Air Cleaner Basics: Factors To Consider

When purchasing an air cleaner or an air cleaning system, it is important to take into account several different factors that could very definitely affect your purchasing decision. As with all products, there is a need for installation and maintenance. Also, you’ll need to compare the initial cost of available units. Do any of the air cleaners you are considering produce additional pollutants or re-disperse those it has removed back into the air? Consider if any claim to be able to remove all odors and if there are any cases of complaint that the cleaner you have in mind has ever soiled wall and other surfaces.

Be sure that the installation of the air cleaner you choose is simplistic and that you can complete the process correctly without questions. Of course, you’ll want to comparison shop, looking at different models to contrast their efficiency levels, volume capacity, and especially price. However, the initial cost is not the only price you should be concerned with, as all air cleaners need regular maintenance to keep up a good functionality. If heavy or expensive maintenance is required, it may not be worth the sale price.

Once an air filter catches and removes polluting particles from the air, they should be trapped and not redistributed by the device. What good does it do to remove a harmful substance from our air source if it’s going to get kicked right back into it? Other costs to consider are operational costs (such as added electricity to power the unit) that will not disappear and will probably only increase with rising energy rates as time goes on.

Not all odors will be removed, as air filters don’t remove gaseous pollutants, which are often the smelliest. You may also be concerned with the knowledge that some air cleaners tend to soil the walls through the ionization process.