Beautiful and happy middle-aged couple buying consumer tech products in modern home appliances store. They are choosing and trying air purifier and air conditioner. People and consumerism concept.
When you start looking for an air purifier for an indoor space, you might realize that there’s quite a bit of jargon around this industry.
There are acronyms for metrics, model names and numbers, manufacturer labels, and much more.
In the mix, you might come across something called AHAM.
What does this mean?
What is the AHAM?
The AHAM is a trade association for makers of household appliances.
What appliances does it cover? The AHAM’s jurisdiction is broad: it covers items like refrigerators and freezers, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers. In modern kitchens, the AHAM reviews ranges/ovens & microwaves, and food-waste disposers. There’s also a focus on room A/C and dehumidifiers. And also: the AHAM evaluates air purifiers.
What Does the AHAM Do?
For air purifiers, the AHAM maintains its own directory of air purifiers up to a certain consumer standard. It considers and enforces performance standards like ANSI and participates in testing processes.
One thing that the AHAM does for air purifiers involves its own testing regimen, where it determines the clean air delivery rate (CADR) for a particular appliance.
As an ANSI-accredited standards developer, AHAM is accredited by that office to develop voluntary consensus standards. These can be approved as American National Standards, which means that AHAM’s procedures meet openness, balance, consensus, and due-process requirements. AHAM also writes test/performance methods that can be labelled ‘ANSI/AHAM.’
AHAM’s CADR means that the trade organization itself has used its independent labs to verify a model’s efficacy.
AHAM also publishes guidance for shoppers, and recommendations for sizing and placement of air purifiers, to get the required result in a particular size and shape of indoor space.
Space and Efficacy Concerns
Why is this important?
Well, you might think that CADR is just a flat rating for cubic footage. But think about whether that footage is long and narrow, like a hallway, or square like a room. What if that footage is partitioned, leading to very different kinds of airflow? That’s going to affect the relative metrics of air purification in a big way. And what if the room is high-ceilinged, so that much of the cubic space is tall rather than wide or broad? Thinking critically about air flow is important, and having this more detailed research is very useful for people who are evaluating modern air purifier appliances.
In some ways, it’s sort of like what you might encounter with a dehumidifier or other air handler. How much will the machine work on the indoor air in a space? That has a lot to do with how the air moves through the room or area, how walls and doors are positioned, etc. For air purifiers, there’s another factor, too – how pervasive or “heavy” the contamination is, and what types of particles, including PM 2.5, the system is dealing with.
Some modern machines have this pretty well figured out, in that they will increase or decrease activity automatically depending on particles that are existing in the air. These machines have sensors built in to measure air pollution levels. So they can adapt to this challenge in real time! You can see how valuable this is when dealing with air quality over a longer time frame. For example, some government agencies warn people to increase air handling around a particular event. Those who have dynamic models may end up being ahead of these directives!
In any case, AHAM is an important informative resource for consumers when it comes to preserving indoor air quality.
Independent Ratings
AHAM also provides data to the U.S. EnergyStar energy efficiency program. EnergyStar is a system by which the U.S. federal government rates household appliances for energy efficiency.
Here’s where it gets confusing, though – an appliance can be AHAM certified without being EnergyStar. And it can be EnergyStar certified without being AHAM verified. So it’s important to check both of these standards independently, even though AHAM works with EnergyStar in developing its evaluations.
AHM ‘Verifide’
You’ll notice on air purifier packaging and labeling that AHAM ‘Verifide’ is spelled differently than the word “verified” otherwise would be in normal writing.
That’s a branding thing – showing that the AHAM standard is its own independent one, and that the trade association has verified on its own that a particular appliance is up to par.
More on Choosing Air Purifiers
Shoppers can take a look at metrics like CADR and air changes per hour or ACH for their units. They can consider whether a particular model has a HEPA grade filter, activated carbon, multiple filters or UV light technology. Those are some of the most common modern tools for getting what you want out of an air purifier unit.
US Air Purifiers LLC can help you to cleanse your indoor air, and get a better result with modern technology that fights air pollution where it lives – and where you live, too! Make an investment in your health and the health of your family, to breathe easier all day and all night.