Choosing an Air Cleaner: System Performance

Excerpted from: "Indoor Air Fact Sheet: Residential Air Cleaners ", Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency #20A-4001, February 1990

Air cleaning is one of three methods of reducing pollutants in indoor air:

• Removal of the source or control of its emissions

• Ventilation

• Air cleaning

Air cleaning can be used as an adjunct to source control and ventilation. However, air cleaning alone cannot adequately remove all of the pollutants typically found in indoor air.

Should You Use An Air Cleaner?

Many factors need to be considered in determining whether use of an air cleaner is appropriate in a particular setting. Therefore, the decision whether or not to use an air cleaner is left to the individual. EPA has not taken a position either for or against the use of these devices in the home.

Assessing Potential Performance

At a minimum, you should consider the following major factors affecting the performance of the air cleaner:

• The percentage of the particles removed as they go through the device (that is, the efficiency).

• The amount of air handled by the device. For example, an air cleaner may have a high efficiency filter, but it may process only 10 cubic feet of air each minute. Suppose that the air cleaner is put in a room of typical size, containing 1000 cubic feet of air. In this room, it will take a long time for all the air to be processed. In some cases, pollutants may be generated more quickly than they are removed.

• The effective volume of the air to be cleaned. A single portable unit used in a room within a large building in which the air flows between several apartments or offices would be of little or no value.

• The decrease in performance which may occur between maintenance periods and if periodic maintenance is not performed on schedule.

Residential Air Cleaning Devices: A Summary of Available Information >

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