Ionic Air Purifier - Effective or Bum? by Lesley Chew

If you are suffering from allergies, you probably know that you need to keep your home as allergens free as possible. The common air-borne allergens include pet/animal dander, pollen spores, mold and mildew. To eliminate these allergens at home, you will definitely need an air purifier. Air purifiers are broadly categorized into 3 types, ionic, HEPA and ultraviolet. Choosing one of these three is the key to eliminating the allergens that are making you crazy. However, to understand which air purifier system to purchase, you must understand how air purifiers work.

So how does ionic air purifier work? Here in this article we will briefly discuss on its basic principles and what are the disadvantages and advantages.

Ionic air purifiers, also called ionizers, are built with negative ion generators. These generators continually send out a stream of negative ions. Negative ions are atoms or molecules that have lost an electron. These negative ions are attracted to the positive airborne particles in the air. As a result, the negative ions join with the positive particles in the air. This causes the particles in the ionic air to become heavy. Eventually, they fall to the floor because of their own weight. This removes all sorts of particles from the air.

Thus an ionic air purifier uses electricity to charge the spores and dust particles in the air. Based on the principles, those particles then are either drawn into a collection plate inside the air purifiers or drop to the surfaces in your home.

If there is a collection plate inside your ionic air purifier, you must wipe down the air purifier's plate regularly. Remember that these plates need to be cleaned regularly in order for the air purifier to be effective.

If there is not, you must vacuum and dust daily to remove those allergens from your home. This is because nearly all surfaces in a room are positively charged. Therefore, the particles falling from the ionic air are attracted to the room's surfaces and regular activity in the room can easily stir the particles back up. As a result, the harmful particles are put back into the air. Besides, the area around the ionic air purifier tends to get dark and dirty.

In May of 2005, Consumer Reports published a study about ionic air purifiers. According to their research, ionic air purifiers failed to clean the air. In addition, they found that they could actually add harmful levels of ozone to the air. Unfortunately, high levels of ozone are toxic. In fact, it has been proven to damage the lungs and the respiratory tract.

So if you want to keep you air healthy, an ionic air purifier is probably not the best answer. In fact, your goal shouldn't be to clean the air after it becomes unhealthy. Instead, take steps to keep the air healthy in the first place. One way to do this is to get rid of carpets and rugs, which collect and hold harmful pollutants.

In general, an ionic air purifier system can work well, but air purifier maintenance can be trying. If you have allergies, cleaning the collection plate of dust and pollen can be a real hassle. However, alternatives like HEPA Filter System and Ultraviolet System air purifiers maybe better for you.

Author Resource: Lesley Chew is a successful webmaster and publisher of a website on Air Purifier.
Visit her site to find out more about air purifiers.

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