Air Purification Systems: Which Type Is Best for Your Home?

Does your home smell kind of musty? Does it feel stuffy? Do you tend to deal with a lot of dust? Does anyone in your household suffer from indoor allergy symptoms? If any of these situations sound familiar, it’s high time you start thinking about improving your indoor air quality.

How can you do that? Getting an air purification system is a great place to start. Which type of air purifier is right for your home? Read on to learn about the different types of air purification systems, how they work, and which households they’re best suited to.

Mechanical Filter Air Purifiers

Ever heard of HEPA filters? Air purifiers that rely on these pleated filters are proven to trap 99.97% of airborne particles that pass through the filter and are at least 0.3 microns in diameter. How big is 0.3 microns? About 200 times smaller than the diameter of a single human hair.

Who should get this type of air purifier? HEPA filters don’t help improve odors or trap gases, so they’re best for people who are only concerned about removing particulate matter from their indoor air.

Activated Carbon Air Purifiers

Air purifiers that feature activated carbon filters are capable of neutralizing odor-causing airborne molecules and some gases, but they don’t trap airborne particles. As such, not many air purification devices contain activated carbon only. Rather, most units that feature carbon filters also have some type of pleated filter designed to capture particulate matter.

Who’s this type of air purifier best for? People looking to freshen up their indoor air while simultaneously tackling airborne dust and allergens. Look for HEPA filtration if you want the best defense against airborne microbes too.

Check out how duct cleaning can help eliminate household odors too.

Ultraviolet Air Purifiers

Air purification devices that feature UV lamps are designed to kill airborne viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores using ultraviolet radiation. UV-only air purifiers are small devices that can fit just about anywhere inside a home, and while they’re great for destroying pathogens, they can’t trap any particulate matter at all. That’s why many air purifiers that feature UV lamps also feature HEPA filters and/or carbon filters to further improve indoor air quality.

Who should get this type of air purifier? Anyone concerned about airborne pathogens. If you really want to clean up your indoor air, opt for a unit that features a HEPA filter too.

Ionic Air Purifiers

These air purifiers are remarkably quiet devices that work by distributing negative ions into the air. When those ions interact with positively charged airborne particles (like dust, dander, and pollen), they bond to them, making them dense and heavy enough to sink to the floor.

Some models also trap airborne particles to a metal plate in their interior via an electrostatic precipitator. These units are capable of trapping just about anything, including dust, debris, pathogens, and odors.

Who should get this device? Ionic purifiers are most commonly portable units that must be situated throughout the home, so they can be a good choice for anyone who really wants to improve their indoor quality.

Whole-House Air Purification Systems

Whole-house air purification devices are integrated into the HVAC system and clean all of the air that passes through the air supply path of the ductwork. These devices typically feature some combination of HEPA filters, ionization, UV lamps, and carbon filters, so they’re an excellent solution for cleaning up any home’s air.

Who should get this type of air purifier? Anyone who’d seriously like to improve their indoor air quality and keep it that way. But you’ll need to have a pretty substantial air purifier budget as these units can run you several thousand dollars.

Improve Your Indoor Air Quality With Dust Doctors

Ready to discover what an air purification system can do for your indoor air quality? Get in touch with our team at Dust Doctors to discuss your options! We specialize in a wide variety of services designed to help Twin Cities residents clean up their indoor air and have proudly served Little Canada, MN, and the surrounding areas for more than a decade.

To learn more about how we can help you improve your indoor air quality, give us a call today at 651-319-9777 or request a quote online, and we’ll reach out with more information.