As the temperature begins to heat up, people in cities across the country begin to see their air quality index dive deeper in the red hues. While the summer is the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors with family and friends, urban dwellers often have to contend with big increases in ground level ozone. That makes this time of year even more important when it comes to your indoor air quality.

With most homes sealed tightly to keep the cooling effects of air conditioning in, the air quality inside your home can quickly become as bad as the ground level ozone infused air outside the home. Dust, pollens, dander, residue from household cleaners, cooking fumes, and pet odor can accumulate quickly when the air in the home stagnates. Not cooking or cleaning, and getting rid of the pets is not likely to happen, but what you can do is invest in your health by using a high efficiency air purifier. You may also hire an air conditioning repair contractor and schedule regular hvac services to service your hvac unit and ensure that its filter is replaced. You may also consider hiring 24/7 emergency air conditioning repair services if you need emergency hvac repair services that need immediate action.

At this point, you can take a trip to your local big box and pick up an air purifier fairly cheaply, but if cheap is what you need, you may be better served by not purchasing at all. Not only is the quality of most cheap imported air purifiers questionable at best, but filtration is often less than adequate. No air purifier will do you much good if the materials are cheap and the workmanship is shoddy. For as much particle content as most cheap air purifiers allow to pass through their filters, you could likely get a box fan, strap a furnace filter to it and get about the same results.

Any air purifier worth it’s price tag should have at least a few basic features: HEPA filter, sealed system, and some type of odor control filtration. The HEPA filter is the core of any air purifier, so look for models that have true HEPA filters (not HEPA-like or S-Class). You want something that is certified HEPA–traps 99.97% of all particles 0.3 microns or larger. This is key because this type of filtration has the range to remove dust particles, dust mite allergen, pollen, dander, mold spores and even most bactera.

Next make sure the unit has a sealed system. An air purifier lacking a sealed system is like closing the front door during winter, but leaving the window open and wondering why it’s cold in your house. If air can escape or bypass the filter, it will. So look for models that mention a sealed system (usually use rubber or foam gaskets or are designed to interlock tightly enough to form an air tight seal).

Lastly, look for one that at least has an activated carbon pre-filter. Activated carbon remains the most efficient way to remove odors, like those from smoke, pets and cooking. Though activated carbon pre-filters generally only last three months or so, they are usually effective during that time. For heavy duty filtration, look for air cleaners that use granular activated carbon. Usually measured in pounds, this stuff lasts much longer than carbon pre-filters and provide better filtration.

So while the temps heat up and ozone increases, make sure your home is truly a cool and clean oasis away from heat and pollution. You may want to consider an Aeris Health Air Purifier. Both the Aeris Medical Pro and Aeris 3-in-1 Pro series models have true HEPA filtration and activated carbon filters, in addition to a sealed system. If you want better odor and chemical filtration, consider the Aeris Aair Gas Pro TVOC Air Purifier.

Whether it’s for a home office, bar, bedroom or anything in between, we offer a wide variety of air purifiers to meet your air filtration needs.

Author: Kevin Gilmore