Air purifiers can remove smoke, dust, pollen, and even pet dander from the air, if they work.
Consumer Reports just tested almost two dozen portable ones and found that not all deliver aspromised, Consumer 10's Kurt Ludlow reported.
Testers use a special chamber to assess each unit. In one test, they fill the chamber with fine,powdered clay dust. In another test, cigarette smoke is used. Then testers measure how quickly eachair cleaner removes the particles from the air.
Some expensive ones had problems. The $400 Oreck Proshield Plus AIR12GU didn't do a good job atcleaning the air and also produced low levels of ozone. That's a respiratory irritant!
The $400 LightAir IonFlow 50F Surface air cleaner was even worse. It was about as effective atremoving dust and smoke as having no air cleaner at all.
In fact, Consumer Reports says unless you have asthma or allergies, you probably do not need anair cleaner. If you do suffer from a respiratory condition, there are steps you can take beforebuying one:
- Put dust mite covers on your mattress and pillows
- Remove any wall-to-wall carpeting
- Don't let any pets into your bedroom
If you still have symptoms after taking those measures, Consumer Reports did find some airpurifiers that performed very well. The $300 Whirlpool #AP51030K is top-rated. It's very quiet andhas a filter-replacement indicator, which is a very helpful feature.
If you have a forced-air heating or cooling system in your home, you can replace the system'sfilter with a whole-house filter. Those are supposed to be more effective against dust, smoke, andpollen.
Consumer Reports evaluated several of those. Top rated is one from 3M, the Filtrete EliteAllergen 2200, which costs $25.
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