Author: Jean-Baptiste

As you may already know, air purifiers are quite helpful devices to have in your home, especially if you or anyone in your home is prone to air pollution or you just need to minimize your exposure to dangerous air contaminants.

However, once you have an air purifier you won’t get the most protection out of it unless you position or place it correctly in your given room. If you know me, then you know how concerned I am about optimizing the quality of my air, and here I share the 10 most important things I have learned about where best to position an air purifier.

In a nutshell, where should you position an air purifier? Air purifiers should be placed in an obstruction free area. To ensure optimal airflow and air purification, they should have a clearance of at least  2 feet from other objects on all sides where they extract and release air. Air purifiers are best placed in the most polluted and occupied rooms of a home.

Once you understand the need for clearance and tackling air pollution by placing your air purifier as close to the source of pollution as possible , then you can start to consider all the other factors entailed in positioning your air purifier for best results.

There are various factors at play when it comes to positioning your air purifier well. These factors  include your safety, the type of air purifier you have and also the physical structure of your home among other things.

Out of the many factors you can consider I found 10 that you should really focus on. Accordingly, I start this post by discussing device clearance in more detail and then I go on to talk about positioning your purifier near your source of pollution.

Thereafter I touch on noise levels,  the type of room, safety, the type of device and whether your air purifier will work best on the floor or above ground. Without wasting any more of your time here are the 10 important points.

1. Position Your Air Purifier for the Best Airflow

As highlighted earlier the most important thing to consider when positioning air purifiers is air flow. This also applies to air purifiers  like ionizers and electrostatic precipitators that don’t rely fans as part of their purification processes. All air purifiers need to place in area where they have good airflow to work effectively.

So how do you get good air flow? The trick with air flow is to place your air purifier far enough from walls and large objects, especially furniture. You need to avoid placing your air purifier in corners, under tables, or under shelves.

If you place your air purifier to close to anything that obstructs its vents and airways, it won’t suck air and release it effectively. There will be less bad air going in through your device and subsequently less clean air coming out into your home every hour.

To avoid this I keep any type of air purifier 2 feet away from anything on all the sides where it has an inlet and outlet. The exception to the rule here may be wall mounted air purifiers. However, even these need to be positioned in a way that their air inlet and outlet are not obstructed by anything. They need to be positioned so that their airflow is maximized.

2. Place Your Air Purifier at the Source of Pollution

The next thing you need to ensure is that you have identified where pollution in your home is coming from. Pollution can come into your home through walls or vents from your neighbors’ place if you stay in apartments (very annoying).

Speaking of this, I had the worst experience ever, in my old apartment. The apartment was built such that everything the neighbor below me smoked, came right up through the building’s vents into my bedroom.

This is one of the things that drove my interest in air purifiers. I just could not stand waking up to my home filled with cigarette odor and in desperation struggled to find a solution and I ended moving out of the place. In hindsight, if I had just placed an air purifier next to the vents this would have really helped my situation.

Other sources of pollution in your home could be carpet fumes, your cat litter box, off-gassing from various products especially in your storeroom, your pets living area, or dust and pollen coming in through windows and doors. Your air could also be getting polluted by mold build up in your home and odors from the kitchen.

Keeping in mind your purifier’s air flow, once you identify where your pollution is coming from, place your air purifier in the same room and as close as possible to the source. This allows your air purifier to neutralize or trap contaminants before they spread all around your home.

Finally, if you have an HVAC system installed in your home, a useful tip is to place an air purifier right at the place where the system draws in air. This will help you reduce the volume of air contaminants like dust and ultra-fine particles being sucked into your house through your HVAC system. 

On its own your HVAC is not effective filtering air pollutants but with an air purifier positioned near its inlet, your HVAC will pump much cleaner air all around your home. An alternative to this is to get an air purifier that can be built into your HVAC system.

3. Position Your Purifier According to Noise Level

My third point should really concern you if you enjoy having silence in a room while you are reading, studying or sleeping. Some air purifiers are just outright noisy. If you are sensitive to noise, you will need to get a silent air purifier.

You may also need to have multiple air purifiers. This will allow you to choose between pricier quieter devices which you can place in rooms where you don’t want any noise and nosier devices which you can position in rooms where you don’t mind some constant humming sound from an appliance.

Normally I would place a nosier device in the living room and kitchen area and a silent device in my room or study. Otherwise, if I could afford to get only silent devices to cover my entire home then I would go that route. For cleaner air without sacrificing the peace and silence in my home, I would go for the Airocide Air Purifier as shown here at Amazon.

4. Position Your Device To Deal With Kitchen Pollution

If you cook at home or have a full-blown kitchen that you use frequently you will understand how much pollution can come from your kitchen. You not only get pollution and odors from your cooking but also from household chemicals, detergents, your bin, under sink odor, and from all kinds of things in your kitchen storage.

So there is no question how useful an air purifier can be in your kitchen. However,  big or small, your kitchen can be quite a busy area. Finding a good spot for your air purifier can be a challenge because you likely have many other appliances (see point number 8) stationed around your counter. You also have water and all sorts of things splashing around.

Taking this into account, in my opinion, the best place for an air purifier in the kitchen is on the wall. So ideally for the kitchen you would have to go with a a wall mountable air purifier.

If you go for a table top or floor air purifier,  you have to clear some space for it on your counter and make sure you place it away from a spot where it could wet or splashed on with oil or gravy from your cooking. You can make space on the floor in the kitchen area but depending  your air purifier size, you would rather have it on top on your kitchen counter.

That said, your life becomes much easier if you have an open plan kitchen. In this situation, placing your air purifier anywhere in the living room or dining room should cover your kitchen as well. You just have to make sure your device is big enough for your room size.

5. Put Your Air Purifier in the Most Polluted Room

Besides your kitchen, just as you want to place an air purifier at the source of your pollution, you will significantly improve the quality of your air if you place your devices in the most polluted room in your house in addition to your kitchen. Usually, the most polluted room in your home will cause pollution in the rest of your home. This could be where your pets sleep, or your basement, a room that’s facing a busy street or a room where mold is building up.

If you live in a house with 3 bedrooms or more it can be tricky to determine which room is most polluted. This is where tools like air quality monitoring devices and test kits come in handy.

Use an air quality monitoring device like the IQAIR  Air Visual Pro Air Quality Monitor (which is available at Amazon) to determine the air quality in each room and once you find the most polluted room you will know exactly where you have to put an air purifier in your home. 

An air quality monitoring tool is the quickest way forward here. Also, the beauty of having one is that you can continuously use it to ensure you are maintaining good indoor air quality across your home.

6. Position Your Air Purifier  in The Bedroom

The bedroom is a very important place to have an air purifier. When you place an air purifier in your bedroom, make sure the end that releases the clean air is facing your head. However, don’t put your air purifier too close to your head in case it causes a draft which can be bad for your health.

To avoid any health problems, a safe distance to place your air purifier from your bed and your head is about 6 to 10 feet. Closer than 6 feet then you risk getting sick, further than 10 feet, then you do not get the full benefit of your air purifier while you sleep.

Regardless of putting your air purifier at a safe distance, having an air purifier in your rooms goes a long way in not only ensuring you are breathing well but also that you are getting a peaceful nap. Air purifiers have been shown to give you a good night’s rest as they help you breathe more easily by ensuring you breathing in clean air while you sleep.

7. Place Your Device in A Safe Space

I touched on my first point in regards to safety earlier when I talked about where to place your air purifier in the kitchen. I cannot stress this enough.  Unless of course you don’t mind getting electrocuted, when positioning your air purifier, you need to completely avoid wet surfaces and busy areas of your home .

Place your air purifier away from your pets’ and kids’ common path in case they stumble over it or get tempted to tamper with it. Additionally keep it away from your own busy areas in the home in case you trip over it.

Also, avoid putting your air purifier in extremely hot environments like right next to a heater or in direct sunlight. Like any device, air purifiers can malfunction by overheating. My final thought  here is to read the safety precautions in your air purifier’s manual. Many people ignore but read it and you will avoid many dangerous mistakes with your purifier.

8. Position Your Purifier Next To Other Appliances

Do not put your air purifier next to other appliances like your microwave, fridge, cooker, stereo system or near your TV. Your air purifier operates at around the same wavelength as these devices and they can interfere with each others operation while you use them simultaneously.

