Ionizing Air Purifiers – Are They Any Good?
I have struggled with this for some time. I like the idea of ionizing air purifiers. It seems so “high tech”. It sounds like something that should work, Right? But really, do they work? Well I did some research and finally have some answers.
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.
Filed Under Blueair, air cleaners, reviews | Comments Off
Tagged With air treatment, Blueair, filtering, ionizing, negative charged particles, ozone