Air purifier
Air Pollution, COVID-19, Product Review, Uncategorized

Breathe Healthy at Home: Air Purifier vs Ionizer:

Which One is Better for Home?

Air Quality is one of the major concerns nowadays but is indoor air any safer than outdoor? It’s an important question to be pondered upon, especially when lockdown has been implemented and indoor air quality has become very important for everyone. During work from home, everyone is indoors so Let’s make indoors safe during the COVID pandemic 2022.

How do we Improve the Air Quality in house?

Indoor air is saturated with dust particles, pollens, allergens, aerosols, molds, microbes, etc. It’s in no way cleaner than outdoor air so measures have to be taken to clean the indoor air for a safer breathing environment. For achieving it there are 2 devices available:

  • Air Purifier
  • Air Ionizer

Let’s discuss in detail both of them.

How do these devices function?

Air Purifier:

Air purifier functions on the HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter technology. It pulls the surrounding air inside by fan and air passes through a series of filters which trap the particulate (up to 0.3 microns) inside and clean air exits the device.

Air Ionizer:

Air ionizer machines function differently in comparison to air purifiers. Air ionizers emit negatively & positively charged ions4 in the air which attaches to the pollutants, dust particles and it makes them heavier so they drop to the nearest surface like a floor, curtains, walls, etc. If these particles when encounters micro-organisms like viruses they chemically react with them producing harmless by-product making the air cleaner. Air Ionizer helps in improving mental wellbeing.1

Difference between Air Purifier & Air Ionizer purifiers3,5,6,7,8

One basic similarity between both of them is that they’re both air purifiers and make the surrounding air cleaner.

Air Purifiers

Pros:

  • Cleans particulate matter better so better suited for lung pathology like asthma
  • No chances of recirculation
  • Don’t have to worry about residual by products like Ozone2 or Volatile gases (produces by few ionizers)
  • Washable filters are available

Cons:

  • Periodic Filter change
  • Doesn’t cover larger space
  • Doesn’t deodorize the room
  • Costlier
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Air Ionizer

Pros:

  • Covers larger surface areas or bigger rooms (150-200sqft of area)
  • Don’t have to worry about filter change, care or cleaning so maintenance is low
  • More affordable
  • Noiseless
  • Removes on odor/smoke.

Cons:

  • Causes Lung irritation due to Ozone (avoid using if you have lung pathology)
  • Regular cleaning of room to remove the settled pollutants/ particles to avoid recirculation.
  • Some ionizers produce Ozone (FDA approved Acceptable range <0.05 ppm)10 or other volatile gases

If you’re planning to use a purifier for larger areas like office space or gym then go for combined products which have air purifiers with ionizers. Use an ionizer when it’s closed to remove the odor and avoid using it with people present in its vicinity.

No matter how it is advertised:

“ Even Minimal Amount of Ozone is not good for Health”

Best Air Purifier in Market:

[Tweet “Living Herself advocates the use of Air Purifiers over Air Ionizers.”]

CDC guidelines9 for ventilation in indoor or closed system states that HEPA filters and NON-HEPA filters aid the cleaning and purification so they should be used for better breathable air.

In this post, we’ve covered all important points and I hope that it’ll help you in choosing the right device for your home according to your requirement.

Breath Healthy Stay Healthy

Disclaimer:

This is article is for reference purposes only, under no circumstances it should be used as a replacement of medical opinion by Professionals. Any decision regarding health and health care should be taken after professional advice only. Health care advice and information shared by the author are best to her knowledge. We disclaim all responsibilities for any inadvertent omission/ commission by the author or the website.

References:

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6213340/
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7595067/
  3. https://www.healthline.com/health/what-does-an-ionizer-do#types-of-ionizers
  4. https://burge.co.in/
  5. https://www.livescience.com/air-purifiers-vs-ionizers
  6. https://fox8.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/air-ionizers-vs-air-purifiers-which-should-you-buy/
  7. https://molekule.science/ionizer-air-purifiers-everything-you-need-to-know/
  8. https://skyonic.com/are-ionizers-safe/
  9. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilation.html
  10. https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/what-are-ionizers-and-other-ozone-generating-air-cleaners

Featured Image Courtesy Google

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