You also do not want to put your air purifier next to a furnace in case it overheats. With this in mind, you only need to worry about larger appliances that generate heat or produce a significant electromagnetic field.  So  don’t  worry about leaving your phone or laptop next to your air purifier.

9. Position Your Air Purifier By Type and Brand of Air Purifier

When it comes to positioning your air purifier by brand type, the best thing you can do is to consult your manufacturer’s manual or usage guidelines. Placement rules will generally be the same for most air purifier brands.

Nonetheless, there are some brand models out there that have unique placement instructions. To avoid mistakes and messing up your air  purifier, the key is to read your appliance’s manual before setting it up and turning it on for the first time. You will save yourself a lot of headaches down the line.

As for different types of air purifiers, my general rule of thumb is that I can place ionizer air purifiers and photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) air purifiers, pretty much anywhere in a room provided I have taken into account air flow. However, my reservations increase with air purifiers that have a fan and filter such as HEPA air purifiers. 

Unless they are designed to be mounted I would avoid putting such a device on an uneven or slanted surface. Always try to have a HEPA purifier placed on a flat surface. When all is said and done, just as devices come in different shapes and sizes, their position by type and brand also vary alike. This leads us to our final point.

10. Position Your Air Purifier On The Floor, On The Table Or On The Wall

Whether an air purifier can be placed on the floor, on the table or on the wall strongly depends on how it was designed. Some devices are heavy and big and some even come with wheels to move them around and it does not make any sense at all putting them on top of a table.

Some devices are portable and they can be put on pretty much any surface. Some manufacturers even design their air purifiers for multiple placements including placement on the wall. I mean, you also get air purifiers you can mount on your ceiling such as the Healthy Air Ceiling Mount Air Purifier.

Again. My advice here is to follow your devices instruction manual. You can easily find this online by typing your Device Name + Instruction Manual when you search on google or any search engine. If you do not find anything, my suggestion is to only place portable air purifiers on a surface above ground and leave large and heavy devices on the ground.

So this is everything I managed to find and I believe you should know about positioning air purifiers well. The only other thing I have left to say and that you may have picked up as you read through this post is that, depending on the size of your home, you may need an air purifier in multiple rooms across your house.

My typical positioning when it comes to having multiple air purifiers in a home is to have one in each bedroom, one in the leaving room, and one in the kitchen if you have a separate kitchen. Lastly if your house has a basement, I also strongly suggest putting an air purifier in the basement.

A common question I have come across about air purifiers is whether they are able to cool a room down.

You might be asking this either because you don’t want a device that will make your room cold or because you are hoping an air purifier can also cool your room in addition to cleaning indoor air. 

Whatever your reasons, at some point when I was new to air purifiers, I also thought about this and eventually, through my experience and research, here is what I discovered.

In short, can air purifiers make a room cold or help cool a room? Normal air purifiers cannot cool a room or make it cold. Some air purifiers that have a fan may cool a room but minimally as they do not generate sufficient air flow or contain a cooling unit that can cool an entire room. With exception of some devices, air purifiers are designed to clean air and not cool air.

It’s easy and logical to think that air purifiers can cool a room because the first thought that comes to mind when you hear the word air purifier is a device that has some kind of fan that pushes air around. At least those were my thoughts initially.

However, as you start getting familiar with air purifiers you will find some air purifiers don’t even have fans and rely on the process of convection or ionization to clean the air.

What’s more, for air purifiers that do have fans, the air they push out back into your room or home comes out of the device with so little force and energy you can barely feel anything.

For you to feel any cooler from most air purifiers, you would have to sit right next to the device to cool yourself. Keeping this in mind, I am now going to explain in detail why air purifiers cannot cool the air in your room or make your room cold.

Then once you get this, you can look at my suggestions on the next best alternatives if you want to purify and cool your air at the same.

Why air purifiers won’t keep your room cold

Air purifiers are broadly classified into two categories, Filter and filterless air purifiers and from my observation, these categories can be generally split into air purifiers with fans and air purifiers without fans respectively.

Filterless Air Purifiers and Air Purifiers Without Fans

With a few exceptions, most filterless air purifiers do not even contain fans. Some examples of filterless air purifiers without fans include ionic air purifiers and Ultraviolet Light (UV) air purifiers. We can immediately disqualify these air purifiers from any hopes of cooling anything as they simply do not have any form of cooling technology on them.

Filter Air Purifiers and Air Purifiers With Fans

As for filter air purifiers, I am yet to see one that does not have a fan. Filter air purifiers work by using a fan to suck the air out of your room and into themselves, through their filter and finally push this air back into your room or home. Accordingly, these are the type of air purifiers most people will think can also cool the air.

Now the thing is because these purifiers do create an airflow and some sort of breeze, theoretically they should cool air.

If we look at things scientifically, when you sweat you feel cooler when there is a breeze because the breeze helps evaporate the water on your body and carry away the heat from your body faster. So if a purifier has a sufficient breeze it can make you feel cooler in this way.

Furthermore, if you understand how convection works, a breeze or wind helps hot air in your room to rise and can push hot air out of your room and cooler air takes its place.

Again, if your air purifier’s breeze was strong enough it could cool your room through this process. However, most air purifiers are not built to push air at a level that can use convection to cool your entire room.

Air purifiers with fans simply do not come with the same airflow capacity as air conditions and normal fans. Even if they did have the capacity of a normal fan, there are some hot days I have gone through whereby even a fan was useless in cooling my room and for this exact reason, an air purifier is pretty much ineffective in keeping your room cool.

Air Purifiers Do Not Have a Cooling Unit

In addition to having a fan,  especially on a really hot day, to effectively keep your room cool you will need to have some kind of cooling unit. This why air conditioners work. Your air conditioner does not just blow air but it cools it down first and then blows it out into your room repeatedly to a point it can even make your room feel like a refrigerator.

Even though they may come with a fan, air purifiers are simply not built with a cooling unit. For this reason, normal air purifier on their own cannot essentially cool your room down and keep it cold.

What Can You Do Instead To Cool Down Your Room?

Now, you possibly asked this question thinking there is some way an air purifier could keep your room cool. Whether you did or didn’t if you want to purify your air and keep your room cool at the same time, you will be glad to know that you can achieve this without having to install an air con in addition to an air purifier.

Get a Basic Fan In Addition to Your Purifier

The first thing and probably the most cost effective thing you can do is to get a simple portable fan and run it in the same room as your air purifier. If you don’t live in an area that gets extremely hot, this is enough to keep the air in your room clean and cool.  However, be careful with fans, as they can cause you a sore throat especially if you sleep with one on .

Get a Portable Air Cooler With Your Air Purifier

There are so many portable air coolers out there. These devices are designed with the same cooling mechanism as an air con and are battery powered, allowing you to take them anywhere easily. They are very suitable for scenarios whereby you don’t have an air con in every room or you moved into an apartment block that does not allow you to install an air con.

An air cooler will provide you with sufficient cooling in a single room, while you run your air purifier. One of the best air coolers I have seen is the Zero Breeze air cooler. It is such a powerful device for its size, and it comes with a speaker and USB port, and you can take it with you on camping trips. I discuss more about air coolers here.

Besides a portable air cooler, you can also get a portable home air con that you can move around your house easily. You just plug this thing into the power and have an exhaust that you can stick out of your window to get rid of the warm air. These generally work very well and a good portable air con you can get at Amazon is the Honeywell MO08CESWK. It also comes with a dehumidifier which is quite useful if you live in a humid environment but if you do not need this feature you can simply keep it off and switch it on in occasions when you do.

Just like I described for fans, you just run your portable air cooler or portable home air con  while your air purifier is running.

Get a Combo Air Purifier

Lastly, as I alluded to earlier, there are some air purifiers that can cool your air. These types of air purifiers are called  Combo Air Purifier Coolers. Some air purifiers I found on Amazon like the Dyson Pure Cool  or the Delonghi Air Purifier, Heater And Cooling Fan HFX85W20C offer a fan than that’s strong enough to cool an entire room. But like I said earlier any type of fan will be limited in effectiveness if you stay in an area that is extremely hot most of the time.

Because fans are sometimes limited in how well they can cool the air, I have tried to look for an air purifier that comes with a cooling unit. If you have found one, post it in the comments below but I am yet to find an air purifier that comes with a cooling unit.

