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ByPurify has researched everything you would want to know about vacuums & air purifiers.
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A valid question to ask yourself before you make an air purifier purchase is: are air purifiers safe to use?
Considering the Covid-19 pandemic and the panic it’s brought into my lives, so many of us have become extremely concerned about the quality of the air we breathe.
It’s in this way that air purifiers have made it into the spotlight.
As experts in our field, we discuss the following in this article:
Keep scrolling to discover everything I know about air purifier safety…
A typical air purifier is a device that remove contaminated air and particles from a room to improve the indoor air quality.
Air purifiers clean the air around them by using different ventilation systems.
This gets rid of pollutants like dust, pet hair, and mold spores.
Yes, air purifiers are really safe to use in your home.
The type of air purifier you use, namely filter, ionic, or ozone, will determine to what extent the air purifier is safe to use in your home.
Here are the facts:
Filter-based air purifiers mainly use HEPA filters1 to clean indoor air, and this type of filter produces no negative by-products that can harm a person.
Both ionic and ozone air purifiers, which are less popular options, create ozone as a by-product, which can be dangerous for people and harmful to my health.
Ionic and ozone air purifiers have the ability to cause headaches, asthma attacks, coughing, and sore throats, making them generally unsafe to use in your home.
The direct dangers of air purifiers come from being directly exposed to the harmful and dangerous byproducts that some air purifiers make.
As mentioned, the type of air purifiers that have the most direct dangers are ozone air purifiers, as not only do they produce ozone as a by-product, but sometimes they’ll cause eye irritations, chest pains, shortness of breath, or sore throats.
Unfortunately…
Ionic air purifiers unintentionally produce by-products of ozone and electrostatic reactions too.
These air purifiers sometimes create charged particles that stick to walls and other surfaces, which can result in a thin film of dust on the surfaces of people’s homes.
Indirect dangers of air purifiers include improper use, tampering with the device, using it near or next to wet areas, electrocution, and a high risk of contamination while cleaning or replacing your filter.
These indirect dangers are true for many types of air purifiers in general and don't depend on the type.
Using your air purifiers incorrectly and not according to the manual will cause problems and can become a safety risk.
Think about this:
Placing your air purifier near or next to a surface where it gets wet very often is a big danger, and you should also avoid placing it in areas where pets and children could easily access or tamper with the device.
There's a high risk of electrocution when you incorrectly tamper with your air purifiers, just as there is with any other electric appliance in your home.
When you clean or replace your filter, there's a chance for re-contamination if it’s not done safely and according to the instructions, as you risk reintroducing the pollutants back into the air and inhaling them.
Yes, you can sleep with an air purifier on.
Sleeping with an air purifier on all night won’t have any negative effects and is, in fact, encouraged.
The air purifier will continue to clean the air in the room and prevent dirt particles from building up during the night, allowing you to sleep more peacefully.
No, air purifiers can’t hurt your lungs.
This, however, is ultimately dependent on the type of air purifier you use.
It's perfectly safe to use HEPA or filter-based air purifiers because they don’t produce negative by-products that’ll disturb your health; however, ozone or ionic air purifiers produce ozone that, even if inhaled in small amounts, can irritate the lungs.
No, air purifiers can’t make you sick; this is most applicable to air purifiers without an ozone generator.
When you avoid the indirect dangers of air purifiers and use a safe and trusted brand, which is mainly filter and HEPA air purifiers, you won't get sick.
These air purifiers are considered good for your health because they don’t weaken your immune system and stop airborne irritants from spreading through the air.
Yes, air purifiers are safe to use around pets and babies.
These conditions include those during pregnancy, in the presence of newborns and infants, and around your furry and feathered companions.
Let’s look at this in more detail:
Air purifiers are safe to use during pregnancy as long as you opt for HEPA or filter-based air purifiers.
It’s safe to use filter-based or HEPA air purifiers around newborns and infants.
Filter air purifiers help you keep the surrounding air clean of any polluted particulates, mold, or chemical contaminants that can harm your newborn2.
By using filter air purifiers, babies will breathe and sleep better at night, which means you get more sleep too.
Air purifiers are safe to use around your pets, provided that you're using HEPA-certified air purifiers.
