Indoor air quality has become a topic of focus among property owners as attention has shifted to how to keep the air healthier. As a result, more property owners are investing in devices that will help improve their home’s air quality. This guide will explore what air quality is, including common airborne contaminants and how they affect health, along with diving deeply into air purifiers and air scrubbers and how to determine which one is best for your home.
Indoor Air Quality 101
Indoor air quality refers to how much contamination is in the air inside a building. This isn’t just contaminants like dust and dirt but can also include toxic gases, pathogens, and many more. Every home is a little different, but what is the same is that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests the concentration of contaminants inside is two to five times more than in the air outside. This is why it’s important to know the quality of your home’s air and have a strategy for how to improve it.
Common Indoor Airborne Contaminants
The air inside can contain a wide range of contaminants that come from sources outside and inside your home. The commonly thought of contaminants include dust, dander, chemicals from cleaning products or air fresheners, and seasonal contaminants like pollen. However, there are also less commonly known contaminants that come from the environment or things inside your home like radon, volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde, and toxic gases like carbon monoxide. There are also contaminants like insect droppings and urine protein from rodents. Finally, there may also be viruses, bacteria, fungi, and mold floating through your air.
How Indoor Contaminants Affect Health
Indoor air pollution can have a wide range of effects on your health. At the mild end, these pollutants can trigger allergies and asthma in susceptible individuals, with small kids and the elderly being especially sensitive to them. Some of the pollutants can lead to viral or bacterial infections, especially in the upper respiratory tract. Others can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat. At the extreme end, some contaminants can be potentially lethal in the short or long term, with gases like carbon monoxide quickly becoming lethal at high doses and radon contributing to lung cancer.
Air Purifiers
Air purifiers are one of the most common devices used to improve indoor air quality. Their job is to physically remove contaminants from the air.
How Do Air Purifiers Work?
Air purifiers typically work by drawing air through a filter with a fan. The filters used in air purifiers are often more efficient than what an HVAC system can typically handle on its own. Many air purifiers will use HEPA filters which can remove contaminants as small as 0.3 microns, which will remove 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria.
What Types Are Available?
Air purifier models range from small and simple to larger and complex. Smaller models may sit on a table or desk while others will stand alone or even be installed as part of your HVAC system. The system may have a single filter, but may also have a prefilter to remove larger contaminants, an activated charcoal filter to help with odors and gases, and then a UV light to help render additional contaminants, like viruses, inert.
Strengths and Limitations
Air purifiers work well to remove contaminants like larger particulate matter. They are also usually small enough to be portable and usually have affordable options. They also generally consume little power so they won’t spike your energy bills.
That said, they may not be highly effective against VOCs and other gases. They also have limited effectiveness in cleaning larger particles that have already settled out of the air on surfaces around your home.
Air Scrubbers
Air scrubbers are similar to air purifiers but are usually large and may generate more noise. Air scrubbers are often intended to be used in industrial settings or where specific and rapid action is needed to improve air quality.
How Do Air Scrubbers Work?
Air scrubbers also draw air through a filter and push it back out. However, they go beyond merely filtering the air. Rather, a scrubber often includes multi-stage filtering, negative ionization, UV light purification, and oxidizing molecules like hydroxyl radicals or hydrogen peroxide. It’s these oxidizing molecules that allow air scrubbers to go beyond mere filtration, but also to work on cleaning surfaces by breaking down the pollutants that have collected over time.
What Types Are Available?
Air scrubbers are large and are available in a wide variety of specifications to meet the needs of your space. Categorically, air scrubbers come in portable devices used for specific jobs like mold, smoke, and water remediation.
Conversely, some devices are installed directly in your HVAC system. These often are smaller and may not include filters but focus on light purification and proprietary catalytic processes like producing ozone or aerosolized hydrogen peroxide.
Strengths and Limitations
One of the major strengths of air scrubbers is their ability to improve air quality and also start cleaning surfaces. They are also effective at cleaning larger spaces and are especially effective with contaminants like smoke, odors, VOCs, and pathogens.
On the limitations side, they are larger and noisy for stand-alone units. They may also be overkill if you have a low-contaminant environment.
Key Differences
The differences between air purifiers and air scrubbers come down to function and the environmental impact on your home. To start, air purifiers tend to be smaller and easier to operate than air scrubbers. Purifiers are less noisy than air scrubbers because they have smaller fans and they don’t spin as rapidly. Purifiers are effective at improving air quality in smaller spaces that don’t have high contaminant concentrations.
Air scrubbers are more effective for larger spaces and areas with high contaminant concentrations. They are also more effective at dealing with gases and odors and cleaning surfaces throughout the treated space.
Choosing the Best Solution for Your Home
Choosing between an air purifier and an air scrubber really should start with an air quality test. This helps you determine what contaminants you have in your air, which then helps determine the technology needed. If your air has mainly common particulate contaminants like pollen, dust, or pet dander, an air purifier may be sufficient. If you’re dealing with more challenging contaminants, like mold or a high concentration of VOCs, then you may need to opt for an air scrubber.
You’ll also want to consider your budget and whether you need a smaller individual room solution or a whole-house solution. Air purifiers tend to cost less and are very effective with stand-alone room-sized options. While air scrubbers may cost more, they tend to be more effective on a larger scale and install more easily into an HVAC system than whole-house air purifiers.
Associated Heating & Air has been the go-to service provider to Anaheim-area property owners for indoor air quality solutions and heating and cooling services for more than 30 years. Our team of NATE-certified technicians offers a comprehensive range of indoor air quality solutions, such as air purifiers, UV lights, humidity control, and indoor air quality testing. We also handle heating and air conditioning installation, maintenance, and repairs. Contact us today to schedule a consultation with one of our indoor air quality experts.