Here are 15 plants that could clean your air for just the price of a few drops of water each day.

First lets check some of the evidence behind the claim that plants can purify your household air:

1. NASA Research

A NASA research document came to the conclusion that “house plants can purify and rejuvenate air within our houses and workplaces, safeguarding us all from any side effects connected with prevalent toxins such as formaldehyde, ammonia and also benzene.”

Here are the results of the NASA research study:

Source

2. Interior Plants: Their Influence on Airborne Microbes inside Energy-efficient Buildings

In another study made in 1996, a bedroom with no plants had 50% more colonies of airborne microbes than a room which contained houseplants.

Source

3. Foliage Plants For Indoor Removal of The Primary Combustion Gases Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide

During a laboratory experiment in 1985, Dr. Wolverton PHD compared the removal of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide using a sealed chamber of spider plants.

Source

4. Dr Wolverton – Formaldehyde removal experiment

In another laboratory study by Dr. Wolverton PHD, he compared a number of house plants at removing formaldehyde from a sealed chamber. Formaldehyde is a common household toxin that is released from a variety of household items.

Removal of Formaldehyde from Sealed Chambers for Plants Grown in Potting Soil

Source.5

With reference to the experiments of Dr Wolverton and the NASA experiments, I have compiled a list of 15 house plants that provide the greatest level of air purification.

1. Areca Palm Tree

The Areca palm tree is the very best air purifying plant according to the ratings from NASA’s research and has the 8th highest removal rate for Formaldehyde according to Dr Wolverton’s data. This house plant was referred to as “the most effective air humidifier” by MetaEfficient.com. The Areca has the ability to  maintain your office or home moist throughout dry periods as well as continually removing chemical toxins from your air. In the course of the winter season, it’s so effective at putting moisture back in the air that you could switch off your electric humidifiers!

2. Lady Palm

This house plant – Lady palm (or Rhapis excelsa) achieved exactly the same rating as the Areca Palm tree in NASA’s research. This adaptable house plant, can be stored in dry or moist parts of the world ( between 20-100° Fahrenheit) and is particularly resistant to the majority sorts of plant insects.

The Lady Palm is not the most effective at removing Formaldehyde so if this is a concern then i would suggest you look at another plant.

Read more…

3. Bamboo Palm

The bamboo palm was the third most powerful plant at removing formaldehyde from the air. It ranked third in the NASA experiment so is a good all rounder at keeping your room air clean. This house plant will grow best in a moist but not wet soil and in direct sunlight. However this palm will require lots of room to grow, so it might not be the best option if want this plant to sit on your desk.

Read more…

9. Boston Fern

The Boston fern was the most effective plant at removing Formaldehyde and removed significantly more per hour than the rest of plants examined.

Studies have also shown that the Boston fern will also eliminate heavy metals, such as mercury and arsenic from the soil.

Source

4. Rubber Plant

This rubber house plant (Ficus robusta) has been mentioned as one of the leading Twenty plants by Doctor. B.C. “Bill” Wolverton’s “50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home Or Office.” This rubber house plant provides moisture, eliminates bio effluents, takes away volatile organic compounds as well as suppresses air based microorganisms as soon as it’s put into a room

As time passes this rubber plant will become much more skilled at eliminating toxic compounds present in the air. Bacteria within the rubber plants leaves break up the toxins and also feast on them. The procedure subsequently emits clean air in to the surrounding environment. Since the plant grows, these microorganisms increase.

This increased number of bacteria assist the rubber house plant in becoming progressively more effective at extracting further toxic compounds from the air.

5. Janet Craig – Dracaena

Deals on Air Purifiers:

The Dracaena (or Dracaena deremensis) places fifth on NASA’s ranking with a 7.8 score.  According to data it can remove Formaldehyde, at a rate of 1,328 micrograms per hour. It also removes Xylene, at a rate of 154 micrograms per hour according to http://www.earthwitchery.com/pollution.html

Recommended Placement in Home: These are especially effective in newly carpeted or newly furnished rooms were formaldehyde levels are at the highest.

