Hospitals may be seen as a place where you go to resolve your health issues, but unfortunately, so much evidence shows hospitals as a place where many people actually catch diseases from.
According to the CDC over one in six patients leaving the hospital, leave with a hospital-acquired infection. A lot of these infections are those transmitted through airborne germs and viruses.
Accordingly, over time hospital-grade air purifiers were developed to deal with the airborne spread of infections in hospitals and medical facilities. These developments not only benefited medical facilities but have trickled down to other industries and today businesses and consumers have access to a range of medical-grade air purifiers.
There are so many nanoscale medical-grade air purifiers you can choose from but it can be hard to make the right choice with so many substandard devices out there and manufacturers making inaccurate claims.
Given this, I wrote this post to guide you on making the best choice when it comes to hospital-grade air purifiers. If you don’t have time to read the entire post here are the hospital-grade air purifiers I found to be worthwhile and I recommend:
Six highly effective nanoparticle hospital-grade air purifiers that work well in home and work spaces include the,
- Medify Air MAX-40-W V2.0
- IQAir HealthPro Plus
- b-Mola
- Surgically Clean Air JADE SCA5000C
- EOLIS Air Manager
- Genano 350
The six options are the best I could find in my research for this post but as technology improves more and more exceptional appliances are being made available to the market. So what I have here is by no means the be-all and end-all of hospital-grade air purifiers.
In light of this, to make sure you are ahead of the game, besides giving you a review of the six options, in this post I also detail what you should look out for when trying to find a hospital-grade air purifier that actually works.
The info I share here will also give you the knowledge to successfully hunt for a hospital-grade air purifier on your own. So, if you are serious about getting a hospital-grade air purifier, read through this post for guidance.
Why Should Anyone Get A Hospital Grade Air Purifier?
The biggest reason anyone should get a hospital-grade air purifier is if they want sterile, top-notch air quality in their home. With a standard air purifier, you simply can’t get the air in your home or whatever indoor environment to reach pristine levels.
The usual air purifier will get rid of dust and many other pollutants but when it comes to gases and ultrafine particles below 0.3 microns it seriously falls short. This is not good news if you have chronic respiratory issues or for whatever reason, you need pristine air in your room.
Go for a medical-grade air purifier if you want to rest assured that diseases spreading air contaminants and allergens are removed from your air. This type of air purifier is especially useful in situations where you or anyone in your home has a weak immune system.
In such cases, a hospital-grade nanoparticle air purifier acts as an extra line of defense. They can also come in handy if you have a room where you are growing flowers or plants and you want absolute control of what's in your air in that room.
On the other hand, if you are in generally good health, and don’t have any kind of project or hobby that needs a clean room, you won’t be needing a hospital-grade air purifier. A standard air purifier is enough to keep your air quality good enough to keep you in good health and keep your home clean and smelling fresh.
What Kind Of Air Purifier Qualifies As A Hospital Grade Nanoparticle Air Purifier?
Once you have determined that you need a medical-grade air purifier before you rush out and get one I think it's important that you know what features an air purifier has to have to qualify as a hospital-grade nanoparticle air purifier.
From my experience, I have found some air purifiers that are not even labeled and as identified as hospital-grade actually qualify as hospital-grade air purifiers. Some even do a better job than those labeled as medical grade.
When looking for a hospital-grade air purifier, you want a device that can get rid of airborne allergens, bacteria, viruses, VOCs, odors, micro toxins, ultrafine particulate matter, and harmful gases and fumes.
The ideal hospital-grade purifier should be able to clean air without producing any harmful byproducts and in a way that's safe for baby’s, pregnant women, or anyone with a weak immune system.
When looking for a hospital-grade air purifier, you wanna avoid fiber filtration or electrostatic/electronic filtration based air purifiers. Ozone generators and ionizers are also a no go zone.
Fiber filters are not helpful as they cannot deal with ultrafine particles and can easily develop microbes that are released back into your air. As for electronic filters, they quickly lose their air filtration ability, get dirty easily, and are cumbersome to clean.
Then you have ozone and ionizer filters which do not qualify as a medical-grade because they both produce ozone. Ozone is actually great for cleaning your air but the problem is that it's corrosive and harmful to humans and animals when inhaled.
The type of air purifier you wanna go for is a hybrid TrueHEPA and photo photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) air purifier or TrueHEPA activated carbon air purifier capable of dealing with ultrafine particulate and gases.
For air purifiers with TrueHEPA filters, you can also consider some more advanced alternatives like HyperHEPA or H13 HEPA filters. These filters should be able to trap pollutants that are at least 0.1 microns or smaller.
