Are you thinking about purchasing an air cleaner and wondering what an ionizer in air purifier is? Or what it does?
Or do you have an air purifier with an ionizer and wondering how to use it or even if you should?
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What does an ionizer do on an air purifier?
The ionizer on an air purifier helps clean the air by clumping together particles that are too small to be caught in a HEPA filter.
Though HEPA filters are engineer to capture particulates a small is .03 microns, other particles like viruses range in the size of .05 microns which is to small to be caught in a HEPA filter.
And ionizer will add an electric charge to the smaller particles that will cause them to bind together and become large enough to be filtered out.
Best Ionizer Air Purifier?
Not all ionizers are the same nor do they work at the same level.
The purpose of some ion air purifiers is essentially to polarize the air so that the particles in the air bind together and become to heavy to float and fall out of your breathing space.
But other types of ionizers are more sophisticated and actually do more to disinfect the air.
The best Ionizers employ photocatalytic oxidation and/or bipolar ionization
because they produce ions that can actually leave viruses inactive.
Do ionizers really work?
Among the most beneficial benefits of how an ionizer works is the effect that it can have on:
- Bacteria and viruses reduction
- Mood enhancement and anti-depressant
- Static electricity
Bacterial suppression
According to one study , negative and positive ions react to form hydroxyls. Hydroxyls that render virion (virus particles) inactive.
In other words ionizers effectively reduce bacteria as well as helping the HEPA filter capture it.
Antidepressant
Believe it or not , there are studies that show that negative ions can actually help with depression. As it turns out there’s much more to getting outside and getting a breath of fresh air.
The gloomy are inside is actually the overabundance of positive ions.
Adding negative ions to a room is a way of balancing the overall mix of ions in the room and lightning the atmosphere.
Static electricity
Static electricity can be more than an annoyance. high enough levels can actually cause a dangerous shock.
It can also make your electronic device’s act screwy.
Ionizers are a great way of balancing out the ions in a room and reducing the
level of sparking in the atmosphere.
Ionizer air purifier side effects.
Some people want to know if air ionizers really work.
Yes they do really work and they have quite a few advantages ,
but for all their pros, they do have their cons.
If you ask some people, they may say yes they really work,
they really work at making everything dusty. Ha ha.
That is because dusty surfaces are one of the main side effects you can expect when using an ion air purifier.
Not only are the newly-formed particles that the ion machine is helping create extra heavy, they are also polarized.
That means they are going to be attracted to any surface with an opposite charge. Walls and television screens are the big items that get it the worst.
It’s important to keep your ionizer clean because you’ll find that the air purifier itself is one of the things that gets the dustiest.
And when it’s covered in dust, the amount of ions that can be emitted from the machine will be very minimal.
If you’re using a PCO ionizer, the catalyst on the ionizer so can be very fragile. So consider cleaning it with a can of air rather than dusting it off with a rag or brush.
Another side effect of ion air purifiers is ozone.
You can’t get around it.
Ozone is harmful to breathe in high levels and can even oxidize lung tissue when you were exposed to long to it.
Because of the way that ions are manufactured in an air machine, there is going to be a low level of ozone created with it as a byproduct.
Though the level is low. And usually below the federal limit of .05 ppm,
Ozone can still build up. And though the level of ozone may not be noticeable in a hundred square feet, the same air purifier in the bathroom would be Overkill.
The easiest way to get around being exposed to Ozone in an air purifier, even if it is just a low-level, is to approach the ionizer like an air treatment.
The type of air purifier that is best ran when there is no one around and left to dissipate.
That is the way that an actual ozone generator would be ran and since there is a low level of ozone being generated with ionized air, it makes sense to give the ionizer the same consideration.
The ionizer in air purifier is a tremendous piece of equipment that can do multiple things like.
1.Help a HEPA filter clean even smaller particulars from the air.
2.Reduce bacteria and viruses by rendering them inactive
3.Aid in alleviating depression. And make the atmosphere feel lighter.
4.Reduce static electricity by balancing the level of positive and negative ions in a room.
But for all the good use you can get out of an ionizer there are some side effects that are annoying and even be considered dangerous.
They can be annoying because even though they leave your air cleaner and easier to breathe, they also leave your surfaces dusty.
Because of the way ionizers bind particles together and polarize them,
The surfaces around and including the air cleaner tend to get very dusty.
The other annoyance and one that may be considered dangerous under the right circumstances is the fact that they create a low level of ozone as a byproduct.
Using your ionizer air purifier in the proper square footage that it is designed for are approaching it more as a air treatment is the best way to get the benefits of ionized air without experiencing any of the negative consequences of being exposed to too much ozone.
