Do Air Purifiers Remove Odors

Unpleasant smells and odors create discomfort in our homes, offices, and indoor surroundings. To have a pleasant, clean, and healthy environment you should consider getting an air purifier for your home. Today air pollution is becoming a menace to our society. When it comes to indoor pollution, individuals are left to handle it by themselves. Inhaling bad odors can be harmful to your health. This is where air purifiers come in to enhance a pleasant and healthy environment.

What Are Air Purifiers?

Air purifiers are devices that clean and sanitize the air in a room by removing contaminants from it. Air purifiers do not just eliminate dust and allergens alone but also smells and odors.

Benefits Of Air Purifiers

Air purifiers are highly beneficial in the following ways:

• Get rid of air pollutants
• Act as an odor remover
• Sanitize air of allergens and toxins
• Beneficial to asthmatics and allergy sufferers
• Create a healthy environment for good sleep and breathing
• Trap and filter particles thereby reducing the chances of airborne diseases like the common cold and the flu
• Can increase life expectancy

How To Maintain A Healthy Home

Air purifiers may not do much if you don’t take precautions and other steps when it comes to cleaning your home. To have good results from an air purifier you must maintain cleaner air in your home by doing the following:

• Do not smoke inside the house
• Ventilate your home by opening windows and using fans when it is safe to do so
• Change the air filter regularly, every 30 to 90 days
• Clean rugs, carpets, and furniture often
• Wash bedding and curtains weekly
• Throw out garbage and trash daily
• Bathe pets frequently and dispose of their waste immediately
• Use disinfectant cleaners to clean surfaces
• Vacuum often, especially with a vacuum that comes with a HEPA-certified bag
• Minimize the use of candles, kerosene lamps, and wood fires
• Use an exhaust fan in the kitchen immediately after cooking your meals and before preheating the oven and leave it running for a few minutes

What Type Of Odor Do Air Purifiers Remove?

Air purifiers can help tackle contaminants and impurities like tobacco smoke, pet odors, cooking smells, gas and chemical odors, garbage disposal, carpet smell, trash can smell, pesticides, and fire retardant.

Do Air Purifiers Remove Odors?

Yes, they can remove odors to a great extent. Odors can be removed slightly but not significantly according to research done. There is no reliable information that supports air purifiers as being generally efficient odor removers but they help to improve the overall indoor air quality in the environment.

What Air Purifier To Use?

Various types of air purifiers fit in your household. Choosing the right air purifier should be taken into consideration as not all act as an odor remover. Air purifiers can contain one or more filters and a fan. They suck in contaminants and disperse clean air back into the room. Air purifiers have various types such as HEPA, activated carbon, UV light, ozone generators, and electrostatic precipitators. The best air purifier for odor must contain effective carbon filters.

Some air purifiers come with a combination of carbon filters and High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) which usually makes them more effective in trapping tiny particles that produce smells. Odors are comprised of airborne chemicals which are made up of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). These compounds may be harmful to human health.

How Can Air Purifiers Remove Odors?

Air purifiers work by filtering particles that cause odor. Carbon air filters work effectively when they are activated. They are activated by heating charcoal to a very high temperature. With the temperature raised, all the elements and compounds that were bound with carbon atoms are made free for trapping odors and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the air.

The process of trapping odors is called adsorption. Adsorption occurs when molecules attach to the outside of a surface then get soaked in. A porous activated carbon/ charcoal becomes very efficient for use as it increases the amount of surface space available for contaminants to land as air passes through.

The more porous the activated carbon is, the more odors are trapped and the more activated the carbon in a filter, the more contaminants it will catch and the faster it will adsorb.

How Effective Are They?

The effectiveness of air purifiers depends on a lot of factors to be considered. This includes the lifespan of the filter, the number of impurities in the air, the ventilation, and the entire size of your home. For an activated carbon filter, the amount of carbon stored in the filter and the weight and thickness of the air filter is a determinant of its effectiveness.

The Disadvantage Of Activated Carbon Air Purifier

Despite the good job the activated carbon filter does, it also has its downsides. The carbon can become saturated due to temperature or humidity which results in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) being released back into the atmosphere. This is known as off-gassing. For more effectiveness, go for carbon filtration with a higher weight of carbon and ensure to replace filters when saturation occurs to prevent off-gassing as it may still occur despite the weight and thickness of the filter.

Should I Buy An Air Purifier?

It is important to note that an air purifier will not free your home of allergens and bad smells. Air purifiers are not known to cure or alleviate any health allergies, asthma, or respiratory symptoms. Before you buy one, consider how the furnishings, ventilation, and any other indoor pollutants in your home affect you. But getting an air purifier will be good for you if you are suffering from asthma, are prone to allergies, and if a smoker is living in your home.

Conclusion

Living in a home with an unpleasant smell has an impact on our health. Air purifiers keep the home fresh and increase the air quality. Consider getting a good air purifier that removes odors today.