All about air purifiers

What is an air purifier?

An air purifier is a device that cleans the air.

We will address the following questions:

Why use an air purifier?

Where should an air purifier be placed?

Different types of air filters?

Finding the right size air purifier?

An air purifier is used to provide clean air, which leads to good health. There are many good reasons to use an air purifier:

• Ensure clean air so that you do not encounter problems later in life. If you breathe polluted air, you may later develop health problems that can be difficult or impossible to get rid of.

• Those who already suffer from asthma and allergies use air purifiers to alleviate the problems these conditions cause.

• Some people use air purifiers to make their homes cleaner, so they don't have to dust. That is not what an air purifier is intended for.

Where should the air purifier be placed?

There are two main factors that affect the negative consequences of poor air.

1. The amount of particles and other harmful substances in the air
2. The time you spend breathing this polluted air

The amount of particles and pollution must be reduced by the air purifier. Use it as much as possible to reduce the amount of particles. The second thing you can influence is the time you are exposed to it.

An air purifier should therefore be placed both where you have the most pollution and where you spend most of your time.

If you don't have specific conditions at your location, the pollution is likely fairly evenly distributed, so you should place the air purifier where you spend most of your time. This is usually in the bedroom.

Another place where you spend a lot of time is at work. For many, it's not practical to have an air purifier at work, but for many others, it's both possible and absolutely recommended. Talk to your employer! If you sleep 8 hours and work 8 hours, 2/3 of your life will have guaranteed clean air if you have an air purifier in both these places.

How much should you use an air purifier?

• There is no reason not to use the air purifier all the time.

An air purifier uses very little electricity, and if the air is clean, the filter will not fill up. Our clear recommendation is to let the air purifier run all the time, every day, all year round. This will ensure that the air is always clean, and if anything enters your home, it will be removed before you breathe it in.

• Good air purifiers often have a sensor and an automatic system.

This allows them to run at low speed when the air is clean, and then automatically increase the fan speed if the air purifier detects a need for better purification. This guarantees minimal noise and minimal power consumption, while ensuring that pollution is handled if it occurs.

• Here we would like to highlight the air purifier Arida Clean 600.

It considers how fast the fan has been running when calculating the filter's lifespan. For every second the fan has run at the lowest speed, only ¼ second of the filter's lifespan is counted. At normal speed, one second of life is counted per second of operation. At higher speeds, it expects the filter to be reduced more. This means that the air purifier can be run safely all the time, without the filter replacement indicator lighting up prematurely. This provides good economy. Feel free to purchase it from Testproffs

What does an air purifier remove?

Air pollution can be many things. It can be particles, chemicals, and pollen. Each can again be divided into several subgroups. Your air quality is a mixture of many different components, and it is often this mixture that is difficult to protect against. Even if you are allergic to grass pollen and want an air purifier that removes it, you will also want to protect yourself from smaller particles, and from formaldehyde and other chemicals. Therefore, people often choose an air purifier with several different purification methods to ensure more comprehensive protection.

What is PM 2.5?

Let's talk about particles first. The most important thing to know here is that the small particles are the most dangerous. The smaller the particles, the longer they remain in the air. While large particles fall and become visible dust, small particles will float around and be inhaled. The small particles enter the lungs and further into the bloodstream. From there, they are transported around the body, where they can cause damage over time.

Particle size is indicated as PM and a number. An example is PM 2.5 or PM 10. PM2.5 means that the particle size is around 2.5 microns (micrometers). This is often the size measured by an air purifier. PM 1.0 is even smaller and therefore even more dangerous (and even harder to catch in the filter...)

Types of filters in air purifiers

An air purifier can have one or more of the following filters, each performing different tasks.

• HEPA filter.

HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air filter. Strictly speaking, this only indicates the efficiency of the filter, and nothing about how it works. In common parlance, however, the term HEPA filter is used for a filter constructed from a number of fibers where particles can adhere as air blows through. HEPA filters are divided into different classes according to their efficiency. HEPA-13 captures more particles than HEPA-11. However, since HEPA-13 is a denser filter, less air passes through. It is not straightforward to say which is better, HEPA 11 or HEPA 13.

• HPP filter.

HPP stands for High Performance Particle Filter. This is a very special but also effective filter. The filter consists of several metal plates with ample space between them. Air blows past the plates. Due to the electrical field between the plates, particles will adhere to one plate or the other. These plates should not be replaced but only cleaned in ordinary soapy water. Therefore, an air purifier with an HPP filter becomes very inexpensive to use. The Stylies Pegasus air purifier is a good example of an air purifier with HPP. Another great advantage of HPP is that the filter does not lose efficiency over time. While a HEPA filter becomes less effective the denser it gets, an HPP filter will maintain its effectiveness even if there is a lot of pollution on the plates.

• SEFF.

This stands for Static Electric Film Filter. This can resemble an HPP filter but is not made of metal plates. It is a thin plastic film twisted into a cylinder. As air blows through the cylinder, particles will "stick" to one side or the other of the filter. The filter has a long lifespan but is not as "eternal" as an HPP filter. The Meaco Airvax air purifier uses a SEFF-type filter.

• Activated carbon

has a very large surface area with a structure that allows chemicals to bind to the carbon. It is not suitable for fast particles but excellent against chemicals. It is therefore often used in combination with a HEPA filter or HPP filter as these have opposing properties. They are good against particles, but not against chemicals. The combination is therefore very good.

