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Air Cleaners
Air Cleaners
Best ways to reduce pollutants in order of effectiveness
- Source Control: remove the source and control the emissions.
- Ventilation: bring outside air indoors.
- Air Cleaning: use in conjunction with source control and ventilation.
Types of Air Cleaners
Air Cleaners can be in-duct units (installed in central heating and/or air conditioning) or portable units.
- Mechanical Filtration: similar to the typical furnace filter. It can be installed in central heating and air-conditioning system ducts or in portable devices with fans.
- Types of filters
- High Efficiency Particulate Air Filters (HEPA)
- Flat and Panel Filters
- Electrostatic Precipitators/Electronic Air Cleaners: traps charged particles using an electrical field. It can be installed in central heating and air-conditioning systems or in portable units. This type of air cleaner may produce ozone.
- Ion Generators: removes particles by using static charges. This type of air cleaner only comes in portable units and may produce ozone.
- Hybrid Devices: two or more of the particle devices combined (i.e. mechanical filters combined with an electrostatic precipitator).
Recommendation
If you decide to purchase an air filtration system for your home, the <%$alawtitle%>® suggests a mechanical filtration system which contains the HEPA filter. We do not recommend any type of cleaner that produces ozone. Ozone, a lung irritant, is a potential health hazard. Furthermore, research has shown that at levels considered safe for humans, ozone may not be effective at removing indoor air pollutants.
Available Literature on Air Cleaners
- United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) indoor air publications -
Residential Air-Cleaning Devices: A Summary of Available Information, USEPA, February 1990, EPA 400/1-90-002.
Call or Write:
Environmental Protection Agency Region 10
Public Information Center SO-143
1200 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101-9797
(206) 553-4973
- For current Consumer Reports articles see your local library or bookstore.
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Seeing the Sun Rise from Mount Rainier