Tips to keep this plant healthy:

• Favours vibrant light, although not direct sunlight.
• Water completely through early spring through the winter season and allow the plant’s soil to dry out in between watering

6. English Ivy

If your air flow in your geographical area has got stagnant and dried out, English ivy (also known as Hedera helix) may be just the solution! WebMD.com talks about this effervescent house plant as “a solution for allergic reactions” observing that sixty percent of air based mold within the space was removed after just six hrs right after English ivy had been introduced.

People that have allergies, asthma, or even the desire to inhale cleaner, more fresh air might be wise to give this English ivy plant a shot!

7. Date Palm Tree

Although it does not position at the top of the purifying scale when compared to  it’s three palm relatives, make no mistake: this Date palm house plant (also known as Phoenix roebelinii) remains an extremely efficient and stylish looking method to both cheer up the design of an area and reduce the content level of volatile organic compounds floating all over the air.

The Date house plant is very effective at getting rid of formaldehyde thus works great in combination with other purifier plants (has the second highest removal rate after the fern plant.)

8. Ficus Alii

This ficus alii (also known as the Ficus macleilandii) isn’t as strong in it’s pollutant-removing effectiveness as, say, a rubber plant, however it remains an excellent addition to any kind of office or home wherever clear air is missing. Although they aren’t terribly difficult to look after, PlantCareGuru.com alerts to us that hand protection ought to be used whilst dealing with the house plant for those who have latex allergic reactions.

10. Peace Lilly

The Peace Lily (also known as Spathiphyllum sp.) is a perfect air purifier plant for those who don’t have green fingers. Peace Lilies are often found in malls because they are so easy to grow.

If you scared you might kill your new house plant then I recommend you go for this one.

11. Aloe Vera

Aloe vera was proven to be a lot more effective at the elimination of formaldehyde at lesser concentrations when compared with Philodendrons. Aloe vera is likewise famous as being a healing plant acknowledged for it’s therapeutic qualities, giving it the majority of its nicknames.

The Aloe house plant was also used in the initial photography used for the Andrea plant air purifier – probably due to the plants purification properties.

12. Spider Plants

The spider plant was used by Dr Wolverton in his 1985 study that examined the plants removal of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. In a room with many spider plants the amount of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide dropped to near zero after only 24 hours.

Source

13. Chrysanthemum

This particularly attractive house plant was shown to be effective at removing the VOC compound – benzene which has been known to cause cancer.

Many tobacco products contain high levels of benzene so it would be helpful to have one of these plants in a smoking household. However no house plant can ever negate the effects of tobacco smoke.

Remember to be careful with Chrysanthemum as it is poisonous when ingested or with prolonged skin exposure.

14. Heart leaf philodendron

The N.A.S.A. study showed that the Philodendron house plant was one of the best house plant for elimination formaldehyde from the surrounding air, especially when working with higher concentrations.

15. Snake Plants or Mother of Law Tongue

Snake house plants — these types of plants tend to be incredible growers and also extremely tough. They’re excellent at eliminating the majority of toxins plus they are quite happy to grow in areas where other plants may decline and perish ( say for example a hot window ledge). Also, they are great bathroom and darker area plants.

One Final Point:

Make sure to Maintain your house plants in a good condition and make sure you have enough of them. The NASA research advised that there should be a six inch plant for every 100 sq feet of interior living space

The top selling Panasonic purifier from Amazon.com is the Panasonic FP20HU1 Air Purifier which sells for $140.

The upgrade on the previous purifier is called the Panasonic F-P15HU2 which sells for $299

These Panasonic purifiers are clearly budget purifiers but it seems that they do a very good job for such a small price tag.

The FP20HU1 gets 4 stars from Amazon.com for 7 reviews and the FP20HU2 gets 5 stars for 7 reviews. Review by A Customer

The FP20HU1 purifier got one review that gave it only 1 star so its worth looking to see what this customer thought about the product: review

“Worthless expensive Product and Horrible Customer Service”

I am always wary of really negative or super positive reviews.