As shown in the image below The TrueHEPA filter deals with mold, some odors, and bacteria among other particulate matter while the PCO part of your air purifier deals largely with gases, odors, and VOCs by degrading them into oxygen and water vapor and it can also handle ultrafine particulates.
As for activated carbon filters, the role is similar to that of a PCO filter but they instead work by adsorbing gases, VOCs, and odors than by degrading them, and they certainly are not designed to filter airborne particulates (solid pollutants).
Though not as strong, a reasonable alternative to PCO filters is Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) filters. UVGI filters won't be able to deal with VOCs and many gases but they are very effective for airborne organic disease-causing pollutants.
The other thing that qualifies an air purifier as hospital-grade is the airtightness of the device. Many air purifiers are not well sealed internally and some pollutants leak through their filters.
So in this case you wanna watch for air purifiers that clearly indicate their filter compartment is well sealed. Another important qualification for medical-grade air purifiers is their air change per hour (ACH). Your air purifier needs to be able to do between 5 to 12 ACH for its given room size capacity (e.g. 400 square feet) to give you the sterile air quality you need.
Now, there are several other qualifying factors but the ones I have shown you here are the fundamentals. Based on these you are now armed with the knowledge to find a decent hospital-grade air purifier. That said, to save you some time searching around, in the next section I show you a list of some impressive options I found.
6 Powerful Hospital Grade Nanoparticle Air Purifiers
Air purification is a serious issue in the medical industry and many air purifiers claiming to be of hospital grade are available on the market. Of the numerous options you will find, here are six impressive ones I vetted after some intense research.
1. Medify Air MAX-40-W V2.0
If you are looking for an affordable medical-grade air purifier, look no further than the Medify Air MAX-40-W V2.0. This air purifier comes with an H13 True HEPA filter, that can remove 99.9% of pollutants down to 0.1 microns.
The air purifier can clean rooms of up to 840 square feet in just 30 minutes with a CADR of 330. Unlike many medical-grade HEPA based medical grade purifiers, the MA-40 is nice and compact and easy to move around. It's designed so well aesthetically and will blend in well in almost any home or workspace.
In addition to its HEPA filter, this air purifier also has an activated carbon filter and Pre-filter. The HEPA filter deals with ultrafine particulates or what some people call nanoparticles.
The pre-filter deals with larger solid pollutants like dander, hair, and fibers, and lastly the activated carbon gets rid of things like toxic gases, VOCs, odors, and formaldehyde. The Medify Air MA-40 does have an ionizer, which I personally do not recommend anyone to use but fortunately, it's a feature you can turn on and off according to your needs.
Another thing I don’t really like about it is that you have to change its filters every 6 months. This can get expensive, cause sometimes your filters may last less than 6 months.
You could see yourself doing up to 4 filter changes a year and it can get costly with its filter costing up to US$70. It may end up being more cost-effective buying a more expensive medical-grade air purifier with longer-lasting filters.
Nevertheless, if you want an entry-level medical-grade air purifier and you want to deal with moderate levels of pollution in your work or living space, I can confidently stand behind the Medify Air MA-40 to clean your air. Check out the Medify MA-40 here on Amazon.
2. IQAir HealthPro Plus
You cannot talk about medical-grade nanoparticle air purifiers without mentioning the IQAir. IQAir is one of the few manufacturers out there of HEPA filters that can filter nanoscale pollutants. Their HEPA filters filter air pollutants down to a whopping 0.003 microns.
To highlight the ability of their HEPA filters to filter 100 times smaller air particulates than the usual HEPA filter, IQAir calls their HEPA filter a HyperHEPA filter. They have a wide range of air purifiers but if you are looking for something medical grade for your work or living space, I found the IQAir HealthPro Plus to be the most ideal solution.
The HealthPro Plus is capable of cleaning the air in standard rooms sized up to 1100 square feet. Besides the HyperHEPA filter, it also has a PreMax Pre-Filter that captures solid air pollutants like dust, dander, and pollen down to 0.3 microns.
This air purifier also has something called a V5-Cell filter that contains granular activated carbon and KMn04 impregnated alumina. This filter deals with VOCs, odors, dangerous airborne chemicals, and a wide range of toxic gases and fumes.
The challenge with the IQAir though is that its filters are quite pricey. That said they last quite long. The HyperHepa filter is expected to last you up to 3 years, the V5-Cell up to 2 years, and the PreMax about 18 months.
Another issue is that for some homes it can be quite bulky. Plus this is quite a heavy appliance weighing in at about 20kgs. People have also complained about an off-putting sweet smell the V5-Cell produces, but there is a solution to this problem, and it happens to a few unlucky people who get sent a bad batch as with many other products.