The only thing I have seen is an air con that has air purification features like an air filter that actually traps dangerous contaminants and an ionizer which neutralizes dangerous air particles.  

An example of this is the LG S-Q12BTXD Split Air Conditioner 1.0T (click to see at Amazon)  but it has an ionizer and generally I suggest you stay away from ionizers due to ozone.

Now when it comes to combo air purifiers, I would rather go with a separate portable air cooler as it becomes very difficult to maintain these devices. Imagine replacing a filter in your air con. At times you may have to call a professional to come in and fix it.

The other thing you want to avoid with combo devices is a device with an ionizer as ionic air purifiers produce a harmful byproduct called ozone.

So between the Dyson and Delonghi air purifiers, I mentioned here, go for the Delonghi as it has no ionizer and lastly I would avoid the LG air con. Some people can stand ionizers but if you have anyone with respiratory problems in your home, you would rather stay away.

Finally, the route I would go to keep the air in my room clean while keeping my room cool at the same time is the separate portable air cooler route.

This makes sense if you are in a position where you cannot afford an air con or you simply don’t want to install an air con or HVAC system in your home.

Air purifiers are generally easy devices to operate but sometimes they can leave you unsure of whether they are doing anything at all after you have turned them on. If you find yourself wondering if an air purifier in your home is working, there are several things you can do to check.

In short, how can you tell if an air purifier is working? To determine if an air purifier is working, either physical examinations or air quality tests can be conducted. Physical examinations vary across different types of air purifier while the same types of air quality tests can be applied across all devices.

I found with regards to physical examinations, that you can either physically inspect your device or alternatively run some air quality tests in the room where your device is placed. As for air quality tests, you can either use electronic and digital tests or chemical air quality test kits.

I will start by explaining the physical ways to tell if your air purifier is working or not then I will show you the air quality test. Together, these checking mechanisms make up four separate categories.

1. Physical Checks You Can Do On You Air Purifier to Check If It’s Working

The physical checks you can do to tell whether your air purifier is working will vary depending on whether you have a filterless or filter air purifier (I explain the difference between these two technologies here). The physical tests then vary even further between the different types of filterless purifiers you will find.

For instance, if you have an ionic air purifier, under normal operation your air purifier collects fluff and dust on its metal rods that produce ions to clean the air. So to check if this device is working, every week you will have to check whether it has accumulated dust on its ionizing rods. If there is no fluff or dust then your device is not working.

Some ionizers also have some type of pollutant collector compartment. You normally find pollutants collected in this part of the device every week. However, if the device has been running for a week and you find nothing, then you know it’s not working.

The other type of filterless purifier is a photocatalytic oxidation (PCO air purifier). It is harder to physically examine if this type of air purifier is working as it does not collect any pollutants but it rather burns and destroys air contaminants that are exposed to its reaction chamber and turns them in carbon dioxide and water vapor.

Your best bet in physically examining whether a PCO air purifier is working is to check its airflow. Like HEPA air purifiers, PCO purifiers operate using a fan to suck air in and out of the device. If you find that no air is being released out of your device then there must be a problem somewhere.

You can simply check airflow by putting the back of your palm or your face where your device lets air come out and feeling if there is a breeze. I call this the breeze test. You can also apply the breeze test to filter air purifiers as they all operate by pulling and pushing air using in and out of their filter using a fan.

The only type of HEPA air purifier I recommend is one with a true HEPA filter. Unlike PCO air purifiers, you can do an additional check on HEPA purifiers, by checking your filter to see if it has trapped anything or if it is too clogged up. Once your filter is full, your device will stop working properly and you will notice its airflow is not as strong when you do the breeze test.

For all types of air purifiers that use fans, by far the craziest physical test I have seen to check if they are working is the fart test. Basically, you fart into the device and watch if it will go into overdrive mode. The caveat here is that this test only works if your device has multiple operating speeds and it can automatically change between the different speed settings based on your home’s changing air quality.

Here is a video example of the fart test

If your device has an air sensor and does not detect your farts, either you fart fresh air or there might be a problem with your device. That said I would suggest doing other tests before concluding on the fart test.

2. Physical Checks You Can Do On Your Air To Determine if Your Purifier Is Working

The next way you can tell your air purifier is working or not is by physically observing if the air in your room is better. This is largely based on intuition and you will find the approach is very subjective. However, if your air purifiers says that it gets rid of funny animal smells within a day and you are still getting animal smells a week down the line, then the device is clearly not working properly.

People respond differently to different levels of air quality but, after a few days of running an air purifier consistently, you should find your air becomes less stale and stuffy. You should also start to breath more easily, with fewer sinuses, congestion, and allergic reactions.

Air purifiers are supposed to give you a noticeable and sustained improvement in your respiratory health and cleanliness of the air in your home. If you are not feeling or seeing any noticeable difference after a week of running your air purifier, your alarm bells should go off and you can start doing further investigations on whether your device is working or not.

3. Chemical Tests Kits You Can Use To Tell If Your Air Purifier Is Working

When you decide to do further and more serious investigation on whether your air purifier is working, chemical air quality test kits are a good starting point. Using air quality test kits you can test for mold and mildew, volatile organic compounds and biological contaminants like dander and pollen in your indoor air.

The way you would use these tests is by turning off your air purifier and after an hour or two conduct the test as instructed on your test kit. Record your results and then turn on your purifier. After 24 hours, as your purifier is operating, run a second test.

If the results are the same or worse than when your air purifier was off, then you know you have a problem with your air purifier and its not working. When running this type of test, my big assumption is that you have a purifier that operates 24/7.

4. Digital and Electronic Air Quality Tests That Can Show You If Your Air Purifier Is Working

The next level and probably by far the best way to check if your air purifier is working is to go digital. There are so many options ranging from basic LCD particulate counters to more advanced WiFi enabled air quality detectors with a display that gives you a real-time comparison of your outdoor and indoor air quality.  

Digital air quality monitors can detect almost any type of pollutant in your air. In addition to automated indicators that most purifiers now come with, you can also get air purifiers that come with built-in air quality monitors.  The best I have seen of digital air quality monitors are ones that link up with an app on your phone or on a browser, allowing you to monitor your air quality at home remotely.

With all this functionality, you get live data that lets you know almost instantly when your air purifier is not working. With digital air quality monitors, you can run tests in a similar way as I described for chemical test kits to compare air quality when your device is on and of. However with digital air quality monitors  if your monitoring device displays the same air quality levels when you are and are not operating your purifier then you know for sure your air purifier is not doing anything. 

So these are the 4 main ways you can tell if your air purifier is working or not. For more info, check out my thoughts on which air quality monitoring device and air quality testing gear to get to help you determine if your air purifier is working.  If you find your device is not working, sometimes it could just mean its time to replace your filter or your room is too big for your air purifier to cover.

If you have a new device and it fails these tests within a week of use, take it straight back to the store you got it from. A good device will have some kind of warranty or money back guarantee.

I hope, you found my info here useful. If you have other suggestions or questions on this topic please do share in the comments below and we can chat about it.

Having clean air in your house all the time is very important and one of the best ways to do this is by using an air purifier. However, you need to know how best to use your air purifier to ensure you get as much clean air in your home as possible and part of achieving all this is understanding when and how long to use your air purifier. This brings us to the main question of this post.

Can you leave your air purifier on all day? Most air purifiers are designed to operate 24 hours a day just as a fridge does. However, there are some exceptions. Some air purifiers such as ozone generators can only be used when no one is around, while devices such as some desk and car air purifiers are designed for use only when the user is around.

Given, the way air purifiers work it only makes sense to leave your purifier on all day. Because the air in your house is constantly changing as you move around bringing stuff in and out, your air purifier needs to be on all the time to deal with all the various pollutants that get introduced to your indoor air throughout the day.

Furthermore, every time you turn off your air purifier it does not take long before your air quality drops to the same level as it was before it was cleaned. This means your air purifier has to pretty much start from scratch cleaning your air and depending on your room size and type of device, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours for your air purifier to completely clean the air in your room again. So if you ask me, I would rather keep my purifier on the whole day to ensure the air in my home is always clean.

