If you have allergies, reducing your exposure to allergens is a good way to control your symptoms. If you’re allergic to substances which are commonly airborne, then you may want to look into an allergy relief air purifier or even car air purifiers to keep your symptoms under control. There are many different brands and models of home air purifiers on the market, which means you’ll have to decide which will perform the best in controlling your allergies.
One downside of many home air purifiers is that they produce ozone; a molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms, which happens to be a very unstable configuration. Ozone’s instability causes it to break down quickly, resulting in a stable pair of oxygen atoms and a very reactive oxygen free radical. These free radicals are extremely reactive and can cause lung damage and harm to other vital tissues in sufficient concentration; they have also been suggested to increase the risk of developing some cancers among other illnesses. Asthma sufferers should avoid ozone particles as much as possible because they can worsen the symptoms of the disease.
These home air purifiers don’t normally emit ozone in a quantity sufficient to cause harm to most people, but you will be able to smell the ozone in the air. This ozone performs a useful function by binding to many of the impurities in the air, including allergens. There are also home air purifiers which use electrically charged metal plates instead of ozone to remove airborne particulates like pet dander, pollen and other materials. Fans move the air through the system with impurities being trapped by the charged metal plates. With these home air purifiers, you need to clean the metal plates weekly.
An allergy relief air purifier is not going to make your allergies go away but you will feel better. By significantly reducing the amount of smoke, dust, pollen, dander and other allergenic particles in the air around you, you’ll have symptoms far less often. Home air purifiers vary by their capacity; a small air purifier does well for a 10’ x 15’ room, but if the space you want to use it in is much bigger than this, you’ll have to get a larger and pricier one.
Any home air purifiers you choose should have HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters. A HEPA filter keeps particles pulled from the air from becoming airborne again, something which can be a problem with air purifiers that use metal plates to trap allergens and other impurities. HEPA filters are sometimes able to be washed but not always. These filters often last as long as the home air purifiers they are used with (3-10 years) while others need to be replaced every two or three years. One thing to keep in mind is that the price doesn’t always correlate to the quality or the useful life of HEPA filters.
If you’re sensitive to sounds, you’ll want to make sure that the air purifier you choose runs so quietly that you can’t tell if it’s on – quality home air purifiers are extremely quiet. The electricity used in some home air purifiers cause crackling and popping noises. Sometimes the fans in the home air purifiers are loud and can make it hard to hear the TV or to sleep. If you have a central HVAC system, you’ll definitely want to install quality air filters but in order to really get all of the allergenic matter out of the air you breathe, getting home air purifiers for your bedroom and any other rooms in your home where you spend a lot of time.
Tags: air purifier, allergy relief