When you are looking for an air purifier for your home, you probably already have a good idea of the specifications that you want. However we want to make sure you know how to properly size your air purifier for your room it will be used in. This can include the filtering capabilities that it has and whether the air flow will be sufficient. You may have also looked into CADR and ACH numbers. The one thing that you need to bear in mind when looking at all this is that it all would have been tested in lab conditions. This means that the performance that you get in a real life situation could be very different.
The fact that there will be people in the room where the air purifier is working is enough to get these numbers to drop. In terms of purifying, people equal contaminants and the more people that there are in the room, the harder the purifier will have to work. There will also be other obstacles in the room such as furniture and household appliances that will obstruct the air flow.
Another difference compared to lab conditions is that any doors in the room that holds the air purifier are likely to be opened quite a few times during the day. Every time that this happens air from the adjoining room that has not been purified will enter the room. You may find that the information below helps you to make the right decision when choosing your air purifier.
Where Should The Air Purifier Go?
One of the most important things to think about is where the purifier will be located in the room. Placing it in the middle of the room seems logical but this doesn’t take into account the principle of diffusion. This principle means that all airborne particles will keep an equal distance from each other except in the vacuum that is created by the purifier itself. Placing the purifier at one end of the room means that the air at the other end will still be purified.
How to Properly Size Your Air Purifier for the Size of Your Room
Generally speaking the larger the room, the more powerful you will want the purifier to be. It is worth remembering though that the only time the air cleaner is going to need to work really hard is the first time that it is used because there will be a high level of pollution in the room. The level of pollution can fall by as much as 80% the first time that the air purifier is used. Other pollutants will be added during the course of the day such as dust and any odors that may cook from cooking but these should not reach that first initial level. A purifier that changes the air between two and eight times will be suitable for most sized rooms.
The shape of the room can also have an effect on the performance of the air purifier, especially if there are features such as archways and pillar which can affect the flow of air around the room. Placing the purifier in a position where it is not obstructed by anything can improve the performance in a room. All of these factors go into how to properly size your air purifier for your room.
How much Noise does the air purifier Create
The noise that the air purifier makes can be an issue, especially if it will be in the bedroom as you won’t want it to be loud enough that it disturbs your sleep. Buying a purifier with a larger capacity may be the solution to this problem. Large capacity air purifiers still clean the air in a smaller space as well as they would in a larger room. The added advantage of this is that they can be placed on a low or medium setting as this will reduce the amount of noise that is created. It will benefit you further as method will use less energy and therefore you will be saving money.
