How Does an Air Purifier Work?
Air purifiers enjoy widespread popularity today because they help combat indoor air pollution. Many people associate environmental problems with the outdoors, yet sometimes the biggest threats to health and safety exist right inside the home. Let us help you with our air quality services.
The Problem of Indoor Air Pollution
The United States Environmental Protection Agency lists indoor air pollution as one of the top five environmental health risks. Many sources of these contaminants exist, including some relatively common ones.
Today, manufacturers use a wide array of chemicals and many home surfaces over time exude gaseous air pollutants, such as formaldehyde (often used in fabric treatments in furniture, especially in manufactured housing).
Additionally, natural contaminants such as viruses, bacteria, pollen and dust particles typically enter residential air supplies. Cigar and cigarette second hand smoke and pet and cooking odors all function as environmental pollutants in homes, as well.\
How Air Purifiers Work
Air purifiers work by removing as many contaminants as possible from the immediate environment. The EPA recommends eliminating or controlling contaminants as much as possible and ventilating the premises well. However, the agency acknowledges that sometimes climate and weather conditions frustrate ventilation efforts. Air purifiers function as an additional safeguard, an extra defense.
Frequently, central heating, air-conditioning and ventilation (HVAC) systems installed by contractors include air filtration systems designed to help purify indoor air supplies by extracting pollutants from the air.
A wide variety of technologies exist to perform this function, including systems that depend upon high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. These systems remove larger airborne particles very effectively by trapping them in filter material; they prove less effective against particles which have already settled onto surfaces as a result of gravity.
Several additional technologies can purify air with variable degrees of success. Some systems utilize ultraviolet germicidal radiation to kill biological threats, such as
bacteria and viruses, although this technology does not enjoy widespread residential use. Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) technologies sometimes combine ultraviolet lamp treatments with a catalyst that reacts with light to help remove gases from homes.
How Air Purifiers Help Protect Homes and Families
Air purifiers protect the health and safety of residents by removing contaminants in the air that may cause allergies, discomfort of even illnesses. Asthma sufferers and people prone to allergic reactions especially appreciate air purification.
These systems can also eliminate many noxious odors, such as second hand smoke and pet and cooking smells that distract from a pleasant residential environment.
Want the fresh purified air in your St. Michael home? Call B & D Plumbing, Heating & A/C at (763) 497-2290 and breathe in the purified air you deserve.