A desktop air purifier helps you to enhance the quality of air in your surroundings. If you’re looking for the ideal air purifier for your home or office, there are numerous considerations to consider prior to purchasing your preferred device.
Do You Need an Air Purifier for Your Office?
A national survey conducted by Klepeis et al. in 2001, the average American will spend more than 87% of their overall time indoors either at the office, at home, or even in public buildings such as institutions of higher learning. It’s important to understand that the quality of indoor air can be more than 5 times contaminated compared to outdoor air. Lack of ventilation and adequate circulation of fresh air in the office or at home causes accumulation of contaminating particles and pathogens.
Over-exposure to these substances can cause dire health problems. These pollutants include allergens, viruses, mold, bacteria, and volatile organic compounds. The ideal method of regulating the quality of indoor air is by eradicating the source of contaminants and ensuring that the room is well aerated. However, sometimes opening your home or office windows for fresh air could be impossible.
Still, your home could have air circulation limitations perhaps as a result of a poor floor plan, or probably your home lacks enough windows for adequate air circulation. In such a case, many people are likely to embark on research to establish the best air cleaning gadgets such as air conditioners and purifiers to manage and enhance the quality of their indoor air.
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What are You Searching For?
In order to establish the ideal air purifier for your office or home, you should figure out why you need the air purifier. Do you need it for the elimination of pollen? Are looking for an odor management gadget? Or are you seeking for the perfect device to destroy germs? Depending on your needs, you can choose an ionizer air purifier or a HEPA purifier.
HEPA filters utilize air circulation via a fine mesh to filter and confine small particles such as pet dander and hair, pollen, smoke, and even dust mites. This way, they allow you to breathe clean air. If you are seeking for an air purifier that will help you eliminate germs, find an air purifier that uses ultraviolet technology. It destroys even the tiniest bacteria to enhance your health and improve the quality of the air you breathe.
The size of your room should determine the size of the air purifier you purchase. Remember, each air purifier comes complete with room dimensions. Use the gadget within the right specifications for ultimate performance. Following advanced technological improvements; you can purchase a silent air purifier allowing you to utilize it at home and within the office environment without getting disturbed or disturbing your colleagues. Before choosing your gadget, confirm that it offers a variety of settings. This way, you’ll be able to switch off the gadget when it’s not in use to conserve energy.
Functionality
How do desktop air purifiers function when it comes to improving the quality of air? This question lingers in the minds of many people. A desktop air purifier comes with ultra-fine filters which sieves contaminants and traps them within the filter. The slight noise that the gadget produces emanates from its fan.
However, modern purifiers are specially designed to produce little to no noise. The fan circulates air across the filter, directing all polluted air on one part of the gadget while clean air exits through the exhaust side and is released back to the environment for you to breathe.
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What About the Ionizer?
If your desktop air purifier comes with an inbuilt ionizer, it produces negatively charged ions which circulate through the air, locates and latches on positively charged small particles and dander, traps, and filters all contaminants to ensure that the air you breathe is of high quality. Therefore, you can manage serious allergies with good quality air purifier with a great filter and a robust ionizer.
Technology has allowed manufacturers to combine various technologies to enhance the quality of their air purifiers and enable them to deal with multiple pollutants. Many advanced and modern air purifiers are more expensive and non-portable since they accommodate various air filtering technologies. If you are looking for a desktop air purifier, you should beware of this factor as moving big and bulky gadgets from one area to another can be challenging.
How Effective are Compact and Portable Air Purifiers?
Technology has allowed manufacturers to design air purifiers in different forms and sizes. There are numerous air purifiers designed to be portable and compact allowing you to utilize them on your desk at home or in your office. Some compact gadgets come in the form of air fresheners which you can easily plug in a power outlet in your room. If you prefer small air purifiers, you want to ensure that they are efficient enough for the size of your room. Often, the smaller an air purifier the less effective they are.
What to Consider when Purchasing a Compact Air Purifier
Ensure the gadget has robust filters at PM10 / 2.5. A HEPA filter falls in this category. Further, the filters should be easy to change on a regular basis to maintain their efficiency. Remember, even genuine HEPA filters can have limitations when it comes to the magnitude of particles they can filter. For instance, HEPA filters are not ideal for filtering certain bioaerosols and volatile organic compounds.
Stay Away from Ionizers and Ozone Generators
Some air purifiers that are as cheap as $20 can easily be utilized to ionize air in your surroundings. However, this air cleaning technique is not ideal. This is because the pollutants stick on various surfaces such as file cabinets, table tops, and chairs. A big percentage of these units generate ozone which is a harmful byproduct known to cause lung irritation.
Ionizers and ozone generators are often fanless which makes them more silent. Manufacturers promote them as the ideal gadgets for use in the office seeing that they don’t produce any noise and cause no disturbance at the workplace. However, these gadgets are highly likely to generate irritants within a restricted space. Where possible, avoid ionizers and ozone generators.
What are the Cons of Portable Air Purifiers?
It’s important to note that even the best HEPA filter requires proper handling and maintenance to function well. Dirty filters, for instance, can contaminate the air rather than cleaning it. Change your filters regularly to avoid build-up of dirt and contaminants.
