Home air filtration – many technologies to choose from

There are many technologies of home air filtration, but they can be split into two basic methods; those that physically trap the particles, and home air filtration methods that actually eliminate or neutralize the particles by changing their physical characteristics.

Home air filtration by trapping the particles

These air filtration methods use either mechanical filtration – usually with HEPA filters, or use electronics to charge the particles and trap them on precipitator plates.

HEPA air purifiers have been around for a long time and under ideal laboratory conditions can remove 99.7% of all particles of size 0.3 micron or larger. This home air filtration technology remove allergen such as bacteria, animal dander, mold, fumes, and most house dust mite allergens, but not viruses, some bacteria and germs, cat allergens.

Electronic home air filtration are either called electronic air purifiers, electrostatic precipitators or electrostatic air purifiers. What ever they are called, these units can capture pollutants as small as 0.1 micron, like viruses and bacteria. However, as the collection plates become more dirty, the percentage of pollutants removed from the air can drop from 95% to 20%. Keeping the plates clean should therefore be a priority.

Advantages of electronic home air filtration over HEPA air filtration include that these methods consume less electricity, need no filters to be replaced, and are more quiet.

Neither home air filtration method can remove smoke, soot, fumes, and smog, and must rely on a second filter – often made of activated carbon – to perform that task.

Home air filtration methods that neutralize or eliminate the pollutants by changing their characteristics

There are three different home air filtration technologies – ionic, ozone, ultra-violet, and technically they are not air filtration, but they aim to achieve the same result: cleaner indoor air, so let’s quickly review them.

Ionic home air cleaners give the pollutants a negative electrical charge, the particles start to stick to other neutrally or positively charged particles, become too heavy and fall to the ground, or stick to the furniture, where they are removed as part of the normal house cleaning activities. A real concern is that if an ionized particle is inhaled, it is more likely to stick to the walls of your respiratory system, thus increasing the chance of an allergic reaction.

This form of home air filtration is considered to be not very effective on it's own, and is therefore often combined with other air cleaning technologies.

Ozone home air purifiers have received a bit of a bad name over the past few years, due to the danger of receiving too high dozes of ozone, know as a lung irritant. On the other hand, if the ozone level is kept at a safe level, as recommended by the EPA and other health organizations, then this home air filtration method is useful for removing smoke and odors.

Last, but not least in our review of home air filtration methods, are ultra-violet home air cleaners. These use a germicidal lamp that irradiates viruses, germs and other micro organisms, rendering them harmless. The speed of the air and the light intensity are critical to it's success. They can not remove pollen, dust and the like, but can be combined with a mechanical filtering device to do so. More advanced UV lamps, such as the Biozone, can also generate hydroxyl radicals that readily react with all sorts of organic matter, and often release small amounts of ozone – useful for removing odors.

Advantages of these three types of home air filtration are that they make no noise, use no expensive filters that need to be replaced or frequently cleaned, and do not require a lot of electricity.

For more information on related products, please choose from the following:

HEPA Air Cleaners |Electrical / Ionic Air Purifiers | Ozone Air Purifiers | Whole House Purifiers | Replacement Filters