Best Dust Removal Air Purifier
Evaluation Criteria

Looking for a dust removal air purifier ?

Whether you are looking for a dust air purifier for all-around cleaning or to give you allergy relief, we are here to help.

But, before looking at specific brands of air purifiers which will do a good job controlling dust, it is important to set some criteria of what a good dust air purifier should do, so that if you don't like our recommendation, you can always find your own dust air purifier.

So, what does the best dust removal air purifier should look like and do ?

Best Air Purifier to Remove Dust - Evaluation Criteria

First, it's safe.

When buying a dust air purifier, it is best to make sure that it's safe. In air purifier industry, safe means it does not produce unacceptable amount of ozone. It is important to understand that some types of air purifiers emit ozone, a reactive radicals which can irritate lungs, soft tissues, and our respiratory pathways. Most air purifiers are safe, according to the standard put out by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). However, even when an air purifier follows EPA standard of ozone emission, it is possible to have an air purifier which emit ozone at the above background amount. This problem is compounded if the air purifier is not used according to manufacturer's recommendation, for instance, when the air purifier is used in much smaller rooms than intended. Therefore, to be completely safe, it is prudent to buy dust air purifiers which either emit no ozone, or emit ozone below background levels.

As a rule of thumb, all HEPA filter-based air purifiers do not emit ozone. Beware of ionic air purifier, electrostatic air purifier, electronic air purifier and ozone air purifier since they (not all) usually emit some ozone.

Second, it's right for your needs - problem consideration.

It is important to have a dust removal air purifier which meets your needs. There is no use to go overboard and buying the most expensive air purifier out there if you only need it for all around cleaning and to avoid dust build up in your home. However, if you have severe allergies, or chemical sensitivity, then it's worth to buy the top-of-the-class air purifier, so that you can get the relief you deserve.

Since you want to control and eventually remove dust, let's first take a look at the dust size and what types of dust is around in our surrounding. Basically, household dust usually contains at least a few of the following nasty allergens: dust mites, fungi, mildew, insects, pollen, chemical gas (from insecticides, household cleaners, and so forth) and animal dander, with sizes ranging from 0.001-10,000 micron.

If you are not sure how big a micron is, then think of a grain of salt. It is around 60 microns in size.

Any visible dust particulates are bigger than 10 micron. Unfortunately, although we usually think dust as visible dust, those visible dust particulates, like some pollens, mold spores, industrial dust and settling particles, actually constitute only 1% of the whole household dust population.

Many air purifier users are happy enough with cheaper air purifiers when they saw the disappearance of those visible dust. But those dust are actually the minority of all household dust and dust at those sizes are easily expelled by our nose. The danger actually lies on non- visible dust with size smaller than 0.3 micron, which includes smoke particles, suspended dust particles, virus and gas molecules, because they are the most penetrating dust and can easily get and irritate our lungs. Unfortunately, the dust with the size of 0.3 micron or less constitute 90% of the whole population of dust.

Therefore, in order to remove the majority of household dust, it is important to have a dust removal air purifier which can deal with dust sized 0.3 micron or less. In order to do that, an air purifier needs to have a HEPA filter at the minimum. The true HEPA filter in a well-constructed air purifier with tight housing can filter those super small dust efficiently.

Note that we mention true HEPA filter here. This means that we do not recommend cheap air purifiers which claim to have HEPA-like or HEPA-type filters because those HEPA-like filters are not true HEPA and have lower efficiency than the true HEPA filters.

Third, it's right for your needs - room consideration.

Before buying an air purifier to remove dust, think where you would like to put that in.

Do you want to put it in a big room ?

Or small room

Living room ?

Or bedroom ?

Not only this has something to do with the air purifier capacity, but also with the noise factor. For instance, if you want to have a dust removal air purifier for your bedroom, then you will be better to get the one which is quiet, whereas the noise factor may not be that critical if you want to put the air purifier in the living room.

Capacity-wise, we think the best way to work out the air purifier capacity in regard with the room size is to use the air flow rate in cubic feet per minute for maximum speed (cfm), which is also a little bit less than the CADR or air delivery rate number (you will find CADR number in air purifiers which are tested by AHAM -Association of Home Appliance's Manufacturers). The industry standard of air change is 2 air changes per hour. But, to get the maximum effects, especially for those who suffer from serious problems, it is better to aim for 6 air change per hour.

This means, if you have a room with an 8-foot ceiling, and 250 sq feet area, you would need an air purifier with a capacity of 200 cfm or with CADR number a bit more than 200. You may be able to get away with less power if you have milder problem or if you use top-of-the line dust removal air purifier, such as: Blueair, IQAir, some models of Alen, and so forth, because their air purification efficiency for every single pass of air is very high.

Please be aware that this recommendation may not the same as manufacturer's suggestion since some manufacturers inflate the room size recommendation. Therefore, it is always wise to calculate the appropriate size yourself based on the cfm/CADR data of a particular air purifier.

To Sum Up - Best Air Purifier to Control Dust

To sum up, these are criteria to use for shopping dust removal air purifier:

• have the true HEPA filter to ensure safety and efficiency.
• the air purifier should have tight housing to prevent bypassing of dust.
• it should be appropriate for your health and room needs.

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