Compare the UV Air Cleaner from PuroAir with Ionic Air Cleaners
Many people with allergies, asthma, and chronic sinus infections wonder what is the best air cleaner to buy once they've learned that removing micro organisms such as mold spores, mites, mildew, and bacteria from their home's air can help alleviate their allergy symptoms.
Whole House vs. Individual Rooms
There are two popular, relatively inexpensive varieties of air cleaners that most people become familiar with. One type is the Ultraviolet or UV home air cleaner, such as PuroAir's air cleaner, which easily installs into your heating/air conditioning system, and the other is the stand-alone ionic air cleaners such as the Ionic Breeze or Oreck XL. UV air cleaners are well known for being used in hospitals around the world. They make use of ultraviolet light to kill micro organisms that pass through the ventilation system—this is the same sort of technology that many hospitals employ to sterilize instruments used in surgery. Ionic air purifiers have become popular through massive marketing campaigns such as those by the home novelties store, The Sharper Image. These ionic cleaners can be moved from living room to bedroom to kitchen—or where ever one may want to deal with airborne irritants. Ionic air cleaners are well suited for removing odor-type irritants such as cigar and cigarette smoke.
Kill Airborne Microbes
UV home air cleaners are designed to kill microbes. Once installed, all air that moves through your ventilation system is exposed to the light emitted from the UV cleaner. This system is proven effective at eliminating up to 99.9% of pathogens, bacteria, viruses, and mold spores that contribute to allergy problems and asthma. Since it is installed in you home's ventilation system, a single unit efficiently cleans the air that reaches all rooms of your house. UV systems also have the benefit of keeping your air conditioning coils free from mold and other allergens that tend to build up in that location, thereby adding to the long-term efficiency of your AC unit.
Eliminate Odors
Ionic air purifiers function by producing ions that attach to particulates in the vicinity of the air cleaner, which then weigh the particulate down to the floor or horizontal surface below. While this doesn't kill the micro organisms associated with allergies, the odor eliminating side effect is much heralded. Ionizing air cleaners are known for producing ozone which is responsible for the unique smell you get during and after a lighting storm). While there is, however, substantial debate about whether indoor ozone laden air is actually a healthy environment or not, nothing has been proven one way or the other, so these products continue to be readily available in stores and online.
Whole House Allergy Relief
Your choice of which type of home air cleaner is best depends on your needs and on your budget. Since expensive HEPA filter systems are out of the budgetary range of many consumers (and even these have a hard time matching the efficiency of UV systems at destroying allergy-aggravating micro organisms), many with serious allergy problems look for an easy-to-install UV home air cleaner such as the PuroAir System. Those with other needs might find that an ionizer may be just what they need.