“In addition,it will dry up your room and your eyes will get dried and even turn red. It did not work, when my room was dusty. I bought this because I was allergic to mite and dust but it did not work for me at all. I recommend Sharper Image Ionic Breeze, if you want better air quality.”

Now, I can’t see any reason why an air purifier would dry the air unless they had a dehumidifier function which this purifier lacks. This reviewer has many negative points and shows no positive aspects. Its very rare that we totally hate a product completely so i am already starting to disbelieve this product review.

Now when this reviewer mentions a particularly awful product – The Ionic Breeze, we should discount what this person says completely. This is a perfect example someone submitting false reviews to make people buy their product.

With this review discounted both Panasonic purifier score 5 stars which is impressive as Amazon customers can be very critical.

Clean Air Delivery

In the clean air delivery test the Panasonic F-P15HU2 was quoted as providing a CADR of 150 which is amazing considering the price of this unit.

Size of Room

Both purifier are capable of cleaning rooms up to the size 12 feet by 18 feet. So this purifier is for use in smaller rooms which is to be expected for a unit of this price.

Cost of Filer Replacements

The Panasonic purifier filters for both models cost just under $45 and are called the Panasonic FY120XT filter replacements.

The Panasonic HEPA filters are able to block 99.97% of particles bigger than 0.3microns which is true HEPA standard. The filters used for the Panasonic are actually vacuum-able so the manufacturer says they wont need replacing for at least 3 years. In my experience, you will find probably find that you will need to replace these filters more often than 3 years. However as the filters are quite inexpensive this is not too much of a problem.

Both of these Panasonic air cleaners come with activated charcoal filters that will need to be replaced every year if you want to cut down odour smells. The Panasonic FY-520XT Charcoal filters cost $35 which again is inexpensive when compared with other charcoal filter replacements.

Conclusion

For such a small price tag the Panasonic range of air purifier perform exceptionally well. There are many happy customers on Amazon.com and we fully recommend this air purifier for customers on a tight budget.

Just to prove that allergies don’t just pick on the ugly people, we have compiled 20 babes who also cough and wheeze.

1. Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor was born in London in 1932 and was the daughter of an actress and art dealer. Elizabeth enjoyed a life of privilege during her childhood years and when the family returned to the United States she started her acting career.

Elizabeth Taylor has suffered from asthma and allergies for most of her life and has also had to deal with skin cancer and a benign brain tumour.

Unlike many asthma suffers, she has a passion for perfume and released 3 perfumes that have earned her more than $200 million in sales.

Source

2. Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan is known to be allergic to cats. In a recent interview online she told people that she was worried about working with a cheetah as it might set of an allergic reaction.

You can read more about Lohans allergies in this USA today article.

I do wonder with all her drug taking that maybe her constant sniffing has more to do with her coke habit than an actual allergy.

3. Anna Kournikova

This tennis babe tells fans on her website that she has an allergy to flowers. I will now have to rethink what to bring with me on my date with her next week – damn

4. Jessica Alba

The star of the fantastic four has no superpowers to combat her allergy to pussy cats. In a episode of The Late Show With Letterman, she mentions that cats cause her to have an allergic reaction. Read the transcript of the show here: Jessica Alba – David Letterman show

5. Britney Murphy

Poor deceased Britney Murphy used to have to go with synthetic fibres as duck down ment she ended up sneezing all night. You can read about how this allergy was first discovered in this article talking about when Britney moved in with Brittney spears.

6. Catherine Zeta Jones

The husband of Michael Douglas, this poor girl has allergies to lots of things. In this interview for agirlsworld.com, Catherine apologizes for her problematic allergies.

7. Nicole Richie

Daughter of singer Lionel, Nicole found that she was allergic to cats as soon as she had bought one as a pet. Thankfully her dad now looks after that cat and keeps it away from the showbiz star.

Source

8. Alicia Silverstone

Another actor who is allergic to cats. She recently talked about her allergy in a AOL chat and we recommend you read the transcript to know more.

