What is the less expensive Hepa air purifier? (considering filters change)?
Art Studio Air Purifier-5 Things It Must Do
Keeping the air healthy in your art studio is as important as having the right light and paint. Here are 5 things to look for in an air purifier to insure effectiveness.
Remove Chemical Fumes—Many of the products that are used to create beautiful works of art contain volatile organic chemicals that evaporate into the air. These chemicals are contained in oil paint, inks, varnish, turpentine, and many other solvents. Inhaling even a small amount of these fumes can cause headaches, watery and burning eyes, sore throat, and dizziness.
Studies have shown that breathing these fumes day after day can cause long term health problems. And if your studio is connected to your home, these fumes can expose others in your family such as children and pets to the hazards of these chemicals.
Carbon has been shown to be the most effective type of filter to remove gaseous pollutants. An air purifier that is to be effective at eliminating these chemicals must have a carbon-based filter with an additive that increase its effectiveness at airborne chemical elimination
Eliminate Particles—Sanding, chiseling, and grinding can all send millions of particles into the air. Wearing a mask is effective to a point, but many of these particulates remain in the air for quite a while. An effective air cleaner must be able to effectively and continually eliminate these particles.
HEPA or high efficiency particle arresting filters are the best for removal of airborne particulates. By definition they must be able to remove 99,997 out of every 10,000 particles that are.3 microns or greater. This is the same type of technology used in hospitals to insure clean air.
Adjustable Filtration Speeds—Because no 2 days are probably the same in your studio, your air cleaner must be able to adapt quickly to the conditions around it. When you know there are more chemicals and/or particles in the air, you need to be able to filter the air faster to keep air quality high. A cleaner must have the ability to clean at various rates in order to keep the air fresh regardless of how many pollutants are being created in your studio.
Run 24 Hours—-It may take hours for fumes to dissipate and particles to settle from the air in your studio. A cleaner with a split capacitor motor is able to run 24 hours a day every day. This is important because it can continue to clean the air while you are away. This means you are always able to enter a studio that smells clean and encourages the creativity within you.
Be Cost Effective—-You are much more likely to use an air purifier that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to run. There can often be hidden costs such as frequent filter changes, and the cost of your time to maintain it. Your cleaner should be able to run for years without a filter change. And maintenance should be as simple as vacuuming the outside whenever you vacuum your studio. Any thing more in terms of maintenance is too expensive in both time and money and should not be considered.
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Remove chemical fumes and particles from the air in your art studio with the air purifier at
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MY husband and I purshased the Oreck air purifier and it is wonderful and my husband does not snore any more.
whats an air purifier?
I’m not sure if this is what you wanted, but I would go for one that is included on a vacuum cleaner. Some are even rinsable, so they don’t need changed as often, at least my Shark is like this. Usually the HEPAs come on the higher end bagless cyclonics, but that isn’t always true, and they are coming down in price all the time. There are some well within the 150 US dollar range…is that in the budget? Keep in mind this is for a HEPA machine, with a vac thrown in!
Of course, they aren’t in use all the time…but if you even set it up in the corner to run for a couple minutes without vacuuming, it would clean the air nicely. And then you aren’t paying elec to run it all the time.
For strictly air quality machines, you can also consider an ionic purifier. There are different price ranges, and they are good for even the teeny tiniest bacteria just like a HEPA, they kind of work on the principles of magnetism, I think (ions are "sticky") instead of trapping the particles in the microscopic grid of a HEPA filter. Plus all you have to do is wipe the metal bar inside. No maintenance costs.
One definite downside of my ionic machine, I have one called Ionic Pro, a knockoff of a Sharper Image…is that it makes a distinct irritating noise. It isn’t loud, or constant. It kind of sounds like a bug zapper on extremely low volume, it is a popping/rattling sound. It also makes a little squeaky noise. For the longest time, I thought I had mice in my walls! Once I knew this wasn’t the case, I was a lot better off and could tune it out.
Sears has a few models of HEPA air purifiers that are decent….however, the replacement filters are expensive – about $100 each year. The initial cost of the one I bought at Sears was about $200…I have had it for three years, works great, but in that time I have spent an extra $250 on filters (most HEPA air purifiers also need a "pre-filter" that filters out larger particles – they are cheap, but add to the overall cost). Also, HEPA air purifiers can be quite loud because of the overall movement of air they cause…they basically work like powerful fans.
I have been researching alternatives for myself, since the filter cost is so high and I dont like the noise. After a few months of looking around I am going with the Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image. They cost a little more at the beginning, but are silent, better at trapping/killing germs, and no filters to replace. Plus, I have recently seen specials for BUY ONE GET ONE FREE….around $400.
I would suggest Alen or Sharp air purifiers if you’re looking for one that’s effective and economical in the long run.
Sharp Plasmacluster is a good option.The filter lasts around 5 years and the pre-filter washable. However, it’s air cleaning power is not as good as an Alen’s. It costs you around $260.
The Alen A250 is for small room and it’s around $250. The replacement filter is around $40 and lasts for 9 mths.
There are other cheaper air purifiers like the Austin or Honeywell. However, the replacement filter costs are much higher than an Alen’s or Sharp’s in the long term.
So, think long term. Air purifiers are machines that will burn your pocket in the long run if you don’t do the maths correctly.
Good luck!