Indoor air pollution is a great menace that many people around the globe have to deal with on a daily basis. One of the main air pollutants that contribute to poor indoor air quality is dust. Poor indoor air quality as a result of dust accumulation can negatively impact your health and comfort. That’s why it’s paramount to keep indoor air in your home as clean as possible. When it comes to cleaning your indoor air, the most effective air purification device that will come to your mind is an air purifier. But do air purifiers help with dust?
In this guide, we are going to focus on air purifiers, how they can help you remove dust from your home, and the best air purifiers for dust removal.
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Why care about the presence of dust in your indoor air?
Irrespective of where your home is located, there is a very high chance that dust particles and dust mites will find their way indoors. One portion will settle on the ground and other surfaces while another significant portion will float in the air.
The presence of dust in your indoor air can lead to irritation of the eyes, and nose, allergies, and other respiratory problems like asthma. Continuous exposure to indoor air contaminated with dust can worsen your asthma or allergy conditions.
Before we can have a look at how an air purifier help reduce dust in your indoor air, it’s important to at least understand what constitutes dust.
What is dust made of?
Dust is an air pollutant that comprises numerous multi-layered elements such as soil, organic matter, pet dander, mold, pollen, dead skin cells, hair, dust mites, and food debris, among others from multiple sources in our homes’ surrounding environment.
The specific composition of dust varies from one household or region to another as it largely depends on the specific air contaminants, pets, number of people, or economic activities that are prevalent in a particular environment. The majority of the dust elements from our surrounding outdoor environment are likely to find their way into our indoors thus, lowering the quality of our indoor air.
Read Also: How long does pet dander stay in a house?
Do air purifiers help with dust?
Yes, air purifiers help with dust removal in our indoor environment. However, different types of air purifiers use different air purification systems and they differ in their effectiveness when it comes to dust removal.
Air purifiers fitted with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters are the most recommended for dust removal as they have the potential of cleaning up to 99.99% of most air contaminants such as dust particles as small as 0.3 microns.
Air purifiers with activated-carbon air filters are best for removing smoke and odors while ionic air purifiers are effective in removing viruses and bacteria.
If you suffer from asthma or other respiratory conditions and dust pollution in your indoor air is becoming a real problem, buy an air purifier with a True HEPA filter for the best results.
How do air purifiers remove dust?
Filter-based air purifiers remove dust from indoor air by running a fan that draws the contaminated air into the device. The contaminated air passes through a filter that traps most of the air contaminants including dust and dust mites before releasing the cleaned air back into the room for re-circulation.
To increase air purifier effectiveness in dust removal, place it in the room where you spend most of your time, especially in the bedroom or living room. Avoid placing air purifiers in the corners of your room as they are less effective.
Can air purifiers help with dust mites?
Dust mite droppings are the most common allergen triggers and they can cause serious health problems to persons with dust allergies. When dust mites feed on dead skin cells, they spread tiny droppings in form of fecal pellets that contain protein which is responsible for triggering allergic reactions.
When these dust mites droppings settle on the ground or other surfaces around your home like curtains, bed-sheets, carpets, and rugs, it becomes very easy for them to spread and be inhaled. Since air purifiers work best in cleaning floating air contaminants like dust particulates, it’s recommended to employ other indoor cleaning mechanisms like vacuum cleaning to eliminate dust mite droppings on your home surfaces.
Tips on how to reduce dust in your home
The best strategy for eliminating dust in your indoor air is to determine its source so that you can come up with a good strategy on how to control it from spreading. Although it’s not possible to completely eliminate dust in your indoor air, you can reduce it to minimal levels to guarantee you and your family members a comfortable and healthy indoor environment.
You can reduce dust in your home by using the following approaches;
- Buying an air purifier that is certified for high-efficiency levels in dust removal like the ones fitted with HEPA air filters.
- Ensuring your home has adequate ventilation systems to allow free circulation of indoor and outdoor air.
- Vacuum clean your furniture surfaces, carpets, rugs, door mats, and other spots where dust and dust mites are likely to settle.
- Always wash your bedding’s and other washable materials in your home in hot water to kill dust mites.
- Clean the curtains on a regular basis.
- Invest in air quality monitors to measure the quality of your indoor air from time to time to determine the prevalent air pollutants in your indoor air such as dust and other contaminants.
- If your home has an HVAC system, consider investing in a good quality electrostatic filter that connects to the duct-work and can significantly help in filtering dust particles.
Do air purifiers help with dust? Wrapping up
Whether they are sleeping in the bedroom or relaxing in any room in your home, you can only feel comfortable if the air you are breathing is clean and flesh. If you are struggling with dust pollution, buying an air purifier for dust can help you clean the indoor air by removing 99.99% of dust particulates.
Air purifiers with mechanical air filters like HEPA air filters require regular maintenance of replacing air filters every 3-6 months to increase their efficiency in reducing dust in your indoor environment. Therefore, if you have been unsure of whether do air purifiers help with dust removal, I’m sure this guide has given you a better perspective of how air purifiers can help remove dust in your indoor environment to make them clean and safe.