You probably have plenty on your mind when it comes to home chores at the start of summer. Worrying about your indoor air quality may not be at the top of the list of your current concerns. But when the summer heat turns intense and you start spending more days with your household sealed off from the outside air, indoor air quality will take a big hit. Numerous pollutants from inside sources–cooking and cleaning products, paint and building material, bacteria and mold spores–will circulate through the living space without fresh air to clear them out.
You have multiple options for improved IAQ for your homes, and air purifiers in Delaware and Maryland are among the best. But you’ll have to work with indoor air quality professionals to ensure that you have the right type of unit and the best installation available. That’s where Atlantic Refrigeration & Air Conditioning can help out.
What Is an Air Purifier?
The terms used for indoor air quality devices can create confusion: air scrubbers, air cleaners, air filtration systems, UV air purifiers, ionizers, oxidizers, etc. What are you actually signing up for when you’re looking for an air purifier?
The simple explanation is that air purifiers are IAQ systems that are powered and don’t use mechanical filtration, i.e. mesh fibers or other media, to trap particles. Instead, air purifiers use ionization or ultraviolet light (or a combination of both) to remove the unwanted particles from circulating through the air. An air purifier is usually teamed up with an air filtration system: the filters trap the larger particles, and the purifiers “zap” whatever is small enough to get through.
Air purifiers typically target chemicals, odor molecules, volatile organic compounds, and organic pollutants such as bacteria and germs. These are the pollutants that often slip through mechanical filters.
Ionizing air purifiers
One of the most common air purifier types uses ionization to draw harmful particles from air currents. These purifiers create an electric field that causes particles in the air to either lose or gain an electron, making them positively or negatively charged. A set of plates attract these charged ions and traps them. The differently charged ions will also attract each other, clump together, and fall out of the air.
UV air purifiers
This type of purifier uses ultraviolet lights to destroy or render inert organic pollutants, such as viruses, germs, microbes, bacteria, and mold spores. The lights are placed to shine on the evaporator coil of the air conditioning system, which is not only a spot where all air moving through the ductwork must pass, but which is a prime location for mold and mildew to grow. The UV air purifier not only cleans the air, it prevents harmful mold and mildew growth in the future.
Let Us Help You Enjoy Healthier Air
Don’t worry about making the choice for an air purification system installation–we’ll see that you get the right defense for your indoor air quality. We work with many types of air purifiers, air filters, and other IAQ systems such as heat and energy recovery ventilators.
“We Take Pride in Your Comfort” at Atlantic Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, Inc. Call today to find out more about air purifier installations.