Do car air purifiers work?
When you decide to invest in a good car air purifier for the first time, you might get anxious about the question “Do car Air purifiers really work?”
Yes, car air purifier works, but…
Maybe not all of them.
Before I tell you what type of car air purifier works or what features you need that makes a car air purifier effective, let me take your few seconds to explain to you how car air purifier works.
How does a car air purifier work?
A car air purifier is a device designed to purify the air pollutants present inside a car.
Like a normal water purifier, car air purifier also has a filter. The purifier scraps the surrounding air pollutants by sucking the air and forcing it to pass through its filter.
After a few repeated cycle of sucking and passing the air through its filter, it produces clean and pollution free air inside your car.
Do you require an air purifier for your car?
Polluted air may contain dust, pollen, smog, particulate matter(PM2.5 and PM10), cigarette smoke, pet dander and many more.
Crop burning, vehicular emissions, garbage dumping, industrial waste are damaging the environment by releasing the PM particles and other pollutants like Nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide in the air.
Particulate matter(PM) are categorized as PM2.5 and PM10.
PM2.5 are particles that have a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. The width of these particles is 30 times less than a human hair. They are so tiny that they can go easily deep into the lungs and then into the bloodstream causing severe damage to the human body.
PM10 are particles that have a diameter of 10 micrometers or less. They are small enough to pass through your throat and nose and then into your lungs.
As they can get deep into our lungs, prolonged exposure to PM particles can lead to reduced lung function, worsen asthma and heart diseases, bronchitis and reduced mortality due to lung cancer.
And these outdoor pollutants can easily get inside your car too.
If that is the case and if you are living in highly polluted cities like New Delhi and Beijing, then you might need to invest in a car air purifier to protect your family and yourself from air pollutants while traveling.
Are car air purifiers effective?Do they work?
Like I said above, yes they work. But you have to know what features you need to look before buying a car air purifier that works.
1)Type of Air Filter used
There are many types of filter used inside a car air purifier and among them, HEPA filters are the best.
A HEPA(High-Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters have an efficiency of 99.97%. This means HEPA filters are able to trap 99.97% of particles of size 0.3 microns. This also means that a HEPA filter traps particles that are 8 times smaller than PM 2.5 particles and 33 times smaller than a PM 10 particle.
So, make sure an air purifier has a HEPA filter in it.
2) CADR(Clean Air Delivery Rate)
CADR is a number assigned to an air purifier that determines how much volume of air can a purifier process in a given time.
Normally a CADR value of 12-15 cubic-m/hour is ideal for a car air purifier.
CADR of 15 cubic-m/hr means that the purifier can process the air in a 15 cubic-m area in an hour.
More the CADR, better the air purifier is.
3) Carbon Activated filter
A carbon activated filter along with a HEPA filter helps in getting rid of formaldehyde, VOCs and bad odors present inside a car.
A carbon activated filter with its activated charcoal filters out the gaseous pollutant.
4) Low noise
You don’t want your air purifier to be a loudspeaker.
Do you?
It is important to know about the noise level of your car air purifier. When you look at the specification chart of an air purifier, you will see the manufacturer specified noise level in unit dB.
An air purifer that has noise level of 40-50 db is considered not too noisy.
Final Verdict- For whom a car air purifier is ideal
It is a wise decision to invest in a good car air purifier if you want you and your family to protect from the rising level of air pollution.
You can check real-time air quality index online to know about how bad the outdoor air in your city is.
A car air purifier is ideal while traveling with kids, pregnant woman, allergic and asthmatic individuals and you can check some recommended car air purifier here.
