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Home Air Purifiers
With all of the different home air purifiers out there, just how does one go
about deciding which ones will best fit their needs? If you think that being
impressed by an air purifier commercial is enough information to run out and buy
one, think again. Many air purifiers are tested by consumer interest groups and
are shown to do little or even nothing to improve the quality of air.
I strongly recommend that you do some research online at a website such as
Consumer Reports in order to best determine which home air purifiers work and
will best fit your individual needs.
In addition to reading comprehensive performance reports and customer reviews,
the more detailed and premium services such as Consumer Reports have interesting
articles about air purifiers and the various seals and accolades sometimes
attached to particular models are really about.
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For example, home air purifiers from Sharper Image and Oreck include what is
referred to as a “Seal of Truth form the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of
America”. This seal is available to home air purifier manufacturers that submit
an application and a $5,000 application fee.
Supposedly a panel of experts then reviews independent scientific reports on the
submitted home air purifier, but neither the AAFA nor Allergy UK (whose seal
appears on Sharper Image air purifiers in addition to the AAFA’s seal) would
disclose who their so-called experts were. Neither organization offers
comparative information about the purifiers they endorse.
As the Consumer Reports site points out, these kinds of
endorsement programs between business and non-profit groups raise many ethical
concerns. Truth be told, the only way to be sure that a given home air purifier
will perform as claimed is to refer to an unbiased consumer interest group that
has tested air purifiers.
If cost is a defining aspect for you, then start by organizing the reviews of
home air purifiers by price and start at the bottom. You’ll be able to determine
how high in price you must go to get the features you need in a relatively short
amount of time.
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