9. Alanis Morissette

Its well known that Alanis Morrissette has a cat allergy. Not sure if her allergies are ironic in the Morrissette way but you can see that her allergy was mentioned referenced here.

10. Sarah Michelle Gellar

The sexy actor behind Buffy the Vampire slayer has numerous allergies including cats water and pollen. Her allergies have been talked about here.

11. Norah Jones

It’s not known what exact allergies that Norah Jones suffers from but she mentioned in an interview that her husky voice might be due to her suffering allergies on the day of recording. You can read the full interview in this NPR interview.

12. Britney Spears

The pop princess has a major allergy to lilies. The rumour is that Pink during her bust up with the babe, posted a bouquet of lilies to her private mansion.

It also might be possible that Miss Spears is also allergic to underwear:

“Commonly, a lot of underwear is often made out of polyester, which is not a natural fabric,” is what Dr. Ted Edwards from the Allergy Expert web site tells us. “And a lot of people have a reaction to that.”

It seems that she has failed to wear underwear on numerous occasions. Read more about her underwear allergy.

13. Beyonce

Sadly this pop goddess has an allergy to perfume – so don’t bother buying her any. Her allergy was recently mentioned in this on-line bio.

14. Paula Abdul

This tasty judge from American Idol suffers from both a cat and dust allergies. You can read more about her allergy in this article.

15. Rachel Ray

The attractive celebrity chef has an allergy to perfume – so don’t bother with perfume as a gift this valentines. Rachel talked about her allergy in this recent question and answer forum.

The celebrity chef is allergic to perfume. She mentioned her allergies in a on her online magazine.

16. Charlotte Church

This welsh opera singer has a major allergy to cats.

Source

17. Kate Winslet

In an interview with a high profile fan, Kate star of Titanic mentioned that she suffers from Hayfever.

Source

18. Vanessa Hudgen

This Pop Diva has a supposedly an allergy to pepper!? Now i thought that pepper made everyone sneeze but maybe I’m wrong.

The 18 year old was also in the news for taking nude pictures of herself. So maybe she is allergic to clothes as well?

19. Sharon Stone

The star of basic instinct has a major flower allergy and a recent music festival had to remove all the flowers from the stage  to avoid the star having an allergic reaction.

There are also numerous rumours that Sharon has an allergy to any sort of tobacco smoke. It’s said that one whiff of smoke with leave her incapacitated for days.

Source

20. Gillian Anderson

The hot actress who made the X-files sexy has got an allergy problem with cats. She even had problems with filming an X-files episode that contained lots of cats. You can read more about her cat allergy here.

This is the next video in our series of reviews and this time we reviewed the IQair Healthpro air purifier.

With this video, i was able to use PowerPoint to help use images to put my point across. We followed the main points about why the IQair healthpro purifier is so much better than the majority of air purifiers out there. I was able to use a screen capture program to film this so in future we should be able to make videos of this quality and higher.

The main points that we talk about in this video is:

1. The Amount of awards won – Consumer reports, Wired magazine…etc

2. Technology uses – 0.03 microns

3. Why Hyper HEPA deals with allergies.

4. Certificate performance – we know that this purifier can perform

5. Silent design

6. Used in Surgery

I still think this video is a bit boring.. and should move a bit faster. Next time we are going to work with music and try and up the tempo a little. I will also get more creative with the flip cam so keep checking the blog.

Right I have finally got round to making my first video. In this video I just wanted to give some basic advice to people looking for the first time at air purifier reviews.

I did a little voice over showing how particle size is one of the most important things to look for in a new air purifier. I also used the rating table of the worst, middle and top air purifiers on the market.

I wanted to just outline to people that there are a number of air purifiers that you should keep well away and then some ideas on where next to take their research. I would love some feedback for the video.. i think it might have been a bit long and i need to remember to make my bed

Anyway enjoy this video and if you want to offer criticism or have ideas for future videos then please just leave a comment below.

