About Indoor Air Cleaners
Ever since the problems with indoor air quality piqued the people’s interest, the popularity of air cleaners has increased drastically. There is a variety of different air cleaners available on the market, from small, cheap ones to expensive and complicated types. Most of the cheap ones are rather ineffective, while other successfully remove particles from the air. All types usually can’t remove gases, but they aren’t designed to do so.
The efficiency of an air cleaner depends on its capability to collect polluting particles from indoor air and how much air can it filter. Both must work well – if an air cleaner collects easily particles, but its air-circulation is weak, and vice versa, it won’t clean the air efficiently. If it’s properly maintained, the air cleaner may work for a long time without any problem.
The performance of an air cleaner also depends on how strong the pollution’s source is. The small, table-top air cleaners can’t remove enough from pollution sources situated nearby. Some people who are sensitive to air pollutants may notice that air cleaners only work when all other efforts for cleaning the air are at hand.
The results of some scientific experiments have shown that houseplants can reduce the amount of some chemicals in the air. This is, however, as much as it can be said on that subject – there still isn’t any information on just how much a certain number of plants influence a certain amount of chemicals in the air. Also, they can backfire – if you water the plants too much, that increases moisture in the air and the growth of some allergy-inducing micro organisms.
Air cleaners aren’t recommended for use against radon and its by-products. The level of their efficiency is uncertain as they only remove a little of the radon by-products and can’t do anything against the radon that enters the home. Additional research is planned to determine if air cleaners can become more effective in protecting the inhabitants of a home from the health risks of radon.
The most important thing when it comes to low indoor air quality is to determine the source of pollution and control it.