• Ionization.

The air contains small particles that float around and can be so tiny that it can be difficult to capture them in the filter. By ionizing the air with electricity, these small particles will more easily attach to the filter. They will also stick to each other, eventually becoming so large and heavy that they fall to the floor as ordinary dust. Some air purifiers consist only of ionization, but most combine it with other filters. Read more about ionization here.

• AerOHeal.

This is a special way of purifying the air. With the help of a special light and a catalyst, the air will be sterilized in the aerOHeal system. Viruses and bacteria will be neutralized. aerOHeal is a registered brand name for Arida air purifiers.

• Plasmawave.

PlasmaWave reduces odors, chemicals, and VOCs in the air. – The technology creates hydroxyls that naturally neutralize viruses, bacteria, and gases without producing harmful ozone.

Plasmawave

The combination is unbeatable

One filter is good for one thing, such as capturing particles. Another filter, in turn, is good at capturing chemicals. A third, however, is particularly good against viruses and bacteria. Since the air is polluted by a mixture you have no control over, it would be advantageous to have an air purifier that has several types of filters in combination. This is why you often see air purifiers with "3-stage purification," "4-stage purification," or "5-stage purification." Generally, the more stages you have, the better, but remember that not all functions are effective, and some people include more stages because it looks good, not because it actually serves a purpose.

How to find the right size air purifier

There are several things you should consider when choosing the right air purifier. These include technical aspects (as mentioned above: HEPA, HPP, three carbon, etc.) and the size of the air purifier.

There are no standards here! We can teach you how to do it, and the method is suitable for common air purifiers based on HEPA filters:

1. First, find out the size of the room where the air needs to be purified. Remember that an air purifier only handles the air in one room and is not suitable for purifying the air in an entire large home. How many square meters is the room?
2. Multiply this number by 2.4. This tells you how many cubic meters of air need to be purified. (2.4 meters is the normal ceiling height in Norway)
3. This amount of air must pass through the air purifier a certain number of times. If you only want to purify a little for safety, 3 times an hour is enough. If you have problems with air quality, it needs to pass 5 times an hour. If you have pollen allergies during pollen season or live near a busy road, you may need to purify the air 7 to 8 times an hour. Our recommendation is not to go below 5, and if you are unsure, you should use the number 5 in your calculations.

4. First and foremost, take the number of cubic meters you found in point 2, multiplied by the factor you found in point 3.

Let's take an example:

You have a living room of 30 square meters (point 1). You multiply by the ceiling height of 2.4 meters and get 72 cubic meters (point 2). You want to purify the air 5 times an hour, so you multiply by 5. This gives you 360 cubic meters of air per hour (m3/h). So, you need an air purifier that can purify 360 cubic meters of air per hour. Now, you should look at the technical specifications for the air purifier you are considering. It states the specified air volume per hour, and you need an air purifier that purifies more than the 360 you have calculated. Remember that most suppliers only state the purification capacity at the highest fan speed, and at that speed, the air purifier will be so loud that you will practically lower the fan speed when you are in the room. Therefore, choose one that has a significantly higher fan capacity than what you need.

Note: You will be disappointed if you compare the results from these calculations with the number of square meters stated by the supplier, as most suppliers are unrealistically optimistic. The number of square meters they state is often too high for realistic use. They probably do this to look good on paper, while in practice, they cover a smaller room than stated. At least now you know how to calculate what size room an air purifier is suitable for.

In addition, you should choose an air purifier from a reputable manufacturer and a good retailer. It is very annoying if you buy an air purifier today and then cannot get a filter next year.

Below we have a list of manufacturers we believe you can trust.

Meaco

Winix

Arida

Stilar

Coway

Electrolux

LifaAir

LightAir

Approvals and recommendations for air purifiers

There are several individuals who test and recommend air purifiers. Below is a small list of the most common ones. NOTE: Remember that most of these are paid to recommend air purifiers.

One example is Astma Allergy Nordic.

They are well paid to test the products and then they get paid for each year that suppliers use their logo. It is a good business idea, but it also means that significant costs are passed on to customers who buy these products. See more about this here.

We believe this is why so few products are recommended.

There are many people who simply cannot afford to pay these amounts, as this cost must ultimately be passed on to the user. In addition, we know that several manufacturers question whether recommendations that are, after all, bought and paid for are ethically correct, and therefore will not participate in this competition.

Apart from that, we have good indications that the technical tests and criteria are good.

Here is a list of some who recommend air purifiers:

• Astma Allergy Nordic
• NAAF (Norwegian Asthma and Allergy Association)
• Allergy UK
• ECARF
• Wich

Apart from these organizations, we have a number of online newspapers that "test" products.

Our experience is that most of them have not even looked at the products they test. These are so-called "affiliates". The websites write a "test" and they place a "cookie" in your browser (that's why you have to click "accept" every time you visit such a site). The website recommends a "test winner" and if you buy this air purifier in another online store, the test magazine receives payment afterwards. In this way, we see that these test sites often choose winners based on which stores pay the most for an offer. They are not necessarily the best air purifiers. However, we are skeptical of this form of testing.

Air purifiers give you clean and safe air to breathe.