I think the next video will be released next week and i will be talking about why cheap air purifiers are not all bad!

I will often talk about portable air cleaners/purifiers versus whole house purifiers/cleaners but what exactly do we mean by a portable air cleaner?

Portable air purifiers/purifiers are those that can be moved to any part of the house. If you require your bedroom air to be cleaned then you can just unplug your portable purifier from your dining room and plug it in your room.

I am a big fan of portable cleaners versus house purifiers which are a static system that are part of your homes air condition or heating system.

Here are 5 reasons why I prefer portable cleaners:

1. Cheaper portable units can still be useful

Cheap Portable cleaners can still be useful in small rooms. If you have a little box room that just needs the dust removing every so often then it does not make sense for you to pay $1000 for a whole house air purifier that probably won’t even clean this specific room. In comparison $400 on a whole house cleaner will just blow dust around your home.

2. Portable air cleaners are portable! 

If you live in rented accommodation or move house regularly then you will be able to take your air purifier with you. I mean a whole house purifier might add a little bit on to the value of your home but it will be nothing near the amount you paid for the installation and equipment. I even know of some customers who have actually taken their portable purifier with them on holiday!

3. No Installation Costs! 

If you are able to use a washing machine then you can easily install and use a portable purifier. In comparison a full house purifier will require you to either be a HVAC expert or pay for an expert to install your unit. Often a full house purifier will require that you vent system and furnace be upgraded to get the full benefit.

4. More effective

A good quality purifier such as the Alen or IQair Healthpro plus will put to shame any whole house purifier in any particle removal test. Don’t just take my word for it – check out the test results of any house purifier and come them a range of portable purifiers.

5. More Value For Money

To get a whole house air cleaner that will be effective you will have to spend in the region of at least $1500+. In my experience you can have cleaner rooms if spend less than a $800 on portable air purifiers. You will also be able to take your investment with you when you leave your house.

A purifier capable of cleaning 500ft of air for under a  $100 sounds great doesn’t it? This is probably why the Ionic Pro air purifier is one of the best selling affordable air purifiers on the market (and the $100,000’s spent on advertising and marketing.)

Lets first look at some of the good points before we tear this machine apart:

1. Design

Ill be honest it does look like a more expensive purifier. A couple of these towers in your bedroom might even be able to impress the ladies Obviously time and money has gone into the overall look and design of these purifiers.

2. Affordable

Going out for a cheap family dinner now costs over a $100 so its really within the budget of anyone.

The Ionic Pro purifier is from the Marketing Geniuses at Sharper Image and its likely that you will have seen at least one of their cheesy infomercials. This company uses flashy marketing and dubious claims to ship cheap appliances en masse.

If you shop in Wal-Mart then the Ionic Pro range of purifiers are the retailers bestselling air purifiers.

3. No Replacement Filters

As the Ionic pro uses ionizer technology it will not require you to buy new filters as you would with a HEPA based purifier. However you will still need to wipe down the ionizer plates every 3-5 days.

So, what wrong with the Ionic Pro?

The main problem with the Ionic pro is that its design is based on the now defunct Sharper Image – Ionic breeze air purifier.

When the Ionic Breeze purifier was released it was met by intense criticism by the whole air purifier review community. The Ionic Pro is 40% cheaper than the Breeze purifier and has some design modifications but the purification unit is nearly the same.

I understand that there is a market for very affordable purifiers but i just don’t think that the Ionic Pro are anywhere is anyway near as effective as other cheap purifiers such as those from Honeywell.

How did the Ionic Pro Perform on Tests?

Like with every review that we conduct at air-purifier-reviewsite.com let first check the test results available:

At Air-Purifier-America.com they tested the slightly older ionic breeze but i think the results can be comparable:

The tests show that the Ionic Breeze purifier came at the bottom of the results and the purifiers above are not $500+ models. The Honeywell hfd-120 sells on Amazon at the same price as the Ionic Pro Purifier (when bought from the company website – Amazon sells it for $50 less).

