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Will an air purifier help
QUESTION:I hadn't suffered from asthma since a child (now 50s) but we got a cat some
months ago and I'm getting progressively wheezier.
We're fond of the cat and don't want to get rid of it unless absolutely
necessary. I don't really want to take medication. Would an air purifier
help? If so what models are recommended (in in the UK).
ANSWER: "Air filter" usually refers to what you put into your furnace,
air-conditioning system, or sometimes the vents in your home to
filter the air. This can range from the typical disposable
cardboard-and-fiberglass filter, (maybe 8% efficient on a good
day), to deep-pleated media filters, (roughly 60% to 90%
efficiency down to around 1.0 - 0.5 microns), to the full-size
electronic air cleaner,(far and away the most efficient, but they
tend to emit some ozone). The central HEPA systems, because of
their design, tend to be a waste of money, unfortunately.
"Air purifier" or "air cleaner" (same thing) is normally a
stand-alone unit used to filter the air in a single room. Air
purifiers with HEPA filters are the "standard". A true HEPA
filter will retain 99.97% of all particles introduced into it,
right down to 0.3 microns in particle size. Other filtered air
purifiers are available with less efficient filters. Other
devices which claim to be "air purifiers" are ionizers, (horribly
ineffecient, and they emit ozone), and ozone generators, (stay
away from them, they toss tons of ozone into the air you
breathe).
By the way, don't change your furnace filter too often.
Disposable furnace filters actually become more efficient the
dirtier they are. Sounds weird, but: as the filter collects
dust, etc., the holes in the filter which allow air through
become progressively more plugged-up the dirtier the filter is.
This is good because as the holes in the filter become smaller,
the easier it is for the filter to retain smaller particles.
However, it will reach a point where it starts to restrict the
airflow through the furnace. This is not good; it makes older
furnace work much harder, using more energy. Newer furnaces tend
to have a safety switch which will shut the furnace down if the
airflow gets too restricted. Keep an eye on the filter and
change it when it's disgustingly dirty. In some homes this might
be 4 weeks, in others it might be 4 months.
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