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Even though
there are so many different HEPA air cleaners they all
basically work the same.
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Air is drawn
into the air cleaner from 1 to several entry points. Air
cleaners that only have 1 entry point can be put up
aginst a wall however those that pull air from several
differnt points must be kept at least 6" from the wall.
Any one who tries to tell you their air cleaner does not
have a motor is trying to sell you an ionizer.
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Air then
goes through some type of pre-filter to remove the
larger particles like dust, pet hair, lint, etc. these
pre-filters usually are made from some sort of polyester
filter media. Some air cleaners use a 2nd pre-filter to
capture even smaller particles.
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Now the air
goes through a carbon based filter. Carbon absorbs 100's
of chemicals and VOCs as well as gets rid of odors.
Several, AirPura and AllerAir, of the manufactures can
custom mix the carbon to match specific needs. A natural
mineral called Zeolite is used in carbon beds because it
helps in the absorbtion of various odors and gasses.
Some of the manufactures use carbon impregnated cloth
instead of activated carbon. It is effective in
controlling some odors, like pet odor, and makes the
machine much lighter.
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Now here is
where manufactures add extra purification to some of
their air cleaners. Hunter for example adds an ionizer,
AllerAir adds UV to some models and Airpura adds a
photo-catalytic oxidizer to their top of the line air
cleaner.
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Finally the
air is drawn through the HEPA filter. These filters may
be round, flat or curved in shape. In order for a filter
to be called HEPA is has to pass very strict test and
filter 99.97% efficiency down to 0.3 microns.
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After
passing through all these steps of filtration the air is
then blown back in to the room being cleaned. You want
an air cleaner that blows the air out from the top and
not the floor. Some units blow air out the bottom and
stir up the dirt on the floor. Manufacture claims that
is a good thing because it gets the particles in the air
so they can now be filtered.
Examples
Hunter HEPAtech ™ System
Works:
1. Whisper-Quiet Hunter®
Fan draws air into air purifier.
2. Pre-Filter removes large
dust particles, lint, and hair from the dirty air.
3. Sub-Micron Filter
captures airborne particles as small as .1 microns from the
air that passes through the filter.
4. Activated Charcoal Filter
absorbs and helps eliminate cooking odors, musty air,
tobacco odors, and pet related odors as it freshens the air.
5. Ionizer distributes
negative ions throughout the room to enhance the cleaning
process (available on selected models only).
6. Effective Airflow Design
exhausts clean air back into the room from the top to avoid
stirring up settled particles.
Austin Air Healthmate Series
IQAir HealthPro® Compact Air
Cleaner
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Micro-particle
filtration
Eliminates micro-particles such as pollen, pet
dander and mold spores.
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HyperHEPA®
filtration
Eliminates bacteria, viruses and combustion
particles from automobiles and smoke, through a
nano-fiber structure. IQAir's patented HyperHEPA
filters are certified to remove 99.5% of all
particulate down to 0.003 microns in size.
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