Effective Cleaning Power

If we look at the Ionic Pro company website we find the following:

They tell us that the unit can trap particles as small as 1 micron! That sounds really small but lets first check out this diagram which shows the relative sizes of airborne particles:

I normally tell people looking to buy a purifier to get a unit that is capable of at least 99.7% efficiency at removing particles bigger than 0.3 microns. When I speak to allergy sufferers I advise them to find a purifier that can deal with at least 95% of particles bigger than 0.03 microns.

Using the diagram we can see how the Ionic Pro purifier is unable to block the majority of:

• Wood and tobacco smoke
• Household dust
• Bacteria
• Dander
• Insecticide dust
• Fumes
• No Viruses will ever be blocked by the Ionic Pro

I think its a little cheeky for Ionic to tell customers that their purifier will stop smoke and dust when the unit will only be capable of stopping the minority of very large smoke and dust particles.

Oh No Please Don’t Give Us Ozone

One of the main problems with the Ionic Breeze purifier was the sheer amount of ozone that was released from the unit. Ozone works by latching on to odour causing particles and removing them. However Ozone is a toxic gas and not something you want to be pumping into your home. Thankfully the Ionic Pro purifier releases less ozone than the Ionic breeze (48 ppb) but still releases 33 ppb. In my opinion, any release of ozone is too much!

Conclusion

If your looking for an affordable appliance to clean your air then please do not choose the Ionic Pro air purifier.  There are plenty of cheap air purifiers that do actually clean the air and don’t pollute your house with toxic ozone.

Home air cleaners work by cleaning the air as its passes through your house heating furnace or air conditioning system.

The diagram below shows how this home cleaner system works:

In theory a home air cleaner sounds wonderful. You are told that you only need one unit which costs between $500- $1000, which sounds cheap for a whole house full of clean air! Promotional marketing material tell us that these units will easily clean the air in every room of your house.

Sadly as with most things in life the home air cleaner is not as good as they make out in the marketing material.

Here are 10 reasons why I would not recommend you purchase a house air purifier:

1. Require Costly Installation

Home Air Purifiers require you to pay a HVAC specialist to fit the unit. This will cost you a significant amount. In comparison, any person who can switch on a basic appliance can set up a portable air purifier. If you live in an old house then you may also need to pay people to clean your vent system or even replace your furnace.

2. Efficiency is far lower than portable air purifiers

Please don’t just take my word for it. The following diagrams compare a large range of home air purifier versus portable air purifiers:

Home Air Cleaner Ratings:

The following selection of home air cleaners shows us that even the best purifiers: The Trane CleanEffects and Aprilaire 5000 only remove just over 90% of  particles sized 0.3 microns.

Portable Air Purifier Ratings:

This selection of portable air purifiers tested shows us that even the 7th worst purifier at removing particles still achieved a 98% removal of particles sized at 0.3 microns.

If you suffer from allergies then leaving even 10% of allergens in the air will cause you problems. We always recommend to allergy sufferers to go for an air purifier that is able to remove at least 95% of particles bigger than 0.03 microns which is even smaller than a virus. The IQair Healthpro purifier is one purifier that is able to perform at this level and we recommend you check out our latest review.

3. The Design of Home Air Cleaners Is Flawed

Air like a human will always choose the path of least resistance. Your HVAC system will suck in cold air and push out hot air. Hot air will therefore rise to find the quickest way out of your house, which is usually through your hallway and up your stairs to the roof. The problem is that this hot air will follow a path that will not go to all areas of the house. We notice this when we feel a draft and this is why a unit that purifies this hot air will be ineffective when cleaning your whole house.

As the path of hot air passes through the house, areas behind obstacles and in corners will not receive new air and dust and particles will build up.

In comparison a portable room air purifier will use pressure change and high powered fans to draw air from all areas of the room.

Bionaire air purifiers recently made it into the news after they used thousands of bad electronic chips were incorporated into their range of BAP1300 air cleaners.