Another thing that's pretty cool with this air purifier is that it has a digital indicator that tells you when your filters need changing. It also has a timer you can set up to switch your air purifier on and off whenever you like.
There is much more I can share about the HealthPro Plus but let me end my take on it here for now. To learn more about it, you can check it out here on Amazon.
3. b-MOLA
The b-MOLA Go is a variation of PCO (Photocatalytic Oxidation) air purifier. I actually just stumbled on it in my research for this post but from my review, it’s quite an impressive compact purifier that literally punches above its weight.
Unlike other PCO air purifiers, its reaction chamber/filter is rather called a Nano Confined Catalytic Oxidation (NCCO) filter. In Asia, this technology is widely used in public areas and hospitals to provide people in these facilities with the best air quality.
Then in addition to the NCCO filter, the b-Mola also contains a medical-grade HEPA that traps solid pollutants such as dust, smoke, and pollen and an active oxygen generator that kills bacteria and viruses.
By a process of catalyzing and decomposing the NCCO part of the air purifier gets rid of VOCs, odors, harmful gases, viruses, and also various solid air pollutants. The b-Mola is a very unique and clever approach to air purification as the device does use ozone, but in a way that it’s not released into your air.
The device is built in such a way it releases ozone but does internally within the device. It uses this ozone to clean pollutants in a confined space within its core. This allows you to be protected from the dangers of inhaling any ozone as none is released into your atmosphere while gaining the benefits of ozone as a powerful air cleaning agent.
This air purifier is however for smaller spaces, cleaning a room size of up to 200 square feet at a minimum rate of 3 air changes per hour. Its HEPA filter should last you anywhere from 12 to 18 months while the NCCO filter lasts up to 12 years with minimal maintenance.
Through its series of filters, I have found the b-Mola cleans the air to a standard above what’s recommended for a hospital setting. It's, therefore, an excellent choice if you are looking for a smaller sized medical-grade air purifier. You can check out the b-Mola in more detail on Amazon here.
4. Surgically Clean Air JADE SCA5000C
The Jade SCA 5000 C is another great medical grade hybrid air purifier option. It's a combination of a carbon filter, high-Intensity UV-C filter, and HEPA filter. The combo allows this air purifier to get rid of a broad range of pollutants including, bacteria, viruses, solid pollutants, odors, gases, and VOCs.
Also included as part of the filtration system are the Hydroxyl Radical Reactivity Chamber and Revitalizing Negative ION chamber. These extra parts of the filtration system help re-energize stale indoor air to make breathing easier and leave you more energized.
The chambers clean air through internal reactions within the air purifier and do not release any harmful by-products into your air. The Jade SCA5000C air purifier can deliver clean air into your room at an airflow rate of 406 cubic feet per minute.
I also like it because it's a touchless device. You can control it by waving your hand over its control system rather than actually touching it. This helps reduce the spread of germs through contact.
This air purifier also has some air quality sensors connected to its display to show you the level of pollutants in your air. You know exactly when your air quality is not ok and you can actually take immediate action to fix things.
The Jade air purifier is a high volume air purifier and can clean air in rooms of up to 850 square feet. Based on clinical research, this air purifier has been found to provide excellent performance in cleaning the air in various medical services settings such as Labs, Dental Clinics, and Hospitals.
From my review, I found that the JADE SCA5000C is an ideal medical-grade nanoparticle air purifier for you if you have a larger room or if you just need your air to be super clean faster in a smaller room by cleaning your air more frequently every hour. For more info, have a look at the JADE SCA5000C here.
5. EOLIS Air Manager
One of the most advanced medical-grade nanoparticle air purifiers I have seen is the EOLIS Air Manager. This air purifier is unfortunately not distributed in the United States but it is widely available across the rest of the world.
The EOLIS is a hybrid air purifier consisting of a high density activated carbon filter, an optional photocatalysis UV, and an active oxygen filter and you can choose between a HEPA H13 or ULPA U15 (ultra-low particulate) air filter.
The active oxygen filter does work by releasing ozone into your atmosphere, which is not recommended as ozone is dangerous to inhale but that said you can turn this feature off and never use it. However, if you know how to use the ozone feature safely, it's an available option you can take advantage of for a deeper level of cleaning for your indoor air.
This air purifiers’ filtration system is certified as medical grade under the EN 1822 standard. It will clean up 99.9% of pollutants ranging from VOCs, gases, bacteria, and solid air particulates down to 0.1 microns.
