Many air purifier companies add fancy features to help market their products. One of these features is an air purifier auto mode, also called “smart mode”. The problem? Test data shows an air purifier’s auto mode routinely fails, leaving users with dangerous air. The idea behind smart purifiers’ auto mode …
PM2.5 and PM10 are the two types of air pollution that the WHO estimates affect “more people than any other pollutant,” but they are different. Here’s how the two contrast. PM2.5 Meaning PM2.5 (Particulate Matter 2.5): “PM” refers to particulate matter—particles in the air. PM2.5 are tiny airborne particles with a …
The boring answer is “it depends on your filter,” but here are three much more useful insights I’ve learned from actually testing HEPA lifespan: I’m not an expert in air pollution. I was just a poor grad student living in Beijing, and I started making DIY air purifiers to cope with one …
Working on DIY air purifiers for over 6 years, I’ve heard from a lot of people who have strong intuitions about cleaning car air filter. People tell me they wash their vehicle’s air filter, vacuum it, or bang it really hard. Opinions are plenty, but what about real, hard data? …
When buying an air purifier, the terms ‘airflow’ and CADR are often used interchangeably to describe an air purifier’s performance. But what’s the difference between CADR (clean air delivery rate) and airflow? Are they the same thing? Or which one – CADR vs. airflow – should be used when buying …
Choosing which air purifier to buy can seem complicated. With thousands of air purifier models to choose from, how to choose? In this air purifier buying guide, we take you through the four steps on how to choose an air purifier. What’s the Best Air Purifier? The best air purifiers …
What is N95 Mask Used for? N95 respirators are an important part of healthcare personal protective equipment (PPE), filtering out over 95% of particles as small as 0.3 microns when properly fitted to the user’s face. They have been found to result in fewer viral infections among healthcare workers compared …
Air purifiers work best in a closed room environment, but this makes some people worry that closing windows starves us of oxygen. Worried about how long you can survive in an airtight room? Well, recent tests in a real apartment — with as many as seven people in a small …
There are many ionizer air purifiers available on the market today. These devices work by using charged ions to make airborne particles stick to surfaces, which helps the particles get captured more easily by filters. A big downside of ionizers is that they cause particles to stick inside our lungs! …
When the “airpocalypse” struck Beijing, I got out my credit card to give $1,000 to IQ Air. But the price just didn’t seem right. I soon learned that HEPA filters are what capture particulates (even in the expensive machines), and they were invented way back in the 1940s. So I made my …
