors. The Environmental Protection Agency now ranks indoor air pollution among the top five threats to human health. Indoor air pollution can be caused by a variety of factors, but the most common contributors are mold, pollen, various smoke and gases, household cleaning products, pesticides, synthetic building materials, and poor air circulation.

It is important to try to improve your indoor air quality in the home and office to improve your health and prevent disease from developing in the future. One way to do this is with a high-quality air purifier. 

Are you allergic to your home?

So many of us suffer with allergies, irritation, chronic headaches and other signs of sensitivities. Allergens can be natural substances like pollen, dust mites, animal dander and molds that trigger the immune system to mount a response.

Other substances are irritants that damage the body when they come in contact with the skin, lungs or mucus membranes. These include toxins that are found in products such as plastics, formaldehyde, paints, finishes, solvents and pesticides that release volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Many of these substances acutely irritate the body while also leading to long-term impacts.

The air inside the typical American home is on average 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air and in some cases up to 100 times more dangerous. This is largely due to furniture, carpeting, bedding, cleaning products and pesticides as well as allergens such as mold, dust and pet dander. 

Air fresheners and many cleaning products generally fail to “freshen” the air or make the home cleaner. Instead, many of these products just mask odors and often add harmful synthetic fragrances and other chemicals to our homes, making the situation worse!  To improve your health and keep your home truly clean, it is important to detox your products and clean the air!

Breathe Fresher Air: How to Choose an Air Purifier for Your Home

I have found that a high-quality air purifier or filter can make a big difference! When choosing the right air purifier for your home, you need to consider your lifestyle, location, budget and sensitivities. There are whole-house filters available which are placed into the ductwork of heating or cooling systems to filter the air in the entire house as well as portable room models that can be moved from room to room. 

There are a variety of options and purification methods that are employed. These can include pre-filters, activated carbon, zeolite, HEPA filters, electrostatic filtration, negative ion generators, ozone, ultraviolet light, mineral technology and nano coils. 

When researching the best type of air purifier for your needs you want to consider the following factors:

• Is the unit designed to remove particles like dust, smoke and pollen as well as filtering volatile organic compounds and other gaseous pollutants?
• Carbon filters are designed to adsorb (particles stick to carbon) smoke, gases, odor and some VOCs and typically need to be replaced frequently or they can begin to release trapped pollutants back into the air.
• Similarly, HEPA filters or high-efficiency particulate air filters are 99.97% efficient in removing particles 0.3 microns in size or greater like dust, pollen and mold spores. Look for non-petrochemical, medical grade HEPA filters. Most HEPA filters must be replaced annually, which can often be very expensive.
• Units which use electrostatic precipitators remove pollutant particles by charging them as they pass through and collecting them on an oppositely charged metal plate or filter, generating some ozone as a byproduct. For this reason, these types of units, along with ozone and negative ion generators, can irritate those with asthma or sensitive airways, making them undesirable.
• Units incorporating UV lamps to kill airborne microorganisms can also generate ozone in some cases.
• Since most air purifiers use a fan to move air through the unit, various speed options and noise levels are also considerations. 
• You also want to choose an air purifier that is appropriate for the size of your space. 

A Unique Air Purifier Option

To deal with my own sensitivities and allergies and seek out a solution to share with my clients in my home detox, I have tried many types and models of air purifiers and air cleaners. For a full range of air purification, I look for a filter or model that removes particulate matter as well as pollen, molds, chemicals and VOCs. This is generally achieved with a multistage filtration process. 

In addition to the types and extent of pollutants removed, I consider the unit size and portability, maintenance requirements (how often the filter needs cleaned and/or changed and the added expense this brings), the materials the unit is made of and the quality of the unit. For me, it is important that the unit and materials themselves do not off-gas and contribute further to air pollution, so I prefer stainless steel construction as opposed to plastic. 

I use this  Austin Air Purifier (affiliate link) in my home and office that uses 5 stages of filtration including a high-quality HEPA filter that traps 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 μm (dust, particulate, allergens, pet dander, microorganisms, and more).

The air purifier unit is large but is easily moved around your home on rolling casters. It is able to cleanse the air up to an area of 750 square feet. While it is a significant upfront investment, upkeep and maintenance costs are reasonable and it covers a very large range of pollutants. I recently used it in an area that was contaminated with odors, dust and pollutants from some new materials and found it effectively cleared the air with consistent use.  

 

 

Do you use an air purifier in your home?

What type did you choose?

Have you noticed a difference in your health?

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  Medical Disclaimer: Information provided in this email and related resources is for informational purposes only. The information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. Every body is unique so be sure to check with your health care professional before making any dietary or lifestyle changes taking any medication or nutritional supplement or using any treatment for a health issue.. Do not use this information provided for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease. If you suspect you have a medical problem please contact your healthcare provider promptly and do not disregard professional medical advice based on anything in this email. This correspondence and related resources are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease and do not create a doctor-patient relationship between you and Jennifer Weinberg.

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  This post was shared with: Allergy-Free Wednesday, A Little Bird Told Me Link-Up, Full Plate Thursday, Create It Thursday, Healthy Living Link Party, Family Fun Friday, Friday’s Five Features, Savoring Saturdays, Real Food Fridays, Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural Party Hop