Researchers have found that animals with respiratory diseases lived in houses with higher indoor air pollution where the owners didn’t use air purifiers to clean the indoor air, and birds are unfortunately the most common victims of such3.
In terms of physical hazards and safety, there's an existing risk of your pet tampering with or becoming trapped in the electrical cord of your air purifiers, but this can be avoided if your air purifier is placed safely out of reach from your pet.
The 6 steps to avoid the dangers of air purifiers include choosing air purifiers that don’t produce dangerous by-products as well as carefully following your air purifier manual.
Let’s look at these steps in greater detail:
The only types of air purifiers that don’t produce ozone or harmful by-products are mainly HEPA (filter-based) or Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO) air purifiers.
Ozone- or ionic-based air purifiers are the types that produce dangerous by-products that'll harm your health.
Air purifiers are electrical appliances, and, like any other electrical appliances, they shouldn't be placed near wet areas or areas that are likely to get wet.
Air purifiers aren’t water-resistant and should be treated with care.
It's important to keep your air purifiers out of reach of your children and pets so that they can’t tamper with them or accidentally bump into them.
If you have pets and/or children, it’s advised that you place your air purifiers against a wall and at a raised level to ensure no accidents happen.
It's important to remember that while you're cleaning your air purifiers, you can be re-exposed to air contaminants.
Remember to take the device outside and wear a safety mask when you're cleaning or changing the filter of your air purifiers.
Ozone purifiers are powerful cleaning devices that can work extremely well to clean the air, but they’re best used when occupants aren’t in the area due to the release of their negative by-products.
If you use an ozone air purifier to clean the air in a room that isn't being used or is unoccupied, make sure the room is well-ventilated before you go back in.
This is one of the most important steps to follow when you buy a new air purifier, as many people tend to overlook this basic (yet incredibly important) step.
Following the manual ensures that you set up your air purifiers in the correct way, telling you how to use them while avoiding potential accidents and hazards.
Carefully reading through the manual will also allow you to learn all the cool features and functions your air purifier offers.
You can trust ByPurify because I do in-depth and hands-on research on air purifiers, how they work, and why they work for you.
I want to ensure the air you breathe is clean and safe; therefore, we’ve tested air purifiers for their safety and combined my findings into one article for easy access.
No, air purifiers can’t be harmful.
Most popular brands are completely safe to use, and with ozone air purifiers fading out of the market and even being banned in certain places, you’re bound to remain safe and unharmed.
If you happen to come across an ozone air purifier, prioritize your health and safety by choosing to opt for the HEPA-filtered air purifier option instead.
No, air purifiers aren’t dangerous.
They’re safe as long as you use them according to the instructions given by the manufacturer.
You’ll also know they aren’t dangerous when they don’t produce ozone as a by-product.
No, air purifiers aren’t harmful to your health.
This is most applicable to the dominant air purifier types, which are HEPA or filter-based air purifiers, and is not the case for ozone air purifiers.
Ozone air purifiers are not the recommended choice and are few and far between, so for the most part, your filtered air purifier will boost your health, not harm it.
No, air purifiers don’t give off any radiation.
However, ionic and ozone air purifiers emit a low-frequency electromagnetic field (EMF).
An air purifier’s EMFs are completely safe, though, and the levels in air purifiers are comparatively lower than those of laptops, microwave ovens, and cell phones.
No, air purifiers don’t do more harm than good.
The type of air purifier you use will determine if it causes more harm than good.
You can calculate the potential harm an air purifier can cause by looking at the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) rating to see how effective the air purifier is.
No, air purifiers can’t protect you from Covid-19 – not completely.
When used right, air purifiers can get rid of a lot of viruses and other airborne pollutants in small spaces, but they aren’t strong enough to protect you from Covid-19 by themselves.
Air purifiers are completely safe to use, but only when they're the standard and most popular options of filtered or HEPA-based air purifiers.
Ionic air purifiers don’t clean the air as effectively as filter-based air purifiers, and ozone air purifiers should be avoided at all costs; both produce dangerous by-products that can harm your health and the health of those around you.
I hope that the ByPurify team has given you all the necessary information to keep you clued up about whether air purifiers are safe to use!
To learn more about air purifiers, we recommend checking out our air purifier reviews.
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