Now this is a perfect example of how sometimes reviews from Consumer Reports and AHAM’s CADR rating can get it very wrong.  The BAP1300 managed to receive a CADR rating of  315 and was supposedly  capable of cleaning a room sized 488 square feet.

At Air-purifier-reviewsite.com we always tell our users not to rely on just one review (this even includes our very own site.) The internet has now given us unprecedented access to more data and reviews than ever. If you followed our buying advice you would find the following results for this specific Bionaire air purifier:

1. Amazon.com users gave the purifier a massive 2 and a half stars.

2. Shopping.com gave the unit an average of 1 and a half stars.

3. Epinions.com provided this purifier score of 1 and a half stars.

The problem with the reviews at Consumerreports.org is that they only test air purifier for a short amount of time. The problem with the Bionaire air purifier was that faulty electronic control chips failed after a number of days. Don’t get me wrong I really respect ConsumerReports.org but i don’t use it solely to decide on a new air purifier.

Sadly many consumers did choose to follow the advice of ConsumerReports.org and purchased the Bionaire BAP1300 and suffered the consequences. Many consumers complained of the unit stopping working after just 3 days or even as long as a month. I can’t imagine anything more annoying than an air purifier just failing to work after such a short amount of time. The worst thing is that this Bionaire was actually not bad at air cleaning but the durability was the worst i have ever heard of.

The worst thing was that people had to pay the shipping costs to send the unit back to Bionaire which for some cost over $100. In future always try to buy your air purifier from a retailer that will exchange or refund faulty products without making you pay the shipping costs.

Thankfully the Bap1300 is now discontinued but we should all remember what happened with this purifier so that we don’t make the same mistakes in the future. Remember to check at least 6 different review sources before making your final buying decision.

Most people will come across air purifiers as an alternative way to reduce their allergic symptoms. Air Purifiers are used for allergies such as dust mite, pollen and pet dander. The science behind allergy air purifier is that they remove the allergens from the air and thus the sufferer no longer has a allergic reaction.

This sounds like magic pill for allergy suffers but the vast majority of air purifiers will actually make their allergy worse.

I often spend time answering questions on Yahoo answers and very often people will ask why their air purifier is actually making their allergy worse. One young women bought an ionizer air purifier and then told us how it made her allergies worse for the next 6 months. It was only when this purifier broke that her allergies got better.

Now the problem with many ionizer air purifiers is they they will stir up the dust/pollen/pet dander in your room and bring it out of the areas it has been hiding. The Ionization process will then charge the allergen particles and make them heavier. However if the air purifier has limited ability of filtering the allergens then the problem has only been made worse. Allergens that are stuck in your carpet or behind objects does not cause as much problems as the allergens in the air. It’s the reason why many of us even with no allergies start sneezing after we have been dusting our rooms.

Another problem with using an air purifier for allergies is that some of the cheaper ionizer based models actually produce ozone which can trigger allergies in some people. In once case – The ionic breeze air purifier produced as much ozone as the amount found during high smog season in downtown LA! Any air purifier that produces any sort of ozone should be ignored by someone looking to remove allergens from the air.

It might sound like i am telling you that air purifier are useless for allergies but I’m not. In fact, i helped to reduce my symptoms caused by my dust mite allergy by using an air purifier. However it took me many different models and lots of $$ to find one that actually worked. So i have put together a list of things to look for if you really want an allergy air purifier:

1. No Ozone Production – check with independent results to see how much ozone is produced

2. Needs to be able to deal with a room sized at least 500 square feet – but preferable more than a 1000 feet.

3. Needs to be able to remove 99.7% of particles bigger than 0.3 microns. In most cases this will require a true HEPA filter. Again check independent results to see how it works both out of the box and after 6 months.

4. Always choose an air purifier that comes with a pre-filter. Pre Filters stop big particles such as dust, pet hair and general dirt. With a pre-filter it will mean that you won’t have to buy as many costly replacement HEPA filters.

5. Try to find an air purifier that has a silent sleep mode as you will want to keep the machine running whilst you sleep.