This device is designed to provide a readout of the radon levels inside a building such as a home. If you don’t know what radon is, it is a radioactive gas that come up out of the ground from the decay of uranium. As you may have guessed, it is odorless and invisible. Surprisingly , it is found all over the world, but higher concentrations are found in the northeast United States.

That is where a radon detector is useful. Radon gas is radioactive and dangerous to humans and animals. There are estimates by the environmental protection agency that says maybe thousands of deaths each year are due to radon exposure. radon gas will cause cancer just like any high radiation source. It is the long term and repeated exposures that does it. In fact, it may shock you to learn that radon gas is only second to cigarettes in the cause of lung cancer, so the use of a radon detector is wise. No levels of radon are judged as safe, but below .4 picoCuries per liter of air is the limit proposed.

Outside air in our normal living environments contains about .4 picoCuries. It is because our houses are so airtight that the concentration builds up.

That is why a radon detector is a life saving device to keep your family safe from this gas. Air purifiers, such as the BlueAir 501 system, will not remove radon gas. To get rid of this gas, you need a radon mitigation professional to come to your house and install some equipment. In the long term, this is the best way to solve this problem.

If you interested in being “Green”, the BlueAir 501 is very friendly to the environment. The plastic the filter is made from is the least toxic they could use, which is better when we talk of disposing of the used filters and you won’t have to worry about the filter off-gassing some toxins. Another problem with filters in some cleaners is the mold and bacteria that builds up. The BlueAir 501 filter is waterproof and also biodegradable when they are thrown away.

To talk about the BlueAir 501, you have to mention the quietness of it while in operation.  With 4 speed settings, the lowest is so quiet, they named it HEPASilent, and at that setting you can barely hear it it running.   Even the next level setting is quiet compared to most machines of this caliber.  When you move up to the 4th setting, it is really moving some air, but still it could be called tolerable.

This system can also do a good job at distributing the air throughout the room, no dead spots that don’t get filtered. It actually looks pretty trendy and it won’t be something you feel you have to hide behind the sofa. The designers put some effort into making this model look good. Maintaining this system is simple and easy, as there are no tools needed. To change the filter, you can just open up the cover, take out the old one, and snap in the new.

You can buy an additional kit to add to the filtering capabilities for smoke. And it comes with a 10 year warranty, but I doubt you will be needing it. This is built strong. Anyone who has Asthma, respiratory conditions, or allergies will benefit from having the clean air to breathe from the BlueAir 501 air purifier.

Ozone is actually 3 molecules of Oxygen.  That sounds fairly benign when you first hear it, because we all want to breathe oxygen.  But everything in moderation, right?  You see, one of the oxygen molecules is always trying to escape the ozone.  That is one way of saying it is very reactive.  When that gets into our very sensitive lung tissues, it starts damaging the cells.  So , no. Ozone is not something we should breathe, even though it is mad up of oxygen.

Many air cleaners today produce ozone, either because it smells good, and people like that “fresh air” smell, or because it is a byproduct of an ionizing air cleaner.  It is usually the second reason.  Many air cleaner manufacturers think that they can improve the air quality of your home  by ionizing the air.  This essentially “charges” some of the particles in the air negatively, and then those particles stick to most any surface.  Some fall to the ground while others will stick to walls, ceilings, really anything that is not negatively charged.  This method does work in removing those particles from the air, but the side effect can be ozone generation.

The Blueair 501 series air purifier is much better than most at ionizing without all the ozone generation.  This is due to the very high tech approach used to manufacturer the Blueair systems.  They enclose the ionization chamber with steel which causes any generated ozone to collide with the steel and loose that extra oxygen molecule we mentioned earlier.  This actually turns ozone into oxygen.

Be sure to do your research on ozone and ionizing air purifiers before you run out and purchase one.  They are not all equal.  BlueAir air purifiers are significantly different and for all the right reasons.

So you can control or reduce your asthma symptoms with a home air purifier.  Here are some dos and don’t about selecting the right one.

Do find an air cleaner that actually filters the air.  The ones that just send negative charged ions ( called ionic) do little to filter.  An ionic subsystem to a filtering air purifier might be okay, but there has to be filtration.

Do make sure the filter is a HEPA filter.  This stands for High Efficiency Particulate filter, and it has to remove at least 99.97% of airborne particles 0.3 micrometers in diameter.

Do keep your basement dry and clean. Basements are may have mold growing that will get into the house.

Do wash rugs, shampoo carpet and clean furniture often.

Some things to avoid

It would be best not to have a woodburning stove. These just add so much particulate to the house, even a good air filter may have trouble keeping up.

Don’t use strong smelling things, like candles, perfumes, “air fresheners”, etc. These often trigger asthma attacks.

Finally don’t do things that you know increases the level of particulates in the house, such as, burning candles, dusting ( when it just moves the dust around), shaking out rugs.

A good HEPA filter with the ionic additional technology. Just be aware of those that produce Ozone. Ozone is not good for anyone, especially asthma sufferers.

First of all, they are suppose to work by generating negative ions.  These negative charged particles attract dust, pollen , pet dander, etc and cause the pollution to fall out of the air.  This in theory would make the air cleaner.  But is this actually good for you?

Consumer Reports said back in 2005 that the models they tested actually did a poor job at cleaning the air and they produced ozone which is not good for you. I know you are thinking that we need ozone, so producing would be helpful.  Actually , ozone in our atmosphere is one thing, having it in your house and breathing it, is something totally different.  No we don’t want to breathe ozone.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for outdoor ozone concentration exposure, 80 parts per billion over eight hours is the maximum anyone should breathe.  The magazine tested quite a few of the popular models of ionizing air purifiers and they found that 2 of them put out about 300 parts per billion of ozone.  Not something you want in your house.  In people with normal lungs, 100 parts per billion can cause damage to the airways.  Some studies show that it can actually cause asthma like symptoms in otherwise healthy people.

The bottom line on ionizing air filters is that most data says they don’t work.  They don’t remove the dirt, like say a High Efficiency Particulate Air  (HEPA) can.  They do give the illusion of filtering, and may cause some of the pollution to fall to the ground, but at the expense of producing ozone.

There is no government agency empowered to oversee  ionizing air cleaners. If the item is not making a medical claim, it doesn’t come under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) jurisdiction.  The unfortunate thing about all this is that some studies show that 80% of all people buying air purifiers are people who have someone in the home with asthma or allergies.  Ionizing air treatment systems account for about 25% of all the units purchased.

It really comes down to consumers doing there research on these units to see which one is really the best for them.  I hope this article has helped you in your research on air purifiers for your home.