If you want to reduce the dust in your home, office or school air purifiers can certainly help. Ordering one might not keep you from needing housekeeping, but it will protect your health by reducing your contact with airborne respiratory irritants. Not all air purifiers are equipped to the same degree for dust management. If dust is your major concern then there are a few filter types and air change purifiers that you should keep on your radar. Keep reading for details on what will aid in your journey to dust free air.
Is Dust Unhealthy or Unattractive?
Most air purifiers operate by drawing air in and passing it through a filter, to return purified air to the space. This process will trap any dust or airborne particles. The size of dust matters. Large dust particles will likely still collect around your space despite having an air purifier. Due to their weight, heavy dust particles will not stay airborne and will fall to the ground. This unsightly accumulation of debris is unattractive but not harmful to our health.
Dangerous dust that can affect the air you breathe, is the ultra fine dust particles and powders invisible to the naked eye. These are also called respirable crystalline silica (RCS) or just silica dust. Silica dust is small enough to stay airborne and be inhaled. Once in our airways they become trapped in the lungs causing pulmonary irritation and possibly grave health effects. So if you purchase an air purifier yet still have noticeable dust, do not fear! Air purifiers allow you to clean the air you breathe and protect yourself from excessive silica dust build up in your lungs. Unfortunately, an air purifier unit will not eliminate the chore of dusting although it may reduce it.
Not all Filters are created Equal
If you are looking to target dust and airborne irritants, HEPA filters are what you need operating in your unit! HEPA stands for high-efficiency particulate air. This filter type, defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are those that remove 99.9% of airborne particles with filters that measure as small as 0.3 microns. As the indoor air is brought into the unit the unseen irritants that lead to asthma and allergies are trapped within the ultra fine filters and dust-free air is brought into the space. We recommend units with larger HEPA filters to trap a large range of particle sizes. Having coarser filters before HEPA filters are reached will prolong the function of the finer, inner filters. Air purifiers such as the Ideal Pro, Amaircare 3000 HEPA, and Airpura I600 contain larger quality HEPA filters.
Keep the Air Moving
When looking for air purifiers that are great at dust management air change is an important factor. Air change refers to how many times a unit can filter the air in a room within an hour. An air purifier unit with 2 air changes per hour is able to clean all the air in the room twice every 60 minutes. It is recommended that those who suffer from asthma or serious allergies should have 4 or more air changes per hour per a given space, meaning all the air in a room is cleaned at least every 15 minutes. Providing this circulation is necessary as new airborne irritants are constantly introduced.
And how is dust introduced so frequently? Well it is us actually! The main content of dust is our dead skin cells! As our skin sheds it collects with dust mites, other dead particles (from insects for example), pollen, bacteria, etc. to form dust. Some units that are great at dust management are the Field Controls TRIO Plus HEPA Portable Air Purifier and the Field Controls TRIO Pro HEPA Portable Air Purifier.
Remember
For airborne dust filtration the best option are air purifying units that have quality HEPA filters. The more air changes the better! Also, units with primarily activated carbon, although they help remove chemicals and gaseous pollutants, their strength is not airborne particles. If you are looking to hone-in-on dust, units with primarily activated carbon are not the key solution: HEPA is. If you want chemical reduction with particle removal, then a HEPA and Carbon unit is recommended like Austin Air Healthmate or Allerair Pro 5 Exe.