Air purifier buying guide in India

Pollution in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune is increasing day by day. Taking an Air Purifier looks like a good option. But first do we really needs Air Purifier? Prevention is better than cure. First try to fix your home indoor pollution by following below steps.

1. Take care of your Gas stove or hub. Make sure there is enough ventilation to push the cooking smells, fumes, gases and pollution outside. A window by side will be helpful. It is good to have a exhaustive fan. If it is still not clean, then you can choose a Kitchen Chimney.


2. Avoid smoking cigarettes inside. Go outside for smoking. Inside smoking will have second hand effect for long time. Read more about passive smoking effects at cdc.


3. Be vigilant about using paints, cleaning agents and soups. Use exhaustive fans near your washing machines and in the bathroom. Better not to store bulky cleaning detergent as they should be stored outside and very carefully.


4. Make sure furniture or paints should not emit formaldehyde.


5. Do not use kerosene lamps or candles inside home.


6. Frequently clean the home. Purchase a Vacuum Cleaner with HEPA filter.

How Air purifiers work?

The core component or technology of the air purifier is the filter. The filter is like a mesh which blocks the harmful particles and bacteria and allow the air to pass. So essentially the filters clean the air, the rest of the machine does take care of air inflow and outflow. The inflow and outflow rate depends on blower and filter capacity to purify the air. Thats it. In other words you are selecting the filter and add-on features.

Types of Air purifiers in India

There are four types of air purifiers in the market. Air purifiers are listed below classified based on the filters they use to purify the air.

• HEPA filters
• Activated Carbon filters
• Ozone purifies
• Air Ionizers

Strictly avoid Ozone based air purifiers

Ozone is very harmful gas for humans. Ozone is lung irritant and can affect especially the eyes and respiratory systems. Unfortunately Ozone kills bacteria and viruses in the Air as well. This is the reason many manufacturers came up with this idea of Ozone air purifiers. They have actually built Ozone generators and selling them as Ozone air purifiers. These Ozone air purifiers releases ozone in the air at regular interval. It is expected that Ozone will kill all the bacteria and viruses in the air. Yes it is true but it will significantly harm your health. Read more at Air resource board. You can read more at Wikipedia on Ozone side effects. There are many Ozone generators by popular brands in the market which should be avoided. I guess when people saw the air purifier around 2,000 Rs they have bought it without research. In fact you can see many negative comments in the user review as well. Read more about shocking facts about ozone air purifier.

Better to avoid Air Ionizers

What is Air Ionizers. Ionizer simple charges the Air particles. These ionized air particles makes the bacteria, virus sticks to your walls, ceiling and bed. The point is it won’t kill them just move them from Air to walls. In fact there was a lawsuit against the effectiveness of such ionizers. It has been proved in the court of law that Air Ionizers are ineffective. You can read more about the lawsuit on Sharper image on Wikipedia.

Apart from that few Air Ionizers release Ozone in the Air during the ionization process. So If you like to choose Air ionizer make sure they have mentioned zero percent Ozone in the product description.

Buying guide for Air filters in India

There are very few options to consider.

1. HEPA filters (High Efficiency Particulate Air filter)
2. HEPA filters + Activated Carbon filters.
3. Pre-filters (Add-on filter for large particles)

Using a True HEPA filter in your home can remove most airborne particles like dust, pollen, mold and pet dander that might make allergies worse. Especially useful for people suffering from breathing diseases such as asthma, allergies. True HEPA air filter remove 99.97% of particles that have a size of 0.3 µm. But HEPA filters cannot remove smells, harmful gases. A good example of such HEPA filter is Honeywell Air Touch HAC35M1101G Air Purifier.

If you like to eliminate toxic gases and bad odors consider 'Activated Carbon filters'. There is no point in taking just Carbon filters as they stand alone cannot purify dust particles. So in the Indian market you can only find HEPA + Carbon air purifiers. Honeywell Air Touch V3 Air Purifier with H13 HEPA Filter, Activated Carbon filter is one of such very good HEPA + Activated Carbon filter.

Pre-filter is an additional filter to collect human hair, pets hair, large particles and dust. First air passes through this filter and all large particles gets removed. In the next phase HEPA filter cleans further. The question is why do we really needs if HEPA can do the job? The answer is simple, the best use of gun is not to capture a rat. HEPA is meant for micro particles not for large particles. Pre filter relieves the large particles burden from HEPA filter and hence will increase longevity and effectiveness of HEPA filters. HEPA filters costs around 3,000 rupees which is very high, where as pre filters are very economical. It is better to take washable pre filters like in our AC so that you can save few bucks on buying pre filter as well.

Other important factors for deciding Air Purifier

The CADR(Clean Air Delivery Rate) indicates the volume of filtered air delivered by an Air Purifier. It is a measure of cleaning speed. Better CADR means efficient and faster air purification. The important features of air purifiers are good coverage area, high CADR . Look for the 'Area covered' specification in the product description. Area covered should be equal or more than bedroom size for air purifier. A good purifier have CADR ranges from 140 to 400. In general for bedroom size up to 300 sq.ft CADR of at least 140 suggested and for living room CADR of at least 250 is must. In case you plan to buy air purifier for total home try to take CADR of at least 400 (as high as possible).

Air Purifier for bedroom in India

All home appliances make noise. Even fans make noise up to 20 decibels and ACs, refrigerators also make noise as well. As you are looking air purifier for bedroom consider quieter model. Noise level of 20 decibels is very apt model for bedrooms. Look for the 'Noise level' specification in the product description. Know more about side effects air purifier usage.

Operating cost of Air Purifier in India

While purchasing air purifier it is good to evaluate the operating cost and maintenance cost before hand. You need to replace Activated Carbon filter once in three months and HEPA filter once in a year. Activated Carbon filter costs around Rs 1,000 to 3,000 while HEPA filter costs around Rs. 3,000. These are the cost of filters only. It is better to call manufacturer and find out how much they charge for regular visit to home, cleaning, servicing. It may happen few spare parts can be damaged then feasibility and cost of the replacing the spare parts also important. For example Philips air purifiers very good but there are many early complaints on spare parts in Amazon review. It is better to find the current status of spare parts before buying the product.

Helpful Air Purifier accessories

There are many accessories for air purifiers varies from brand to brand and model to model. Your decision on air purifier should be based on filters, capacity not on accessories. But if you are not able to decide between two similar models accessories can ease your selection. Remote controlled operation of air purifier is good feature to have. Look for some alert feature to gives you a timely warning about when to replace the filter. LED light display and air quality indicators looks amazing in dark and helpful as well.

Famous air purifier brands in India

Philips is leading manufacturers on Air Purifiers. Philips is well know in building world class technology products. Atlanta Healthcare, Honeywell, Panasonic are other good brands. Apart from products do find out about servicing and after sales care as well.

Air purifier price in India

There are cheap ozone generators under Rs 2,000. As we mentioned above you should avoid them. Good air purifiers with HEPA and Carbon filters comes under Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 30,000.

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