Comparing Air Cleaning Systems

Answer 1

With the amount of time that homeowners spend indoors, indoor air quality should always be a priority concern. The fact that indoor air is often as much as five times more polluted than the air we breath outdoors only serves to strengthen the idea of indoor air quality control. The question is, how do we deal with the problem of indoor air pollution?

There are three suggested methods of cleaning up indoor air. The first is to find the source of contamination and remove it from your home. For example, if you are allergic to an indoor plant, it may be time to give it to a friend for safe keeping. Of course, some pollution sources aren't as easy to remove, such as the pet dander of the family dog or the second hand tobacco smoke of one of your family members.

When source control can't address the problem, improved ventilation can often help. Of course, simply opening doors and windows allows no control over the amount of air that enters and exits the home; nor does it allow for the control of temperature and humidity. Thus, to effectively ventilate the home, whole-house ventilation methods must be considered. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford such systems.

Air cleaning systems offer a cost-effective third option. Available as portable units or whole-house integrated systems, air cleaning systems can reduce household air pollutants by as much as 99 percent depending on the system and the pollutants it is capable of addressing. To maximize efficiency, it is imperative to choose an air cleaning system that is appropriate to the task at hand.

Before you can choose the right system, you must determine the types of pollutants you are dealing with in your home. For example, if your problem is mainly with dust, pollen and pet dander, mechanical and electronic filtration methods may serve your purpose. However, if second hand tobacco smoke is the issue, you're going to need something capable of dealing with chemical-based pollutants such as a carbon-activated filter. If your concern is mold spores, you may want to choose something with UVA lighting.

For most homeowners, all three types of pollutants present some degree of risk to their family. With that in mind, whole-house air cleaning systems that combine air cleaning methods to address all types of pollutants may be preferred.