Air Purifier GO!

See larger image Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier (Kitchen) List Price: $210.99 USD New From: $164.89 In Stock Used from: $89.99 In Stock Release date September 15, 2005.

• What is a hepa filter?

• What is the very best hepa air purifier available?

• What about filter costs?

Hepa air purifiers have been around since the mid 1940s. They were in fact developed by the U.S. Government for the atomic bomb program during WW2. They needed a very exacting filter to protect the workers for airborne atomic particles. So then what does the word hepa even mean anyway?

No Official Standards for Hepa Air Purifiers

Would you believe that hepa is an anitialism for the words (high efficiency particulate air)? Also would you believe that there are no real official standards that govern how exacting a hepa filter has to be? There are however, accepted norms in the industry that dictate a filter of this type must stop 99.97% of particles .03 microns and above in size.

What About 99.97% Down to .01 Microns?

This is why you may have already noticed that most common hepa air purifiers, for the most part stick to these specifications. So then can you buy an air purifier that uses this type of filtration system that can do better than that? You bet you can but bear in mind that filters in general are balancing act.

The Better the Filter the Higher the Cost

That is the tighter their specifications and the smaller the particles they remove, the more expensive they tend to be. So how expensive can they get? Very expensive as a matter of fact, with some of the better filters costing several hundred dollars.

Filters that Cost More than the Machine??

A $250 30 pound air filter for an Austin Air Healthmate.

In fact if you have to make sure to check the actual cost of the filters and how often they need replacing on any air cleaning system you are considering. This is because it's not at all uncommon today for the cost of filter changes in some machines to exceed the actual cost of the machine, over a couple of years time.

To Change or to Vacuum - That is the Question

Another thing to consider, if your have severe allergies is what the actual changing of filters on any hepa air purifiers entails. You see some models will advertize that that their filters only require a vacuuming, rather than a complete change-out. For someone with severe allergies though this dusty job may be out of the question.

99.995% is Pretty Much Everything in the Air!

So then just what is the efficiency rating of the all time best hepa air purifiers that are available? Those would be medical grade commercial air purifiers. The type you would find filtering the air in an operating room. They go all the way down to an amazing 99.995%.

See larger image Honeywell HFD-120-Q Tower Quiet Air Purifier with Permanent IFD Filter, Black (Kitchen) List Price: $149.99 USD New From: $123.74 In Stock Used from: $104.99 In Stock Release date February 15, 2006.

• How do they work to clean air?

• What about Ozone gas?

• What are the pros and cons?

If what you have in mind is a filterless air purifier, then what you should be looking into is ionic technology. These types of air cleaners aren't new and in fact they first began being used in metal smelting plants almost 100 years ago.

The Filterless Air Purifier Uses an Ionic Chamber

The way that they function, is rather then the air passing through a filter as you would imagine in the classic sense, the air passes through what is commonly referred to as an ionic chamber. It's basically a contained area where negative electrons are generated.

Pollution Particles Pick Up a Negative Charge

From there the air moves on through a series of stacked metal plates. It's on these plates that the pollution particles end up being deposited. You see the particles pick up the negative ions and this causes these then negatively charged particles to be attracted to the plates, like magnets.

Even These Machines Have to be Cleaned

Now keep in mind that at some point these plates do have to wiped clean and with some machines this is an easier task then with others. It all depends on how easy it is to remove the plates then slide them back into the machine.

New Filters Can Go Months Without Cleaning

One thing worth noting, is that new hepa filter designs have made for standard filter machines that require far more infrequent cleanings. In fact most of these new low maintenance filter designs can go months without you ever having to touch them. It's something to think about.

There are Some Solid Pros and Cons

You need to also understand that there are a few solid pros and cons that should be taken into account before you buy into either type of air cleaning system. As an example, “for your money”, a standard hepa filter machine is going to process a far greater amount of air.

Look into a Non Ozone Technology Feature

Another thing to look out for if you're dead set on a filterless air purifier, is ozone generation. Ozone is a colorless gas that's made up of two connected oxygen atoms that's generated during the production of negative ions. New machines however do have non ozone technologies that do away with this problem.

Ionic Non Filter Air Cleaners are Quieter

One of the major benefits of a filterless air purifier though, is that they tend to be far more quiet than a filter unit. The reason is simple and that is that hepa filter air cleaners require larger fans to push the air through the filter. There is a huge selection of ionic cleaners to choose from so make sure to select one with features that suit you best.

See larger image Sharp FP-P40CX Plasmacluster Air Purifier (Kitchen) List Price: $299.99 USD

• Amazing New Technology

Sharps innovative and cutting edge Plasmacluster Ion technology has introduced the entire planet to a brand new method for neutralizing airborne viruses and mold spores. A system that is now proving itself invaluable in homes and businesses the world over.

It functions by depleting live viruses and spores of vital hydrogen. They are instantly dehydrated. It accomplishes this by way of hydroxyl production, a secondary byproduct of the production of both positive and negative ions in the same reaction vessel.

You see hydrogen is the second and third molecule in the H2O matrix that you of course know as water. Once the two hydrogen molecules are removed in the Plasmacluser contained reaction chamber, all that remains is the oxygen molecule.

So as the live virus' and spore are effectively killed by instant dehydration, pure oxygen is being created. In this way this innovative system is actually replicating the earths natural atmospheric oxygen generation and air purification processes.

• Airborne Viruses it Instantly Kills
  

Viruses: MRSA – E Coli – Influenza (including Swine Flu) – Poliomyelitis – Tuberculosis – Common Cold – Pertussis (Whooping cough) – Streptococcus (Pneumonia) – Strep – Typhus – Rubella (German Measles) – SARS – Variola (Small Pox) – Corynebacterium Diphtheriae (Diphtheria)

• Air Particles and Gasses it Functions to Eliminate

Tobacco Smoke, Mold Spores, Formaldehyde, Pollen, Dust, Pet Odors, Exhaust Fumes, Formaldehyde, Ambient Cooking Oils, Micro Textile Fibers

• Looking Inside the Integrated System

Plasmacluster technology is but one component of a technologically advanced, completely integrated, multi-layered air purification system. As part of its function, it imparts an actual electrical charge to airborne particles that allows them to far more readily adhere to the secondary hepa filter grid.

• Maintaining Ionic Balance

This new advanced system contains a built in atmospheric monitoring system that automatically adjust the flow rate of negative ions. In the natural environment, negative and positive ions are kept in a healthy natural balance.

However; in a contained environment such as a home, they can become unbalanced, with one being in greater concentration then the other. This system insures that the ionic balance in the air you breath will always be exactly neutral.