Air Purifiers for Home and small offices

As soon as Dussehra ends, air quality in India and especially in Northern India starts to take over the headlines. Not because it suddenly gets bad, because around this time, it moves into what we should call ‘ what were you doing for till now’ territory. In other words, already poor quality gets worse, moving into ‘severe’or even hazardous territory.   Even as people argue over the relative contribution of firecrackers to the mix, or farm fires or dust, its an unfortunate fact that your health pays the price.  So without getting into the buck passing around blame, just what can air purifiers  do for you? Lets get into that.

In this article, we will be focusing on the smaller, and necessarily ‘cheaper’purifiers, targeted at smaller spaces. Typically less than 350 sq feet.

First things first, you may encounter the question of regular room size of 350 sq feet, think of a one room set studio with bath, small kitchen and living space. This area can use a small portable air purifiers where you have enough choices at Rs 10-15,000.

The things you should always take care while buying an air purifier:

1. Know the square feet area or Meter square area to make the right choice: There is no one size fit all product. Knowing the right area helps you to make the right choice.

2. Check all its feature and maintenance costs: hidden costs must not stay hidden, ask questions and take demos at your home or office to check the product’s efficacy.
3. Know your sensitivity: Assess if you need an air purifier or not. If you do, what kind will best suit your needs. Check whether you have allergies or Asthma or any other respiratory disorder, only then make a choice.
4. Wherever you install or use Air purifier, the room or house should not have any gaps or openings/ cracks in windows, doors or other ventilation. Choose a location that does not interrupt the air flow while the air purifier works.
5. Do not solely depend on air purifier to clean the air, use home plants, maintain clean upholstery (vacuum and dust regularly). If you have pets, wash and bathe them regularly, inoculate and maintain their general hygiene.

6. There are options of other air purifiers like activated charcoal bags or gadgets like eureka forbes cleaning bulb portable air purifier. These are unconventional choices but one can choose them if cost and energy saving is your main concern.
7. While reviewing these air purifiers, we found out that Aeroguard and Xiaomi despite good pricing are receiving complaints for its maintenance which has left its customers unsatisfied. So do check the maintenance services offered by the companies or buy an AMC so that you have a good and functional air purifier at your disposal.
8. Last but not the least, check you house for any kind of infestation. Long term seepage or mould on wall surface can shoot up allergies among people especially children who are prone sinusitis or dust allergies.

We hope this will help you make the right choice as the air gets really smoggy. And of course, do what you can to ensure this is not the solution we get, be it lighting less or no crackers, pressurising your elected representatives to make more efforts at greening your area and conserving the greens that do exist, and pushing for a more scientific approach to road cleaning, for instance, where we continue to make matters worse with dust being swept by brooms every day.  When it comes to air purifiers, keep in mind that they can only take you so far, and the best solution is not need them at all. That is a fight worth fighting for, as clean air is not just about the air indicators, but the overall environment we all live in.