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Here's a question from a reader:
"Will an air purifier help with my allergies?"
This largely depends on what you're allergic to, but generally
an air cleaner can pick up a number of allergens that cover a wide range of
what people have reactions to. HEPA air purifiers, one of the common types,
get that name because they pick up things as small as .3 microns. Many of the
common allergens, like mold, dust mites, pollen from most plants, and dander
from pets are larger than that and will be picked up by an air purifier. So if
you have an allergy caused by breathing in one of these, you've got a shot at
improving your allergies with an air cleaner. Another big one is cigarette
smoke, which they are also pretty effective at dealing with.
There are a couple things to keep in mind, though, because it's not going to
be perfect. In fact, some people will show no improvement at all. Here's why:
1) Some people are more sensitive than others to a particular allergen. All
you can do in terms of air quality is reduce the amount of allergens in the
air - but if you're especially sensitive, you'll still be having reactions
even to the lower levels.
2) Some allergens, like dust mites, get into things like carpet and drapes and
are easily disturbed. An air cleaner does not work instantly. It takes at
least 15 minutes or so to cycle the air through the room and clean stuff out.
Something as simple as walking around on your carpet or laying on your bed can
kick up allergens and cause an allergic reaction before it can be cleaned out.
3) Most air purifiers only clean a single medium-sized room. You either need
to cover your whole house or put it where you spend the most time.
4) If you aren't allergic to something you're breathing in, you obviously
won't be helped.
On balance, they're a good idea. You're going to improve the air quality in
your home, and even when I've run very cheap brands I've always seen tons of
junk collecting in the filter. You'd be breathing all that in otherwise. If
you aren't sure about it, you might try getting a cheap throw-away brand and
see what happens. You can get them as low as $40 or so. It won't be the
highest quality, but even the junky ones clean a lot of stuff out of the air
and will let you get an idea of whether it helps. You can try one of the
higher end ones later and move the cheap one off to a room you don't use as
often. Here's an example of one of the cheap ones:
If you have a question you'd like answered, send us an e-mail.
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