The manufacturer also claims that their EOLIS range of air purifiers get rid of all types of coronaviruses in your air. The smaller model of the EOLIS can clean the air effectively in areas of up to 600 square feet while the bigger models clean air in spaces of up to 1200 square feet.
The magic behind the EOLIS air purifier and the thing that sets it apart from other medical-grade air purifiers is its built-in real-time air purification and monitoring system.
With the EOLIS you have a display dashboard that indicates your air quality and shows you how much air is being cleaned as your air purifier is cleaning your air.
It's as smart as medical-grade air purifiers get. The dashboard also indicates the condition of your filters in real-time and you know way ahead of time when you will need to replace any filters.
Additionally, you can connect your air purifier to your smartphone or computer. Through your computer and smartphone, you can control the air in your working and living spaces from a monitoring screen or an IT Asset management software.
Check out the EOLIS air purifier here for more details if you are looking for a top of the range smart medical-grade nanoparticle air purifier.
6. Genano 350
Though mainly marketed to businesses, the Genanno range of air purifiers is also suitable for your home as a medical-grade nanoparticle air purifier. Of the many air purifiers, Genano makes, I recommend the Genano 350 for home use.
Their air purifiers use an electronic filtration approach. Unlike ionizers, their approach does not release by-products and ions into your air.
Their air purifiers rather draw air into a collection chamber where an electronic system charges contaminant particles in this air with a negative charge and the contaminants are subsequently trapped by a positively charged wall within the chamber through a process of attraction between negative and positive chambers.
Furthermore, organic pollutants like bacteria, viruses, and germs are killed in the chamber by electrocution as the electronic filter charges other types of air contaminants with a negative charge.
After dealing with charged contaminants and airborne germs and viruses, Genano air purifiers lastly have an activated carbon filter that deals with odors, gases, and VOCs. Once the air passes through the activated carbon filter it is finally exhausted back into your room as cleaned and purified air.
Like most of the Genano air purifiers, the only part of the Genano 350 air purifier you need to replace is the activated carbon filter. As for the electronic filter and collection chamber, these parts are self-cleaning and you only need to add a special cleaning agent every month for the purifier to clean itself.
Looking at the entire Genano range, I prefer the 350 as it's among the lightest in weight (17 kg) with the most reasonable coverage capacity for a home environment (can clean air in rooms between 1000 and 3000 square feet). This air purifier also gets rid of nanoscale air particulates as small 0.003 microns which is better than many medical-grade air purifiers.
The Genano is definitely not my first choice of medical-grade air purifier but it’s a great contender when it comes to filtering nanoscale air pollutants.
At the time of writing this article, air purifiers that filter particles down to 0.003 microns are not so common and the Genano range is accordingly worth considering in the medical-grade nanoparticle purifier category. You can learn more about the Genano 350 here.
How To Make The Best Use Of A Hospital Grade Air Purifier
By using a medical-grade air purifier in your home, you really go a long way in cutting down your indoor exposure to airborne bacteria, germs, and viruses.
Nonetheless, even with a nanoparticle medical-grade air purifier in your work or living space, there are still a couple of things you need to ensure you are doing in conjunction with running your air purifier to ensure you're getting the best air quality you possibly can.
Disease-causing airborne contaminants come from many sources. Sometimes they might have settled on surfaces around your home waiting to be bumped or tampered with and enter into your air.
This is especially true of stuff like mold, dust mite feces, and allergy-triggering pollen. Sometimes, you may find you are running your air purifier but as soon as you turn it off, such pollutants come back into your air really fast.
The reason could be because you have not addressed the pollution at source. No matter how good your air purifier, if you do not deal with pollutants in your home at the point from which they are coming from, your house will continually be polluted.
So before you even look into getting an air purifier, the first thing you should do is deal with the source of your pollution. This could mean closing windows more often during pollen season, grooming your dog, getting rid of mold professionally, or simply cleaning up your home.
Then once you have ensured you have eliminated your indoor air pollutants at source, the next thing you wanna do is control your room temperature and humidity. Many airborne contaminants thrive under high humidity and warm conditions.
Ideally, you should keep your indoor humidity level between 35 - 50% and temperature around 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) to minimize mold growth and the spread of airborne organic pollutants such as bacteria and viruses.
This means, in addition to your air purifier, it's a good idea to have a dehumidifier and air conditioner. If your humidity levels are too low, you could also consider getting a humidifier to help you increase and maintain it between the 35% - 50% range.
There are many options you can play around with to control your temperature and humidity. Whatever your approach, the key thing here is to maintain an ideal room air quality, to reduce the growth and spread of bacteria in your indoor air.
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