According to a study conducted to establish the effectiveness of air cleaners and filters for respiratory-related allergies established that ionic air purifiers can generate a great percentage of submicrometer contaminants. J.L. Sublett conducted the study.
This was attributed to the interconnection between the ozone and VOCs generated by the ionizers. Rather than eliminating contaminants in your office, you could be more exposed to pollutants generated by ozone byproducts.
Which is the Best Desktop Air Purifier for Your Office or Home?
In order to purchase the ideal air purifier for your space, you need to consider the magnitude of your contamination and match the same with probable solutions. Decide consciously on the size of the gadget in relation to the room you want to be filtered and then exercise vigilance in regard to replacing air purifier filters on a regular basis. Today, the market is afloat with numerous air purifiers and choosing the ideal one can be a daunting task. Below are some of the most robust air purifiers.
Holmes® Smoke Grabber® Ashtray
The Holmes® Smoke Grabber® Ashtray is specially designed to eradicate cigar or cigarette smoke and odor from the air. It comes with a unique lid design complete with an inbuilt filter which retracts smoke before it’s released in the air. This gadget features a multi-layered filter complete with activated carbon. The filter helps eradicate tobacco odor. All you need to do is lift the lid to activate the unit and close it to switch off the ashtray. This gadget has a dishwasher safe and removable ashtray. It’s battery powered and the package includes a replacement filter.
Holmes® Odor-Grabber Air Purifier
The Holmes® Odor-Grabber Air Purifier is an all-purpose gadget specially designed to eradicate airborne contaminants, dust, and odor from your home. This gadget is ideal for small spaces such as offices, bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and dorm cubicles. It features a multiple stage filter which helps confine airborne odors and contaminants. This gadget comes with an ionizer which enhances its ability to remove particles from the air. The Holmes® Odor-Grabber Air Purifier has two-speed settings for ultimate effectiveness when it comes to enhancing the quality of air in your surroundings.
Holmes® Desktop Air Purifier with Visipure™ Filter Viewing Window
The Holmes® Desktop Air Purifier with Visipure™ and Filter Viewing Window is designed to operate silently. It helps eradicate up to 99.97% of airborne pollutants such as dust, pollen, mold, smoke, and pet dander. This product provides ultimate dust removal to enable you to breathe fresh air free from any odor or contaminants. It features a True HEPA filter which traps pollutants as small as 0.3 microns ensuring that users breathe with minimal struggle.
This gadget comes with one Aer1® filter with odor eliminating effectiveness of ARM & HAMMER™ *(6) Baking Soda for ultimate eradication of odor. This gadget comes with an optional ionizer which enhances removal of particles. It features a 3 speed setting for effective air cleaning and a filter change reminder for maximum performance of your gadget. This Holmes desktop air purifier is ideal for spaces measuring up to 104 square feet. Enjoy a 3-year warranty once you purchase this gadget.
Holmes® Desktop Air Purifier with HEPA-Type Filter & Optional Ionizer
The Holmes® Desktop Air Purifier with HEPA-Type Filter & Optional Ionizer comes with a HEPA filter which helps eradicate up to 99% of smoke, dust, odors, pollen, pet dander, and mold spores. This gadget can filter particles as small as 2 microns hence providing you with good quality air in your office or home. It comes with one Aer1 filter and is compatible with any Holmes Aer1 Series Filter such as allergen remover, total air, smoke grabber, and odor eliminator.
This air purifier has convenient features including 3-speed settings for effective maintenance of pure and fresh air. You can choose a low-speed setting for reduced noise while enjoying continued air purification. The highest setting gives you robust air purification. This air purifier is compact and you can position it horizontally or even vertically anywhere on your table or desk. It’s ideal for rooms measuring 109 square feet. With the optional ionizer, you can enhance the performance of the gadget in regard to filtering the air. The manufacturer has placed a 3-year warranty on this product.
Holmes® Desktop Air Purifier with HEPA-Type Filter
The Holmes® Desktop Air Purifier with HEPA-Type Filter helps you eradicate harmful pollutants from your surroundings. Enjoy high-quality air with this gadget which is specially designed to ensure that users can view the harmful particles as they accumulate in the filter. This gadget comes with a reminder option which informs users when a filter replacement is due. This desktop air purifier is ideal for all small spaces and comes with an exclusive design which can fit perfectly within the home and complements any home decor.
This air purifier offers you up to 30% dust eradication and also enables users to leverage on the 3-speed settings for enhanced effectiveness. The gadget’s optional ionizer produces negative ions which mix with airborne dust, smoke, and pollen to generate bigger particles which can be trapped easily. This gadget is ideal for small rooms and features manual controls. The Holmes® Desktop Air Purifier with HEPA-Type Filter also features an improved arm and hammer filter which helps eradicate household odors.
Finally
A desktop air purifier comes in handy to help you eradicate pollutants in the air especially in restricted areas. Choose the ideal gadget for your space to guarantee effectiveness. Choose any of the above-mentioned air purifiers depending on your preferences. They are specially designed to help you breathe clean air. I’ve also written an article on the best whole house air filtration system reviews if you’re looking for something that covers more space.