In my reflections about using an air purifier 24/7, some of the scary thoughts that crossed my mind were whether it could overheat and catch fire while I’m not around or whether it puts my health at risk in any away if I run it all night next to my bed while I sleep. I also found myself wondering which types of purifiers are best for 24-hour use.

Besides my worries, I found other people were also concerned about how much energy an air purifier will use and the costs involved in running one 24/7. As I tried to find answers about leaving a purifier on 24/7, I also found some people wondering about the conditions under which you can run one all day. If any of these concerns crossed your mind too, you will be glad to hear that I answer all these questions in the rest of this post starting with what kind of air purifiers are best to run all day.

What are the best types of air purifiers for all day use?

Based on what I have found throughout my time learning about air purifiers, the best type of purifiers to run all day do not produce any by-products and require the easiest and the least maintenance. The purifiers I found that best meet this criterion, are photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) and HEPA air purifiers.

HEPA air purifiers work by sucking air through a filter which traps contaminant particles in the air that are as small as 0.1 microns. Pollutants that HEPA filter air purifiers can trap include all kinds of dust, pollen, and pet dander. Good HEPA filters also come with activated carbon filters which enable them to get rid of odors by absorbing odor-causing air particles and gases.

HEPA filter purifiers do not release any by-products and are commonly used in places such as hospitals which require clean air 24 hours a day. Like hospital HEPA air purifiers, a typical household HEPA purifier is designed for 24-hour use and will do just fine in keeping your air clean if you don’t have serious indoor pollution problems.

However, if you have problems like mold, airborne bacteria, and viruses or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) then HEPA purifiers will not really help you no matter how long you run them. Also, a critical limitation with HEPA air purifiers is that they stop cleaning air efficiently in spaces larger than 1000 sq ft and you will need multiple devices for such situations.

This is where PCO air purifiers come in. PCO air Purifiers work by using wide spectrum ultraviolet light that’s focused on a thin film of titanium dioxide which acts as a catalyst in an oxidation reaction that destroys pretty much all air contaminants that pass through the purifier. These two components sit in a reactor chamber inside the purifier which has fans that draw air in and out of the device and through the reactor chamber.

PCO purifiers are also designed for 24-hour use and clean air very well in large spaces of up to 3500 sq ft before additional devices are needed. Unlike HEPA air purifiers, they don’t just trap contaminants. They literally burn and destroy them and this includes odor-causing particles.

PCO purifiers can deal with air contaminants that are small as 0.001 microns and this is pretty much all the contaminants you need to get rid of in your house. These devices are also nice to run 24 hours because they operate very silently (almost noiseless) compared to other types of devices.

That said, with such good functionality comes a high price tag. A good PCO air purifier will cost you upwards of US$600. If you are going to get an air purifier that cost more than US$600, I personally would just go for PCO purifier. My preference would also be a PCO device in cases where I am dealing with more than just dust and pollen and there are smaller pollutant particles involved.

Beyond the ability for these technologies to clean air effectively while staying on all day long, whatever air purifier you get, you need to make sure it has automated functionality. This will save you on time and costs.  

At a minimum, go for devices that can automatically adjust their air cleaning speed based on how dirty the air in your house is. You also want a device with a timer and the ability to turn itself on and off. Even better, there are now purifiers on the market that you can link to your WiFi and control from your phone or laptop.

What type of air purifiers are not good for 24-hour use?

Now that you know which purifiers are best for 24 hours operation, I think it’s also important to know which ones to avoid.  I can tell you this immediately, “Do not waste your time and money or even think about ionic air purifiers and ozone generators if you are looking for an air purifier you can leave on all the time.

The problem with both of these devices is that they produce ozone as a by-product of their purification process. When inhaled long enough, ozone can irritate your lungs, cause shortness of breath, headaches and all sorts of breathing problems especially if you have a preexisting respiratory condition like asthma or bronchitis. So you can just imagine the dangers of running ionic purifiers or ozone generators all day in your home.

Furthermore, on top of producing ozone, most ionic air purifiers also leave a thin film of dust on surfaces around your house. This gives you extra cleaning work and the thin film of dust contains contaminants that could be reintroduced into the air if you do not clean up the mess properly. In my opinion, you definitely do not want this kind of device operating 24 hours in your home.

The story is a bit different for with ozone generators. As much as you should not be running them all day long, they actually serve an in important role in cleaning the air. The ozone they produce is dangerous but only because of its strong antibacterial and cleaning properties.

Ozone is very effective at killing mold, odors, bacteria, and viruses in the air. However, ozone generators should only be used when there is no one in your house for the day and turned off at least an hour before anyone gets back home.

The best situation to use an ozone generator is on spring cleaning day. Ozone generators are usually used by professional home cleaning service providers and I personally think that unless you are a highly technical person, you should keep away from them.

Besides ozone air purifiers, other purifiers you should avoid are some the are specifically designed for your desk or car. These are usually classified as personal air purifiers. Even if you are able to run these devices for 24 hours without any hustles, they could barely make a difference in the air quality of your whole room as they are too small and designed for your personal space.

In summary, if you did not understand anything else from this section, understand this,

“Stay away from ionic and ozone-based air purifiers if you want an air purifier that you can run all day.”

If you must get an ionic air purifier for whatever reason, get it as a combo with a HEPA or PCO air purifier with the option to switch the ionic part on and off.

Is leaving your air purifier on all day or while you sleep dangerous?

I already mentioned the dangers of ozone producing air purifiers. However, even with HEPA and PCO air purifiers, like any other electronic device, air purifiers can fail. I have seen cases of air purifiers bowing up but it is not a common occurrence.

The best advice I can give you here is to follow the instructions in your manual. But the general rules safety rules that apply for other electronic devices apply for air purifiers. Do not put your air purifier next to wet areas of your home, to avoid short-circuiting your device with water. You also need to keep your air purifier out of the way of pets and children.

In view of this, leaving your HEPA and PCO air purifiers on all day is as safe as leaving your microwave, fridge, TV or aircon on the whole day. Furthermore, if you are running either a HEPA or PCO air purifier in your room while you sleep, rest assured it will not be bad for your health. More than anything you should sleep more comfortably from a breathing perspective.

There is really no danger in keeping an air purifier on the whole day if you are using the right type of air purifier.

What are the costs of leaving your air purifier all day?

Both PCO and HEPA purifiers come with their various running costs but the main costs you have to consider are energy costs and parts replacement costs. From an energy consumption point of view, Most HEPA and PCO air purifiers are rated between 60 watts and 300 watts. So they consume less energy than a laptop, fridge or TV would consume if left on the whole day.

PCO purifiers are known for their energy efficiency as they consume as little electricity as a light bulb. Generally speaking, if you left an air purifier on the whole day for a year, depending on your type of device according to Consumer Reports it would cost you anywhere between US$30-US$200  per year in energy. You can work this out for yourself using the following formula:

“Watts  x  US$/KwH  x  Hours of Operation”

You will find the watts on your devices box or specs online, the KwH is just how much you get charged per Kilowatt hour of electricity where you live and for hours of operation you can just say 24 hours and multiply this by 365 to work it out for a year.

So that’s energy costs for you. As for replacement parts, HEPA purifier filters can cost you up to $200 from as little as $20  depending on your device. For PCO purifiers you have to replace the reaction chambers and this will cost you around US$150. The deciding factor, in my opinion, is how often you have to replace parts.

HEPA filters have a much shorter lifespan than PCO reaction chambers at 3 months to  2 years while reaction chambers last anywhere from 1-3 years. It might work out cheaper to own a HEPA filter despite more frequent part replacement but from a maintenance perspective PCO air purifiers, a very low maintenance and will take very little of your time compared to HEPA filters.

Putting the 2 costs together, I think with a decent device it should not cost you over US$100 per device in terms of electricity consumption and if you replace parts every year, you should be able to operate your device easily at under US$250 per year including electricity costs. These are the major cost dynamics of running your air purifier all day and all year round.

Under What Conditions Can Use Your Air Purifier the Whole Day?

If you have read this whole post and gotten this far, by now you should be confident that you can leave your air purifier on the whole day. Be that as it may, there a few minor things you should be aware of and you should do to get the most out of your air purifier when running it all day long.

Firstly, you need to know the size of your room to determine what size air purifier you need to effectively clean the air in your room or around your house. If the area you want to cover is too large or you have multiple rooms your device could prove useless no matter how long you run it.

