How to pick the right air purifier for your home
Wildfire smoke has spread southward into the United States as flames rage over Canada, covering the skies with an orange-brown haze.
In numerous areas of the northeastern United States early on Thursday, officials issued Code Maroon warnings, the highest level for air pollution hazards, due to the odd scenes.
In addition to wearing a mask, staying indoors and upgrading your home’s HVAC filters, you can try a portable air purifier, also known as an air cleaner, to reduce hazardous pollutants inside your home.
Here’s what you should look for in an air purifier.
How do air purifiers work?
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Air purifiers are intended to remove particles, eliminate gaseous air pollutants, or eradicate germs from the air in a single area. They do this using filters or electronic air cleaners.
According to studies, the usage of portable air purifiers can lower levels of PM2.5, the small particles that make up the majority of the particles in wildfire smoke.
According to The Washington Post, the best air purifiers contain a HEPA filter and a sizable fan that can force air through a small mesh to catch particulates. Models with a carbon filter can decrease the smell of smoking indoors by absorbing pollutants.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. government has not created any standards for measuring an air cleaner’s effectiveness beyond those employed by the military. Additionally, private trade organisations develop standards.
“Standards for air cleaners now focus only on particle removal,” the EPA says. No standards assess “the comparative ability of air cleaners to remove gaseous pollutants or radon and its progeny.”
What do HEPA and MERV mean?
According to the EPA, the term “high-efficiency particulate air” (HEPA) refers to a particular kind of pleated mechanical air filter. Theoretically, these air filters can filter out more than 99.9% of airborne particles smaller than 0.3 microns. “Particles that are larger or smaller are trapped with even higher efficiency,” the EPA claims.
“Minimum efficiency reporting values,” or MERV, refers to a filter’s capacity to catch particles between 0.3 and 10 microns. The MERV rating ranged from 1 to 16. According to the EPA, the filter is better the higher the value.
How to choose the correct size for your space
Examine the clean-air delivery rate, or CADR, of the air purifier. The purifier or cleaner can filter more particles and a broader area if this number is higher, according to the EPA. The EPA recommends devices with a minimum CADR of 65 for a 100-square-foot space, assuming an eight-foot ceiling height.
The EPA recommends a minimum CADR of 130 for a 200 square foot room, a CADR of 195 for a 300 square foot room, and so on. This grows according to the surface area of the space.
Can you make your own air purifier?
Yes. Four 20-by-20-by-2-inch MERV-13 air filters, a 20-inch box fan, decent scissors, duct tape, a pen, measuring tape, and strings can all be used to create an air purifier, as The Washington Post’s Lena Sun shows above.
To begin, form your filters into a cube using duct tape, making sure the “air flow” arrows point inward. Ensure the pleats are vertical as well.
The base of the purifier should then be secured with a cardboard sheet that is the same size as the cube’s bottom. With tape, fasten the cardboard to the filters’ base.
After that, put the fan on the opposite facet of the cube (or the top of the cube). Ensure there are no gaps between the fan and the inside of the cube. Put duct tape over any gaps.
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