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.

This is the reason that Blueair purifiers are always found in the most popular asthma shops on the internet. You can find these in many malls around the country as well. The Blueair purifiers just look good and work good.
The Blueair 501 model is very popular and ranks well in many internet sites, such as epinions.com and Amazon.com.
Some of the most important features of this model is the strong performance it puts on when given some dirty air to clean.

Blueair-501 Air Cleaners Technical Specifications
Cleaning Capacity
(According to AHAM) Room size of 500 square feet
Clean Air Delivery Rate
(AHAM 1/00) Smoke: 380 CADR
Dust: 390 CADR
Pollen: 390 CADR
Air Flow Rate Speed 1: 88 CFM
Speed 2: 117 CFM
Speed 3: 247 CFM
Speed 4: 450 CFM
Noise Level Speed 1: 34.5 dB(A)
Speed 2: 37.1 dB(A)
Speed 3: 49.4 dB(A)
Speed 4: 70.5 dB(A)
Blueair Energy Consumption 15-95W,
depending upon speed
Warranty 10-year limited
Dimensions 20″w x 13″d x 26″h
Weight 35 lbs.

As you can see, this Blueair purifier does the job.

Blueair was founded in 1996 in Sweden and they quickly gained a reputation for high performance, for quality, and for a great looking design. After all, this has to sit out in your room where people will see it. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers named the 501, the best in its class for it’s amazing performance.

When you are buying an air purifier, two things come to mind. Does it work? and How loud is it? Well on both of these issues, Blue air Purifiers come out strong. In my experience, air purifiers don’t need to be set on high to get the job done. In fact, I usually leave mine on low all the time. If you set this unit on the #2 setting, you will have noise at the 37.1 dB(A) level. That is quiet! It will happily do the job at this level, 24 hours a day.

This unit does not produce Ozone. In fact, some third party tests have shown that ozone actually decreases when operating this unit. The reason is this unit uses electrostatic and HEPA filters to do the job. No need to generate ozone. ( if you aren’t aware, some “purifiers” generate ozone and the smell will make you think the air is clean. It smells like the air after a major thunderstorm. Lightning produces massive amounts of ozone.)