My rule of thumb is to get a device that is able to cover at least 300 sq ft  (square feet) more than your room size or space you want to cover. So if you have an area of 1000 sq ft get a device that covers at least 1300 sq ft.

Next, you need to keep windows and doors closed all the time to minimize the number of new pollutants coming into your home and the work load on your air purifier. Look, you can open windows to air out the house if you burnt something while cooking or someone dropped a human gas bomb but as soon as the air has cleared, close your windows. This will prevent pollutants from outside your home continuously entering your home and ensure that your air purifier maintains the best possible air quality in your home.

Your purifier will continue to run when your windows are open.  However, the more your purifier works the quicker it’s filtration or cleaning technology wears out because of all the extra outdoor pollutants it has to clean. So to avoid unnecessarily overworking your device, and keep the air quality in your home at optimal levels keep your home enclosed from the outdoors as much possible if you have your air purifier running full time.

Lastly, it is very important to keep your house clean and free of clutter and to stop pollution in your home at the source even when your air purifier is operating 24/7. If you have carpets, drapes or chairs that easily absorb dust and odors, vacuum them with a good HEPA vacuum.

Ensure your basement is waterproofed and leakages are fixed to avoid eventual pollution from mold or mildew. Use safe cleaning chemicals that don’t off-gas but also leave your house smelling fresh. There is just so much you can do for me to cover here from a cleaning perspective to reduce pollution in your home. If you want to learn more about how to clean your house for fresh air you can check out my comprehensive post about that here,

So, in short, the main conditions you have to pay attention to if you want to optimally leave your air purifier on all the time include the size of the area where you need clean air, keeping the areas where your purifier is placed enclosed (i.e your air purifiers position) and finally keeping your house clean.

For more information on which exact air purifiers you can get that can run all day and all year long, check out my post on recommended room air purifiers here. All the recommended devices I show you unless I specify otherwise can be left to run the whole day and come with smart features that optimize their performance as they do so.

One of the worst problems that can drive you crazy if you live in a house with a basement is basement smell.

Whether you have a basement apartment or storage or an unfinished basement, basement smell is a common occurrence if you live in a humid area or generally around springtime and summer when the air becomes more humid. 

However, you can also get a bad smelling basement even when the humidity levels are low or in the middle of winter.  Whatever your case, you are likely here because you are wondering if an air purifier will help.

As you might have found, there are several solutions for basement smell but will an air purifier really help you? Air purifiers can help with basement smell, but this strongly depends on the type of air purifier as not all air purifiers are designed to deal with odors. This being the case, as much as air purifiers can help with basement smell, they do not get rid of the source or cause of the smell.

If the source of your basement smell is mold or mildew caused by moisture from rain, humidity or flooding or an untidy basement, you have to dry up and tidy up your basement first for an air purifier to be effective. Otherwise, your air purifier will be fighting a losing battle in an environment that is constantly producing smell causing air contaminants.

So, the first step to improve the smell in your basement is to cut the production of smell causing contaminants. Then only after you do this, will an air purifier be most effective in maintaining fresh nice smelling air in your basement.

That said, you can already start using an air purifier and feel some improvement in the smell before and as you try to eliminate the source of the bad smell.

With this information in your mind, let me share with you in more detail the types of air purifiers you should be considering for basement smell and give you some tips on what else you can do to sort out the smell in addition to using an air purifier.

Types Of Air Purifiers That Will Help With Basement Smell

To deal with basement smells, you will want to either go for a true HEPA purifier with an activated carbon filter or a photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) air purifier. You can also try Ozone Generators but do consider the dangers.

Based on my research, all the other types of air purifiers are not as effective or are completely useless in dealing with odor causing air pollutants. Now let me take you through the ins and outs of how HEPA and PCO purifiers will help.

HEPA Air Purifiers

When it comes to basement air quality, mold spores are your number one enemy. HEPA purifier filters are designed to filter pollutants in the air with particles sized as small as 0.1 microns while mold spores range from 3 to 40 microns.

 Accordingly, HEPA air purifiers can help you considerably reduce the number of odor causing mold and mildew spores in the air and subsequently dampen or eliminate the smell they cause.

So, just from a particle size perspective, you can already see how HEPA purifiers can be effective in freshening the air in your basement. In fact, they are able to also get rid of mold spores that survive long after you have sorted out your basement’s moisture and humidity issues.

However, as much as HEPA purifiers can clear the air of mold spores and dust floating in your basement, on their own they can’t completely remove the smell as this is also caused by gaseous air contaminants that are too small for HEPA air purifiers to trap. What you will need to also get rid of the smell is a HEPA purifier combined with an activated carbon filter.

The carbon filter contains some porous and chemically treated charcoal with millions of pores which not only eliminate smells but also Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and gases by absorbing their dangerous particles. 

PCO Air Purifiers

Now, let’s look at PCO purifiers. Like HEPA air purifiers, these devices also work by sucking in air into the purification core of device using a built-in fan.  However, unlike HEPA purifiers, PCO purifiers are filterless.

Instead, they contain a broad-spectrum UV light that reacts with a thin catalyst film (normally titanium dioxide), creating hydroxyl radicals and super-oxide ions that burn and destroy odor causing air contaminants, VOCs and microorganisms absorbed on the catalyst’s surface.

PCO is such a powerful air purification technology, destroying particles as small as 0.001 microns. PCO purifiers can destroy gases like carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide  which easily escape and do not get filtered or eliminated from your indoor air by other types of air purifiers.

PCO purifiers destroy much more than the particles causing smells in your basement, and work to eliminate other related dangerous airborne particles in your basement such as tiny lung penetrating particles that can cause serious internal damage to your respiratory system.

PCO air purifiers are much better than HEPA purifiers which merely trap pollutants rather than destroy them.

With this in mind, you might now be asking if there is any point in getting a HEPA purifier for your basement. Well, the only reason, I would get a HEPA purifier is because of affordability and ease of replacing spare parts.

Because, PCO purifiers are highly customized devices, and the tech is not yet widespread, it can be quite a financial hurdle to get spare parts.

You often find that you have to contact the device manufacturer for parts which can be a pain if you are in a different state or country.  That said if your budget is not tight, go for a PCO air purifier hands down for your basement.

Important Features for Basement Air Purifiers

Now that you know what air purifiers you should be looking at for basement smell, to make your life easier, here are some general features you want to have on any purifier. The first is automatic settings.

Aim to get a purifier that can detect the level of pollution in your air and adjust itself to effectively clean the air. This will save you on energy consumption and time running around to turn up or turn down your purifier settings for optimal performance.

Finally, please get a purifier that tells you when its time to change your filter or change any replaceable part. It is easy to forget when to change your purifier parts, especially if no one lives in your basement and its out of sight.

Having a built-in indicator is the easiest way to remember that it is filter replacement time. Even better you can get a device that links up to your phone like the Coway Airmega (available at Amazon) to give you real-time feedback on how your air purifier is doing.

Additional Tips to Deal with Basement Smells

As I mentioned earlier on, your air purifier cannot win the fight against basement smell without addressing the source of the smell.

To add on to this, if the source of the smell is just general mold caused by humid air, you have to get rid of the humidity in your basement for your air purifier to effectively help with the smell. Here are 4 steps you should take in conjunction with using an air purifier for basement odors.

4 Steps  To Get Rid of Basement Smell With An Air Purifier

1. Check all potential sources of the smell and get rid of them

The smell in your basement could be coming from carpets absorbing moisture and damp if you have a carpeted basement apartment. Check under your carpets to see if it feels wet and if it does that could be your source.

If there is no moisture, the smell could be coming from certain items like old paint buckets, wood or other stored items. Besides, this, check all the walls and ceilings. If you can’t find anything use air quality testing equipment or have a professional air quality service come in  to investigate. Then once you determine the problem, implement the appropriate solution.

2. Get rid of moisture and damp

Waterproof  your basement sooner than later. If you are moving to a new home, ensure that the basement and the foundations of your house are waterproofed.

This will go a long way in minimizing moisture from rain and flood damage in your basement and the rest of your home and will subsequently save you from dealing with basement smell. Waterproofing  your  home is just one of those things you have to do. It will save you a lot on house insurance and wall damage by damp and mold.

