The Best Overall Air Cleaner

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ConsumerSearch.Com named the IQAir HealthPro air cleaner the "Best Overall Air Cleaner". ConsumerSearch.Com analyses expert and user-generated consumer product reviews in order to recommend the best product. This fact alone need not lead you to choose this product if you are looking for an air purifier to help you deal with allergies or chemical sensitivities. But it should remind us of the importance of doing research and getting questions answered when investing in products like air cleaners, which are meant to improve air quality and reduce exposure to allergens and other pollutants.

Two key questions to think about when looking for the best overall air cleaner should be:

• What is the technology inside the air cleaner ‘black box’ and how does it work?
• What allergens do I want to get rid of?

The IQAir HealthPro 250 (or HealthPro Plus as it is called in North America) has a HEPA filter (High Efficiency Particulate Air) capable of removing more than 99.5% of particles down to 0.003 microns in diameter. To put this into context, here (in microns and in descending order) are the particle sizes of some common allergens:

• Mould spores - 1.2 to 120
• Pollen, pollen fragments - 0.25 to 100
• House dust mite allergen - 0.1 to 30
• Pet dander - 0.1 to 10
• Cigarette smoke - 0.01 to 1

Another way of defining particulate pollution is purely by size, rather than by content (as above). So PM10s have a size between 10 and 2.5, PM2.5s are 2.5 and below, while the size of ultrafine particles is in the range 0.1 to 0.001 microns. Bear in mind that the heavier particles will tend to settle as dust and can become airborne again when disturbed.  Meanwhile, the lighter the particle, the longer it will hover in the air, and when inhaled the more deeply it can penetrate into the lungs. The smallest particles will even reach the bloodstream, causing potential long term damage to the body (heart disease, for instance, possibly through setting up chronic inflammation). Beyond the ultrafine range, air pollutants take the form of nanoparticles or gaseous molecules and the best overall air cleaner will need to be fitted with a special adsorbent gas filter material to trap them. A good air cleaner will include a granular activated carbon adsorbent cell for this purpose. The key here is the use of high quality granular carbon, and using enough of it.

Other questions you might ask when looking for the best overall air cleaner are:

• How often does the filter need changing?
• What volume of air can the air cleaner handle and at what rate? Is the size and performance of the cleaner too little for the room it is going to work in? The amount of clean air delivered to your room should be in a healty relation to the kind and amount of pollution you are being exposed to.
• Is the unit leakage free? It is little use if the unit handles large amounts of air if only half of it actually passes through the filter.
• How much noise does the fan in the air cleaner make and what kind of sound is it?
• If you are considering reviews and awards won, make sure the testing has been done by truly independent and qualified organisations and not just marketing campaigns in disguise.

Due to its outstanding filtration, the HealthPro 250 has received more true #1 awards than any other air cleaner.  To find out more visit our Air Purifier Review Page.