Maintenance

Clean air is very important but air purifiers can be expensive so proper maintenance is something that should not be overlooked. Air purifier maintenance is not only important to protect your investment but also to make sure that it is doing its job so the air you’re breathing is in fact purified. If you fail to properly care for your air purifier it defeats the purpose of having it in the first place. Properly maintain your machine and it will do its job and provide years of reliable service.

There are a number of different types of air filters on the market and each one will need to be maintained a little bit differently. The easiest types of air purifiers to maintain are the ionic type filters. All you need to do is remove the collection plates and wipe them down with a damp rag, let them dry and then put them back in. Ionic air filters are attractive to a lot of consumers because not only are they easy to maintain but you never need to buy any replacement filters for them. Unfortunately, a lot of experts will tell you that ionic air filters are not very effective at actually cleaning the air.

Many ionic air filters do not have fans and they are unable to circulate enough air to effectively remove allergens and pollutants. Experts also say that once the collection plates collect a little bit of dust they rapidly lose their ability to attract more airborne particulates. Most experts agree that for the best indoor air quality you should go with a true HEPA filter. These types of filters will remove up to 99.97% of all airborne particulates down to 0.3 microns in size and will effectively remove all kinds of allergens and other airborne pollutants.

A lot of the best quality air purifiers on the market also make use of prefilters for removing larger particles before the air makes its way to the HEPA filter and a lot of units will also use a carbon filter for removing odors from the air. The more components your air filter has the more involved proper maintenance will be. Certain types of filters can be removed, cleaned and then reinserted into the air purifier. Other types of filters will need to be removed and replaced after a certain period of time. The user manual that came with your unit will tell you exactly what you need to do to properly maintain your device. It will tell you what types of replacement filters to buy, how often to change them and how to remove and replace them. If you have misplaced your user manual many companies make them available online in the form of a PDF which is a downloadable electronic book.

Air purifier maintenance is very important for making sure that the air you breathe is truly clean and will also help your unit last as long as possible. You don’t need to be an HVAC specialist in order to maintain your air purifier, you just need to follow the simple instructions that came with your unit when you bought it. Most units will only require a little bit of maintenance a couple of times per year and the little bit of time it takes to replace an old filter is time well spent.