{"id":509,"date":"2019-01-15T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/?p=509"},"modified":"2019-06-01T07:03:06","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T07:03:06","slug":"do-ionizers-actually-clean-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/blog\/do-ionizers-actually-clean-air\/","title":{"rendered":"What are ionizers and do they work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day,\u00a0<\/span>someone on Quora asked<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>whether ionizers actually purify the air. This is an important question because ionizer purifiers are all over the place. For example, I was at a friend\u2019s apartment in the US, and I saw his tower fan had an ionizer button on it:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important because several friends in China have sent me links to ionizer products like this:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Amazing! A \u201cmiraculous air purifier\u201d that removes\u00a0<\/span>PM2.5<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and formaldehyde in just 30 seconds. And all that for far cheaper than regular purifiers and even cheaper than\u00a0building your own purifier<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If this is true, my life in Beijing is now so much easier. But is it true?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So how do ionizers work?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Here\u2019s my bedroom, with an ionizer and bad particles in the air:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That ionizer shoots out negative ions:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those ions cause the particles to stick to surfaces, like my bed, the wall, and the floor:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u2019s the principle behind ion generators. It\u2019s hard to see it happening with these tiny particles, but you\u2019ve seen it on a visible scale if you\u2019ve seen someone rub a balloon on their hair and then stick it to a wall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

But wait #1<\/b><\/h3>\n

A summary of\u00a0<\/span>scientific tests of air purifiers\u00a0<\/span><\/a>found that most ionizers have no noticeable effect on particulate levels (p. 8). Their conclusion is that most ionizers are too weak to have an effect. Studies\u00a0<\/span>do\u00a0<\/span><\/b>show an effect if they use very strong ionizers\u2013much stronger than most ionizers on the market (p. 19).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But wait #2<\/b><\/h3>\n

OK, so regular ionizers don\u2019t work, but we can use a big one! The problem is, when you put that many ions into the air, it produces ozone.\u00a0<\/span>Ozone is harmful<\/a>, so that\u2019s not good!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But wait #3<\/b><\/h3>\n

Even if we use a really strong ionizer and even if we can accept the ozone, you might have noticed that the ionizer didn\u2019t actually filter out the particles. It just made them stick to my bed, wall, and floor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First, that\u2019s gross. Since the particles floating around here in Beijing\u00a0<\/span>include things like arsenic cadmium, and lead<\/a>, I\u2019d rather not have them stick to my pillow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Second, they\u2019re still a danger. The particles are just sticking to my bed. So let\u2019s say Thomas comes home:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I sit down on my bed, I\u2019ll dislodge those particles, and they\u2019ll float back into the air. Here\u2019s my super scientific rendering of that process:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ionizers<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Those problems are what led Consumer Reports to publish tests and warn people not to buy the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze. Sharper Image sued Consumer Reports;\u00a0<\/span>Consumer Reports won<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

So when people send me links asking about these \u201cmiraculous\u201d ionizer purifiers, I tell them to steer clear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Careful not to over-generalize<\/b><\/h3>\n

But let\u2019s not draw too broad of a conclusion here. This doesn\u2019t mean ALL air purifiers are junk. Instead, I use\u00a0<\/span>HEPA filters<\/a>. HEPAs actually capture particles, be it PM2.5 or PM10, and they are backed by empirical tests (1<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>2<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>3<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>4<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>5<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>6<\/a>). Here\u2019s a little test I did with HEPA filters in Beijing:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
What\u2019s more, HEPA filters don\u2019t give off other harmful pollutants as they work, unlike the ionizers that give off harmful ozone.<\/div>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day,\u00a0someone on Quora asked\u00a0whether ionizers actually purify the air. This is an important question because ionizer purifiers are all over the place. For example, I was at a friend\u2019s apartment in the US, and I saw his tower fan had an ionizer button on it:     It\u2019s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":510,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}