Air Ionizer Purifier Dangers: Ozone
Dangers of The Air Ionizer Purifier In this review we'll be looking at the pro's and con's of the air ionizer purifier.
At the end you can watch a video showing the pro's and con's of air ionizers.
Air Ionizer Purifiers have been around many years.
The success of the Sharper Image "Ionic Breeze" has made the term "ionizer" almost synonymous with the term "air" purifier for many people.
However there are many misconceptions when it comes to the difference between ionizers, negative ions, ozone, ionic and what each does.
Is An Ionizer The Same As Ozone? No.
They are not the same, however some ionizers can create dangerous ozone and that's where the confusion began.
Let's define each type: Air Ionizer Purifier - Any air cleaning machine that uses positive and negatively charged particles to clean the air.
This is usually accomplished by creating an electrical charge across washable plates (which looks like a cookie pan).
Other commonly used names include electrostatic, electronic, Truman Cell, Ionic breeze, and others.
But they are basically all the same.
Air ionizer purifiers work like a magnet, the "charge" in the metal plates attracting dirt and pollution that often has either a positive or negative charge themselves.
The washable plates make it inexpensive to maintain (and cheap to make which is why they are very profitable) they fail to work well for anyone wanting to remove dust or pollen (as in allergies and asthma).
Some air purifier ionizers can also tend to create dangerous ozone as a byproduct of the charged plates.
More about that further down the article.
Negative Ion Purifier - Very different from ionizers.
Instead of attracting dirt and pollution to charged plates negative ion purifiers generate free-floating negative ions that go out into a room.
These ions kill odor, disable gases and soot, and create healthy air.
Negative ions are naturally occurring in nature through trees and moving water and are needed to sustain life.
Ozone Air Purifiers - Ozone air purifiers work by taking oxygen (oxygen has two molecules - called o2) and adding an unstable third oxygen molecule (making it o3).
The third one is a "free-radical" which leaves the purifier and floats out into the room where it detaches itself from oxygen when it encounters mold and odors.
While it is highly effective on mold and odor, ozone molecules can irritate or even damage sensitive lungs.
Popular name models are Ecoquest (now Vollara) and Alpine (which was the original name before Ecoquest).
Problems with the government, because of the lung concerns, caused the changes in name.
Air Ionizer Purifier Creating Ozone The problem with some of the air ionizer purifier machines was that the washable plates (EX; Oreck XL and Ionic Breeze Air Purifier) often creates ozone, even though they are not trying to.
It's just one of the effects of using charged plates.
Pro's 1 - Inexpensive (although many companies charge too much for them) 2 - They use convenient washable plates 3 - They work well for smoke and odor 4 - Smokers: it will work without hepa filter costs Con's 1 - Does not do a good job on dust or pollen 2 - May create harmful or irritating Ozone 3 - No germ, virus Technologies (like Ultraviolet) 4 - Often overpriced, and over promises results with allergens Conclusion An air ionizer purifier is in the "fair" category, and to do a good job with pollen and dust i would suggest an air purifier with HEPA and ionization.
In the video review you'll see examples of both.
At the end you can watch a video showing the pro's and con's of air ionizers.
Air Ionizer Purifiers have been around many years.
The success of the Sharper Image "Ionic Breeze" has made the term "ionizer" almost synonymous with the term "air" purifier for many people.
However there are many misconceptions when it comes to the difference between ionizers, negative ions, ozone, ionic and what each does.
Is An Ionizer The Same As Ozone? No.
They are not the same, however some ionizers can create dangerous ozone and that's where the confusion began.
Let's define each type: Air Ionizer Purifier - Any air cleaning machine that uses positive and negatively charged particles to clean the air.
This is usually accomplished by creating an electrical charge across washable plates (which looks like a cookie pan).
Other commonly used names include electrostatic, electronic, Truman Cell, Ionic breeze, and others.
But they are basically all the same.
Air ionizer purifiers work like a magnet, the "charge" in the metal plates attracting dirt and pollution that often has either a positive or negative charge themselves.
The washable plates make it inexpensive to maintain (and cheap to make which is why they are very profitable) they fail to work well for anyone wanting to remove dust or pollen (as in allergies and asthma).
Some air purifier ionizers can also tend to create dangerous ozone as a byproduct of the charged plates.
More about that further down the article.
Negative Ion Purifier - Very different from ionizers.
Instead of attracting dirt and pollution to charged plates negative ion purifiers generate free-floating negative ions that go out into a room.
These ions kill odor, disable gases and soot, and create healthy air.
Negative ions are naturally occurring in nature through trees and moving water and are needed to sustain life.
Ozone Air Purifiers - Ozone air purifiers work by taking oxygen (oxygen has two molecules - called o2) and adding an unstable third oxygen molecule (making it o3).
The third one is a "free-radical" which leaves the purifier and floats out into the room where it detaches itself from oxygen when it encounters mold and odors.
While it is highly effective on mold and odor, ozone molecules can irritate or even damage sensitive lungs.
Popular name models are Ecoquest (now Vollara) and Alpine (which was the original name before Ecoquest).
Problems with the government, because of the lung concerns, caused the changes in name.
Air Ionizer Purifier Creating Ozone The problem with some of the air ionizer purifier machines was that the washable plates (EX; Oreck XL and Ionic Breeze Air Purifier) often creates ozone, even though they are not trying to.
It's just one of the effects of using charged plates.
Pro's 1 - Inexpensive (although many companies charge too much for them) 2 - They use convenient washable plates 3 - They work well for smoke and odor 4 - Smokers: it will work without hepa filter costs Con's 1 - Does not do a good job on dust or pollen 2 - May create harmful or irritating Ozone 3 - No germ, virus Technologies (like Ultraviolet) 4 - Often overpriced, and over promises results with allergens Conclusion An air ionizer purifier is in the "fair" category, and to do a good job with pollen and dust i would suggest an air purifier with HEPA and ionization.
In the video review you'll see examples of both.