3. Get rid of basement humidity

Keep a constant eye out on humidity levels in your basement.  The best way to do this is by using a Hygrometer.  One of the most nifty and useful hygrometer’s available at Amazon that I have come across so far is the Govee Wireless Indoor, Thermometer, Hygrometer, and Humidity Gauge.

This device hooks up to your WiFi and phone and it enables you to monitor your humidity  remotely. However  if you don’t need fancy features, you can stick to a traditional digital hygrometer like the ThermoPro TP55 (see at Amazon) and this will work just fine.

Now if your hygrometer shows you that humidity is an issue and you have not thought about a dehumidifier, please get one immediately. You can also get a combo dehumidifier air purifier. This will save you on the cost of getting 2 devices. The best combo device I have seen is the Pure & Dry HEPA70 Dehumidifier and Air Purifier by Aeru (see at Amazon). 

4. Tidy up your basement

Lastly, to deal with basement smell you will want to declutter and remove unnecessary odor causing items you have stored in your basement, clean out all the dust, stack things neatly and use airtight containers where appropriate.

Dirty laundry, is a nono here. If you have a carpet, I would get rid of it but if you must, invest in a good  HEPA vacuum cleaner.

You can also put bamboo charcoal air purifier bags  in cupboards, under furniture and corners around your basement. These bags help with smells and absorb excess moisture that causes mold.

The aim here is to keep your basement as clean and as dry as possible, even if it is an unfinished basement. If you take these 4 steps, you should be able to safely leave the rest of the job in getting rid of basement odors to your air purifier.

I think I have covered a lot here but, this is pretty much all the nitty gritty around dealing with basement smells with air purifiers and let me end on this note. For more information on how air purifiers can help you get rid of odors around your home click here.

If you have pets in your home, one of the main questions that may cross your mind when you are considering an air purifier is whether it will be safe for your pet. Well, in my search for the perfect air purifier I came across a lot of information about air purifier safety and pets and in this post I share with you just about everything you need to know.

In short, are air purifiers safe for pets? If used correctly, most air purifiers are safe for pets. However, some air purifiers release harmful by-products into the air which are dangerous if inhaled by pets. These by-products can even be fatal for some pets. To keep pets safe, pet owners should avoid air purifiers that release ozone.

The main harmful product released by air purifiers that could harm your pet is called ozone. Yes, this is the same ozone that protects the earth from dangerous sun rays but if you do your research on the dangers of ozone, you will quickly realize that it is not safe for you or your pets to breathe in.

If your pet is exposed to ozone long enough, it will start to develop respiratory problems. Ozone is even worse if your pet has preexisting respiratory problems and smaller pets like birds can actually die with minor exposure to ozone. So, to be completely on the safe side with your pets, you want to avoid any ozone producing air purifier.

Now that you are aware that the main danger is ozone, I am going to show you which air purifiers produce ozone and which ones don’t. This should help you know exactly what to avoid for the safety of your pet. That said, take note that even safe air purifiers can be dangerous for your pets if used incorrectly. So, to help you keep any pet out of danger when using air purifiers I also give you some basic operational safety tips people often overlook.

Dangerous Air Purifiers for Pets

Ozone Generators

By far the most dangerous type of air purifiers I know you can get for your pet is an ozone generator. Just as the name suggests, ozone generators are made purely to produce ozone in order to clean your air. As much as ozone is dangerous, through a process of oxidation, it is actually quite effective at removing odors, bacteria and mold from the air and that’s why ozone generators are still made. However, people tend to misuse ozone generators because they do not know their dangers.

The only time ozone generators should be used in your home, if at all, is when there are no humans or pets around. What usually happens with ozone generators is, when there is a serious mold or odor problem in your home, you call in a professional cleaning service to clean up the mess while you are away for the day.

Then by the time you get back at the end of the day, your house is smelling fresh and ozone-free. I suggest, getting an ozone generator if you know what you are doing, otherwise, you can harm not just your pet but also yourself.

Ionic Air Purifiers

Next on the list of dangerous purifiers, are ionic air purifiers or ionizers. Ionic air purifiers, work by discharging ions which attach to air contaminants. Once the ions are attached to the contaminants, they make them too heavy to stay in the air and eventually these contaminants fall to the ground or get collected in the purifier while ozone is formed as a by-product of the process as the ions attach to the air contaminants.

You will find that ionizers don’t produce as much ozone as ozone generators do and most produce ozone within the government’s stipulated safety limits for humans.

But then, they still remain dangerous, especially for smaller animals, like birds, hamsters and lizards. So not to take any chances with your pet, steer clear of ionic air purifiers.

Safe Air Purifiers for Pets

On the safe side of life, you have so many many options, and you really should not be wasting any time looking at any of the unsafe options. Out of the numerous options, I am going to focus on two purfication technologies that are especially used for pets.

True HEPA pet air purifiers

True HEPA purifiers are mechanical devices that trap pollutant particles in the air by recirculating air through a filter positioned in the core of the purifier. They are effective for trapping dust, and pet dander and HEPA purifiers that come with a combined activated carbon filter are also quite good at eliminating pet odors. They safely help minimize cat litter dust, cat litter smells, and dander from birds, rodent pets, dogs, weasels and you name it.

The only trouble with HEPA air purifiers is that you will have to replace parts quite often. If you do not mind buying and changing filters at least every 6 months then this option will work for you and your pets. A good HEPA air purifier worth trying for any pet and that’s available at Amazon is the Rabbit Air MinusA2 Ultra Quiet.

Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO) Air Purifiers

My favorite type of air purifier for pretty much all indoor air issues including pets is a PCO type purifier and more specifically the Airocide air purifier.

PCO purifiers work by literally destroying air contaminants, using a highly concentrated UV-Light spectrum and titanium dioxide to decompose the contaminants with only water and carbon dioxide as by-products. It used to be that PCO air purifiers produce ozone, but their technology has been advanced so that they no longer do.

Good PCO air purifier like the Airocide purifier can work in rooms that span up to 3000 sq ft and remove everything from allergens like pet dander to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), gases and odors.

They require minimal maintenance and you only need to change their reactor chamber every 1-3 years. However, the main drawback with PCO purifiers is that it can be difficult to find replacement parts as they are highly customized devices and are not easily found depending on where you stay.

From the mix of pet air purifiers I have seen on the market, in my opinion, purifiers using the two types of technologies I have just described work the best for pet owners. You can learn more about these purifiers from my recommended air purifiers post here.

Basic Precautions to Keep Pets Safe When Using An Air Purifier

Now that you know what to go for when it comes to air purifiers and your pet’s safety, let’s go over a few safety precautions that will ensure your pets are safe whenever you are using your air purifier.

Probably the most important thing you should do before operating an air purifier in a house with a pet is to choose an appropriate location for your air purifier. If you have a dog or a cat dashing around the house, you will want to have a wall mountable air purifier or to place your purifier on a clear counter-top out of your pet’s path. This will help prevent your pets toying around and potentially getting electrocuted by poking at the purifier.

With birds and caged animals, try to place your air purifier on the opposite side of the room, away from their space. This also generally applies to your dog or cat’s sleeping area, and your cat’s litter box. Air purifiers can be distracting for animal’s and the last thing you want is their personal space and rest time being disrupted.

Lastly, if you have a HEPA air purifier, avoid cleaning and replacing the filter around your pet. If you accidentally bump or drop the filter, this could send the trapped contaminants flying back into the air and into your pets respiratory system, if your pet is hanging around close by. To find out more about cleaning and maintaining air purifiers safely and which air purifiers are best from a cleaning standpoint click here.

This is pretty much everything you need to know about pet safety when using air purifiers and if you have read this whole post, I can safely say you are well equipped to have an air purifier around your pet. For additional guidance on safety, make sure to also consult the manual that comes along with your air purifier. 

If you are wondering which air purifiers are the easiest to clean, by the end of this post you will know everything you need to know. If you have minimal time to spend cleaning appliances in your home, this is such an important question when considering an air purifier but I have not seen it answered clearly, anywhere online.

So in short, which air purifiers are easy to clean? The easiest air purifiers to clean include Ionic air purifiers, Photocatalytic air purifiers (PCO), Thermodynamic air purifiers (TSS), and Immobilized Cell air purifiers. Some of these purifiers are designed for minimal maintenance while others need occasional rinsing.

