Introduction
Many home cleaners make dependable claims that they address health issues related to poor indoor air quality. But the extent to which this is actual needs to be considered. With the advent of diseases like COVID-19 and SARS that spread through droplet infection, the use and knowledge of portable air purifiers have gained prominence. This article deals with the benefits and shortcomings of portable air purifiers.
What Is an Air Purifier?
A portable air-purifying device is intended for cleaning and filtering the air in a single room, not the entire house. Central systems can effectively purify air in the house adjoining the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Most portable air purifiers available in the market can filter particles and gases. However, one filter alone can not carry out the entire job effectively. Hence, several filters trap contaminants and circulate fresh air into the room.
What Are the Three Types of Indoor Air Pollutants?
The three types of indoor air pollutants are particle air pollutants, gaseous air pollutants, and biological air pollutants.
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Particle Air Pollutants: The most dangerous particles are those that are small enough to hang around the air in the room for a long time and have the potential to be ingested. These incredibly small particles can lodge themselves in the deepest chambers of the lungs for extended periods, causing acute or chronic damage. Particle pollutants can be solids, liquids (in the form of mists), organic and inorganic substances, living creatures, and dormant species. The term ‘particle’ refers to the size of the pollutant. According to the U.S EPA (United States Environment Protection Agency), exposure to these tiny particles has the potential for a wide range of seriously detrimental health effects, including health effects, acute respiratory symptoms, such as painful or difficult breathing and aggravated coughing, eye, nose and throat irritation, chronic bronchitis and respiratory infections, decreased lung functions, shortness of breath and lung cancer. In addition, for those who have allergies, these incredibly small particles may carry a variety of allergens. Larger particles like pollen, molds, and animal dander might not go as deeply into the lungs, but can also cause serious and even life-threatening allergic reactions.
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Gaseous Air Pollutants: Hundreds of gaseous air pollutants have also been discovered in the indoor air. Some of these include combustion gases from tobacco smoke, heaters, and stoves, as well as from cars, whose exhaust enters the living area through adjacent garages or from outside. The health effects of exposure to gaseous pollutants, like those from particles, depend on the chemicals involved, their concentrations, the frequency and length of exposure, as well as the sensitivity of the individual. A few unfavorable health outcomes include cancer, allergic responses to asthma, eye or respiratory infections, liver damage, and impacts on the respiratory, immunological, cardiovascular, reproductive, and/or brain systems.
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Biological Air Pollutants: The indoor environment contains live organisms or has in the past. Numerous biological pollutants are found in indoor air, such as dust mites and their excrement, animal dander, cat saliva, molds, mildew, bacteria, pollen, viruses, and bacteria. These can be highly persistent in indoor air and are produced by various sources, including plants, animals, and people. Numerous harmful health impacts may result from the numerous biological contaminants in indoor air. Molds and mildews may release toxins that cause disease, and biological pollutants may also cause a variety of symptoms of general health effects, such as coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, shortness of breath, dizziness, digestive problems, fever, and lethargy. These include triggering allergic reactions and asthma attacks, spreading infectious diseases like the flu, measles, and chickenpox, and causing molds and mildew to release toxins that cause disease.
How Do Portable Air Purifiers Work?
The main purpose of air purifiers is to remove pollutants or contaminants from the air indoors. A portable air purifier can minimize or manage three main categories of air pollutants: biological, gaseous, and particle. Scientific evidence shows that indoor air has become significantly more polluted than outdoor air over the past few years. The pollutants indoors have increased steadily, with the concentrations ranging from two to five times to a drastic increase of more than a hundred times those found outdoors. The health risks posed by this contaminated indoor air may be greater than those posed by the polluted outdoor air, given that most people stay indoors about ninety percent of the time.
There are three fundamental ways to enhance indoor air quality. Source reduction, increased ventilation, and the use of air purifiers are these. Source control is the best option when there is a visible source of indoor air pollution, particularly regarding gaseous chemicals, such as a broken gas heater or indoor smoking. However, there is no way to implement source control when the issue's primary source is contaminated outdoor air. Additionally, there is no workable source control strategy for some allergies. For instance, it is nearly hard to completely eradicate dust mites, and even while the majority of doctors advise removing the family pet from the environment when a member of the household is diagnosed with pet allergies, less than 10% of families can handle the shock of such an extreme measure. Additionally, it cannot manage pollen or other naturally occurring allergen sources.
The second tactic, which calls for more or better ventilation, is sensible. Remember that the concentration of external contaminants within is one of the problems with contaminated indoor air. Opening windows and turning on fans when the weather is appropriate is a sensible way to mix indoor and outdoor air. To remove toxins and moisture from the house as they are produced, it is also smart to run properly equipped exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom.
The third approach utilizes air purifiers, commonly called portable room air cleaners. Whole house systems, often integrated into the forced air heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and portable models intended to filter the air in a single room or collection of rooms, are the categories into which air purifiers fall. Although the principles used in whole-house and portable air purifiers are essentially the same, their application may vary to meet the technological requirements of each application.
Conclusion
The use of portable air purifiers has gained prominence over the years. While it provides a means to get improved air without contamination, servicing them on time or cleaning the filters poses another additional task. If left unmaintained or without proper services, it can also cause other health hazards.
