Three Most Common Devices for Indoor Air Purifiers

• Ultraviolet Technology

As a rule, UV technology is used in combination with the particulate filter systems for the reason that is cannot get rid of airborne particles. Still, it’s a great method to kill various viruses and bacteria. Air purifiers that are using this UV technology are equipped with a UV lamp that destroys microorganisms.

A UV air purifier converts water and oxygen molecules found in the indoor air indo hydroxyl and ozone. The active molecules react with the indoor air pollutants and destroy them into the elements like carbon dioxide and water. Ozone is not required for the process of cleaning and a quality UV air purifier must be able to eliminate ozone. UV technology filter effectiveness usually depends on the wattage of the light, as well as the period of exposure to the light.

Even though UV technology is highly effective at killing bacteria and viruses, it’s recommended to use it with a filter system ahead of the lamps. If there’s no filter system, a lot of microorganisms get shaded from the light. That is why the majority of air purifiers with UV technology start by filtering the indoor air with HEPA and use the UV as the finishing of filtration.

• Negative Ion Air Purifiers

This type of indoor air purifiers uses chemical injections for air purification. Being a natural particle, an ion has either negative or positive charge. The particles get the charge by either losing or gaining an election. Simply atoms of oxygen that gain an election are called negative ions. Just like magnets, they attract airborne particles such as dust and pollen till the moment, when a newly-born particle becomes too heavy for the air. That is why the articles drops and gets attached to the other solid item in the living area, such as a room wall or a window.

The fact is that this technology is less effective than the other ones employed in air purification. Unfortunately, this type of products cannot absorb or dispose of the indoor air harmful contaminants.

What the negative ion does is simply taking the airborne particles out of the indoor air and carrying them on to the solid items in a room instead of totally removing them. Once the particles are stuck to the solid surfaces, they can become loose and re-swirl back into the indoor air. Thus, this type of an air purifier hasn’t removed the airborne particles that can pollute the air again.

• Ozone Air Purifiers 

The purifiers of this type intentionally generate ozone. Even though the majority of homeowners are more than sure that these devices are effective and 100% safe, health experts haven’t approved using these products. The point is that exposure to the gas ozone can worsen the symptoms of asthma and even scar the lungs.

There’s a great variety of ozone air purifiers brands available within the market, and the models of the devices usually vary in the amount of the gas ozone they can generate. A lot of chemicals that happen to be found in indoor air require years for the gas to react. This makes the ozone air purifiers less effective. What is more, ozone cannot eliminate particles such as pollen and dust so most of the models of ozone air purifiers have negative ion technology that, as it’s been already mentioned, only masks the air.

According to the most recent studies, ozone air purifiers can slow down some of the biological agents; however, they are not able to perform 100% cleaning of the air.