An air purifier that is easy to clean should only take a maximum of  30 minutes to dismantle, clean and reassemble if you are fully focused and not doing anything else on the side. Remember that the ease of cleaning a purifier also includes wiping its exterior and not just the internal parts. The ease with which you can clean a device comes down to the type of device and technology and the design of the device.

I think the simplest way to determine which purifier is easy to clean is by the type of purifier rather than the actual brand or product. Besides, deciding by type of purifier also gives you a wider choice of devices as you are not restricted to a specific brand. Holding on to this thought, from my observation by far the easiest type of purifiers to clean are filterless purifiers and more specifically PCO and TSS purifiers. Then next in line you have ionic and washable HEPA air purifiers and ozone generators.

Now, to give you a clear picture of what is easy to clean and not, I am going to go over the different purifiers in the following order and sections

• Easiest to clean
• Easy to Clean
• Hardest to clean

I expect once you finish going through each of these sections you will have a clear understanding of the kind of effort you need to put into cleaning different air purifiers and which one is easy enough to clean for you.

Easiest to clean

PCO Air Purifiers

Cleaning PCO purifiers will obviously vary depending on the design you get. But for all them, you will find that all you need to do is unplug the device and wipe them down. For the most complex type of PCO purifier, you have to use compressed air to clean their cell or bulb so that you do not wipe off the catalyst coating on the bulb.

All PCO purifiers have some kind of bulb or reaction chamber that needs to be replaced but you will only need to do this every 1-3 years depending on the type of device you get. This means you spend minimal time maintaining the device and when it comes to maintaining the device, it’s as easy as screwing and unscrewing bulbs. If you spill something on a PCO purifier, all you need to do is wipe it down.

For most PCO purifiers you do not need to clean any internal parts and all you do is wipe the outside like any other appliance in your home. If you want your device to be extra clean, you can use appropriate cleaning sprays for aluminium or plastic depending on the material your device is made of but a damp cloth should be just fine. By far the best type of PCO purifier I have seen that’s easy to clean is the Airocide air purifier  and below is a video on how you maintain it.

TSS Air Purifiers

When cleaning most thermodynamic sterilization (TSS) air purifiers, all you need to do is unplug your device from the electric outlet and use a dry cloth to wipe off its surface. My only qualm with such purifiers is that you cannot open them up at home, and if they need to be cleaned inside for whatever reason, you have to send them back to their manufacturer. That said, you should not ever need to clean the inside of the machine under normal circumstances. The easiest TSS purifiers to clean that I have come across are the Airfree range of TSS purifiers.  

Ionic Air Purifiers

Though they need to be cleaned often to maintain their optimal performance, most ionic air purifiers only need to be wiped. Ionic purifiers work by attracting contaminant particles in the air which then stick to ionic plates and wires within or on the purifier and when these accumulate enough pollutants they need to be wiped. You can wipe the plates clean with a damp soapy cloth and allow them to dry before turning the device on again.

As much as they are easy to clean, I personally avoid ionic air purifiers, because they produce ozone ( a harmful by-product) and also some of the contaminants they neutralize stick to surfaces around your room or fall to the ground. This means with ionic purifiers,  you actually spend more time cleaning the mess they make.

Easy to Clean

Washable HEPA Air Purifier

To clean a washable HEPA air purifier, all you have to do is turn off the device and take out the filter and then wash it with water and mild soap. The first step is to rinse the filter with clean tap water. Once you have done this, you may find the filter is already clean.

If the filter is clean after rinsing, let it dry and put it back in the air purifier. If it is still dirty after cleaning, then you can wash it with mild dish-washing soap and lukewarm water. For very dirty filters, you leave it to soak for up to 5 minutes in soapy water. Once, you are done washing, rinse the soap off with tap water and dry the filter.

The filter will be stained after usage and you don’t have to wash it until it is white as snow but rather just to remove the collected contaminants. Also, you need to dry your filter overnight before putting back on your air purifier just as you would dry your clothes. Washable HEPA filters need to be cleaned every three months.

Some washable HEPA purifiers only require you to use a dry cloth to wipe the external surfaces of the air purifier while for others you can clean them as you would a normal appliance. In the end, washable HEPA purifier filters eventually need replacement.

If your device has a pre-filter, to clean it, you have to take it off the machine occasionally and shake the trapped particles off. If it gets really dirty, you can then rinse it with warm water. The pre-filter also needs to dry completely before putting it back onto the purifier.

Do not put back any of your purifier filters on the device if they are still wet. Doing this can damage the device. Also, don’t wash the filters in extremely hot water, or try to wash them in a washing machine or dishwasher as they are too fragile for such conditions. Lastly, avoid flammable cleaning liquids, or any strong cleaning agents.

I think you now see why I have not placed washable HEPA air purifiers under the easiest to clean category. They need a lot more effort in cleaning but nonetheless, the cleaning process is doable and should not take you over 15 minutes.

What’s frustrating though is that you have to wait for things to dry overnight before reassembling and using your purifier again. Beside this, you will eventually need to replace your filter every 1-3 years depending on the type of air purifier device you have and how often you use it.  If you can deal with the wait, and the cleaning process, then a good range of washable air purifiers is the Honeywell HFD-120 Series.

Immobilized Cell

Immobilized cell air purifiers seem much easier to deal with than washable HEPA purifiers. They usually come with a removable bioreactor unit that has to be cleaned every 3 months.  These are such rare devices and the one device I have seen only requires you to remove its bioreactor from the purifiers body, drain out the contaminants and rinse the unit.

During normal operation, you have to add water to the device every 5-6 days and a special biochemical to keep the reactor active every 30 days. Then every 4 months it is advisable to completely drain and rinse the bioreactors of any (harmless) waste deposited on the bottom. See the pictures here  to better understand.

Like I said earlier, I have only seen this type of device provided by a company called U-Earth and they provide an air purifier range called Aircel.  Personally, I feel the fact that I have to continuously order biochemical to keep my device running smoothly is annoying, as much as the device is easy to clean. So unless you are well resourced to maintain this kind of device, I would stay away.

Hardest to clean

Ozone Generators

When cleaning an ozone generator type of air purifier, you have to clean the input filter and ozone plates. When the filter in front of the purifier appears grey/black then you know its time to clean the device. To clean a typical ozone generator, firstly unplug the device and then take out the filter. The filter can then be washed with soap and let to dry and eventually reassembled to the device.

Then when it comes to the ozone plates, they need to be kept clean to maintain maximum ozone production. The plates are usually made of ceramic or silicone and need washing when you notice the smell of ozone is no longer as strong. To wash them, you also have to pull them out of the device. Wash the plates with soap and scrub with a plastic brush.

Then use a Q-tip dampened with alcohol to clean the inside area where the plates are placed. Once you’ve done this, you have to let everything dry and reassemble the device. Check out the video below for more detail.

Ozone plates generally have to be clean every 6 months if you use your device. If the smell of ozone coming out of the machine does not return to the original level that it was when you purchased the machine then you need to replace the plates.

I think you can see that ozone generator air purifiers are quite involving, especially if you get a type that needs screwing and unscrewing. I personally do not recommend ozone air purifiers because of their health hazards (learn more about dangerous air purifiers here) and I would rather leave such devices to be handled by a professional air cleaning service.

Normal HEPA

Normal HEPA purifiers are those with unwashable filters. They can collect a lot of dust and I say they are among the hardest purifiers to clean. Some manufacturers say you can clean your filter by vacuuming but research  shows you would rather just replace your normal HEPA filter if you want your purifier to work at its optimal performance level.

So if you are prepared to frequently order new filters then go the normal HEPA route. Also, note that at times you have to deal with a product discontinuation, meaning that you will have a run around trying to find a new filter. To avoid this, get a HEPA purifier that can use filters from any filter manufacturer.

With this in mind, I think normal HEPA purifiers generally do a great job cleaning your air but from a cleaning and maintenance perspective be prepared to have your day disrupted and to get your hands dirty.

Combo Air Purifiers

I saved combo air purifiers for last. You can only imagine how difficult cleaning and maintaining an air purifier with multiple technologies can be. For a simple example, if you have a purifier that has both a washable HEPA filter and ionic purifier, it is more moving parts and cleaning time on the device.

