Air Purifiers - How They Help Allergies If You Have a Problem

By Art Emiss
We get hundreds of calls from clients during the year asking; Should I buy an air cleaner or air purifier for their home or business? The first question we ask them is: Why do you think you need an air cleaner? Some say, we think the air in our home is dirty or we are concerned about the air quality in our business. Our next answer is another question; Have you had an Environmental Inspection in your home or office? Ninety per cent of the time, the answer is no.The next answer they provide is; We do not need an Environmental Inspection.
There are a large number of individuals that think about purchasing an air purifier for their home or office every year. Most of these individuals are concerned about Clean Air.
A good quality Air Cleaner will begin at about $300 such as the Austin Air Filter. There are a lot of bargain priced inferior products on the market, but remember, you get what you paid for. Before buying an Air Cleaner, check the quality out before buying it. First place to check is Consumer Reports, they will give an unbiased opinion after testing different models of Air Purifiers.
I read a lot of articles on the Internet, ninety per cent of them try to scare you into buying an Air Cleaner by using the following words: toxic air, toxic mold, toxic chemicals, harmful particles, dangerous particles, dangerous second hand smoke, toxic ozone and etc. When you see an add written with these words, start to question the validity of the product. Air Cleaners are meant to enhance your life thru cleaner air.
Going back to the basic question, have you had you home or business tested to see if you really have a problem. We have been in multiple homes where the individual claims that mold is attacking them and contaminating their home. A recent example of this is one of our clients told us that mold was making her sick. The basic question we always ask everyone is; Have you had a water leak or a flood in the last two years. Her answer was no. Next question; Have you seen any visible mold growing in the home recently. These are important questions because a lot of individuals blame mold for other allergens in the home.
We did an inspection of the home and found minimal mold in the A/C. There was no real moisture in the walls so we began to question the validity of the clients' self diagnosis. We did find high levels of fibers in the Air Conditioning Return Air Plenum. That was the first clue; we then knew it was not be a mold problem as the client had self diagnosed. We took air samples and sent them to the lab for id.Two days later we got the answer to our clients problem, it was high levels of skin cells and carpet fibers in the air. How interesting, we called the client and informed them about the testing results. We then proceeded to ask additional questions like; what is the quality of your vacuum cleaner. Is it a HEPA rated vacuum cleaner like the Miele. The answer was no, it was a 10 year old vacuum cleaner that someone gave them. I recommended that they dispose of the vacuum cleaner and buy a high quality HEPA rated vacuum cleaner like the Miele.
If you have high levels of skins cells in your home, you have Dust Mites. Dust Mites thrive on skin cells, especially in carpeting. We also recommended they remove the carpet and install tile. The client did and the allergy disappeared after the carpet was removed. She did not know she was allergic to Dust Mites.
In Conclusion: the moral of the story is not everyone needs an Air Cleaner but needs to clean up their home of certain contaminants such as skin cells. These contaminants can only be identified from an Environmental Inspection. If the client had bought an Air Cleaner, it would have helped some but the problem would still be there. Remember, you must find and fix the problem, not use a temporary measure such as an Air Cleaner. I am not saying, do not use an Air Cleaner, I am saying clean up your house before buying an Air Cleaner to see if that is your problem.