Now try combine all the purifiers that are hard to clean into one unit. I will let you ponder on the outcome. With this thought in your mind, I think if you are looking for a device that is easy to clean, you would be wise to steer clear of combo air purifiers.

Summary

In short, the easiest purifiers to clean you will find are the filterless PCO, TSS and ionic purifiers.  Cleaning starts to get more complicated when you introduce filters in air purifiers and it’s generally most complicated to clean combo air purifiers. My preferences when it comes to ease of cleaning is the PCO air purifier. You can learn more about all the different types of air purifiers here.

When I was exploring suitable air purifiers for my home, I got curious about the safety of air purifiers and whether they would be of danger to me and my family. Accordingly, I went and did some research and here is what I discovered.

So in short, are air purifiers dangerous? Most air purifiers are safe as long as they are used as instructed by their manufacturer. However, certain types of air purifiers emit ozone and other by-products as part of their cleaning process which with prolonged exposure, can harm humans and animals.

Air purifiers can be dangerous in a variety of ways. Based on my findings the way air purifiers can be dangerous can be split into 2 categories namely, direct dangers and indirect dangers. Direct dangers include the dangers that arise directly out of the air purifier’s normal day to day function while indirect dangers are dangers that arise as a result of improper use of your purifier.

You will encounter both the direct and indirect dangers mainly depending on the type of air purifier you have. Keeping this in mind, I will first take you through the direct dangers, then the indirect dangers and finally give you my thoughts on how you and your family can stay safe and out of harm’s way when using an air purifier.

Direct Dangers Of Air Purifiers

The direct dangers of air purifiers strongly depend on the type of air purifier you have. I call these dangers direct because you get exposed to them as a direct result of your purifier producing harmful by-products.

Now like I said before, not all purifiers produce harmful by-products. The ones that are well known to do so include ionic purifiers, ozone generators, UV germicidal irradiation purifiers and some but not all photocatalytic (PCO) air purifiers. All of these produce ozone as a direct result of their air cleaning process and therein lies their danger.

It is well documented that ozone has harmful health effects and most especially respiratory health consequences. It is especially dangerous if you or even your pet has any pre-existing respiratory problems such as bronchitis or asthma. Ozone will cause you throat, nose and eye irritations, and headaches, chest pains and shortness of breath.

In ionic air purifiers, ozone is unintentionally produced as a by-product of the electrostatic reactions that occur between the negative ions generated by your purifier and contaminants in the air. On the other hand, as the name says, ozone generators are intentionally designed to produce ozone to take advantage of their strong antibacterial and cleaning properties in cleaning the air.

UV air purifiers create ozone when a wavelength at 254 nm (nanometers) from their UV light hits an oxygen atom.  The normal oxygen molecule splits into two atoms, which join other oxygen molecules to form ozone (e.g, they change from O2 molecules to O3). Some research shows that through a similar process, PCO air purifiers also produce ozone. However, with technological advancement, some PCO purifiers now produce no ozone at all and some are even being designed to remove ozone from the air.

Besides ozone, ionic and UV air purifiers have some additional direct dangers. Through their electrostatic reaction, many ionic air purifiers, mainly the fanless ones. actually, create particles that stick to walls and other surfaces in your home. Ionic purifiers do indeed get contaminants out of the air, but these charged particles are often just left to fall to the ground rather than being collected by the purifier.

As a result, you will find a common complaint around the internet is that these particles create a thin film of dust on various surfaces around your home. These particles are still dangerous to your health after settling and when you decide to remove them from affected surfaces around your home, you are at risk of making them airborne again and inhaling them. Moreover, ionic air purifiers produce a lot of other by-products and until these things are studied more, we don’t really know how safe they are.

As for UV purifiers, though the lamps are often shielded within an air purifier with switches that automatically shut off the UV lamps if you open the system, you are in danger if this system fails in any way and you get exposed to the light. If your skin is exposed to germicidal wavelengths of UV light, you will get a painful rapid sunburn. Even worse, if you stare at the light, its radiation can produce extremely painful inflammation of the cornea and temporary or permanent vision impairment,  and in some cases, you can go blind.

Indirect Dangers of Air Purifiers

Unlike the direct dangers, the indirect dangers of air purifiers apply more broadly across the different types of air purifiers with minor differences between filter and filterless air purifiers. Remember that these are dangers that arise as a result of using your device incorrectly. With this in mind, I will start with the dangers that apply to all purifiers.

First on my list, is the risk of electrocution. Like all electric appliances, air purifiers are not unique, they will electrocute you if you tamper with them. So, don’t be preoccupied by other things while trying to clean your device, or try to replace parts while the device is on, and make sure the device is properly earthed when plugged in.

You are asking for trouble if you place your purifier near a place that is often wet like your laundry area or kitchen sink. You also want to avoid placing your air purifier in areas were kids and pets can mess with the device. The idea that keeps coming to my head is a dog peeing on the device or kid poking a wire into it.

If you have a portable or rechargeable purifier, I have heard one too many stories of these devices blowing up. This happens if the device is overcharged, being charged incorrectly or in the case of devices that use replaceable batteries, if the device is  using the incorrect batteries. If you don’t take precautions here, you could end up with a device blowing up in your face.

Now for indirect dangers unique to certain devices, the only dangers I found apply to filter based air purifiers. Because filtered air purifiers work by trapping and collecting air contaminants in a compartment of the filter that you often have to clean or replace once its full, every single time you replace the filter you are at risk of reintroducing the contaminants back to your air and inhaling them.

If you make any false move like banging or accidentally dropping a full filter while you are replacing it, this could send a bunch of pollutants back into the air. Besides, whatever type of filter mechanism your purifier has, if your filter is not properly sealed for any reason, unpurified air could leak all around the filter and escape back into your room. All you will be doing is pumping and recirculating pollution all over your home. With that said, these are all real dangers I discovered you will face with air purifiers.

One other concern I have seen people raise about the danger of air purifiers, is whether they dry the air or not and as a result cause dry skin, nosebleeds and all sorts of problems that come with dry air. From my observation and research, the short answer is that air purifiers do not dry air and you don’t need to worry about this. 

In any case, if you feel somehow your air is dry while using your air purifier, you can safely run a humidifier concurrently with your purifier or even better, get a combo air purifier which comes joint with a humidifier.

6 Steps You Can Take to Stay Safe and Avoid the Dangers of Air Purifiers

Looking over, the different dangers of air purifiers, here are some steps you can take to make sure you avoid the hazards of air purifiers.

1. Choose air purifiers which do not produce dangerous by-products

Time and again, the air purifiers I have found to not produce ozone or harmful by-products are PCO air purifiers and HEPA air purifiers. If you go the HEPA route, stick to true HEPA air purifiers. I personally avoid ionic type air purifiers.

2. Do not operate your air purifiers around wet areas of your home

This is quite straightforward and common advice with electrical appliances that are not water resistant. So I don’t need to explain this further.

3. Keep your air purifier out of reach of children and pets

If you have pets and kids running around the house, get a wall mounted air purifier or place your air purifiers in a place where kids can’t accidentally bump into it or tamper with it.

4. Wear a mask and go outdoors when cleaning or replacing filters on your air purifier

To avoid inhaling and spreading air contaminants back into your home, wear a safety mask and take your device outside when cleaning or replacing the filter on your air purifier.

5. Only use an ozone air purifiers when no one is at home

As I mentioned earlier, ozone is actually a powerful cleaning agent. It actually works well in cleaning the air, especially for musty smells and mold but the only time you should use it is when there is no one at home for the day. Normally ozone is used by professional home cleaners as they know how to take all the safety precautions.

So if you know ozone can solve you poor indoor air problem but you are not sure what you are doing with an ozone generator, rather have a professional come in and do the cleaning for you. You can have this kind of job done every 6 months or so while you and your family go away for the day.

6. Read and follow your manual

I don’t know how many times this is said, yet people overlook and ignore this basic principle. My guess is your mind is saying, “Ya RIGHT”, even as you read this but this is important. Not only will you know what not to do with your air purifier but you will also discover all the cool functions and features it comes with.

I have shared everything I know about the dangers of air purifiers with you. If you have any questions or want to add anything I missed out, or you think I got something wrong, do share your thoughts in the comments section.