One of the air purifier questions
we receive most often, especially from our customers in wonderful places like
Hawaii, is what to do about the windows. Do they leave the windows open while
air purifiers are running or not?
This is a tough question and depends in part upon where you live and what is
causing you or your family member problems that led to your purchase of an air
purifier. It also depends in part upon what kind of technology your air
purifiers use to clean the air and how sensitive you are to the expense of
changing filters if your air purifier has HEPA or activated carbon filtration.
In general, it’s not a very good idea to leave air purifiers running while
you have the windows wide open. If you have a crack in the windows to allow
some fresh air in, that’s one thing, but with the windows wide open, you are
requiring the air purifier to clean up Mother Nature. Air
purifiers are designed to optimally clean a specific square footage of area. If
you run it with the windows open, the unit will still clean, but its cleaning
power is diminished. The other problem is that running the air purifier with
open windows greatly increases the amount of particulate in the air which will
fill up the HEPA
filter faster, or at least the pre-filter if the particles are large. That
means you’ll incur more cost in changing filters because they will fill up
faster.
If the problem you have the air purifier for is seasonal allergies, then it
certainly is not a good idea to leave the windows open during the pollen
season. It is best to run your air conditioner if possible (with clean
electrostatic filters in the system) and to run your portable room air
purifiers 24/7. If you do not have air conditioning and need to leave the
windows open to cool the house, then leave the air purifier off during the
day, but an hour before bedtime, close up the bedroom if possible (doors and
windows), and run the air purifier on the high speed. During allergy season,
it is especially important to be able to sleep in a clean room. Most allergy
and asthma attacks happen during the night, but a clean room (and clean
bedding) will help a great deal.
During times of the year, when the pollen count is low, you can open your
windows, but leave the air purifier off. If you begin to feel congested or
have other symptoms from the indoor air not being as clean, you’ll know it is
time to close them up again and run the air purifier continuously.
If your problem is multiple chemical sensitivity and you’re running the air
purifier because of the activated carbon that is removing the toxic chemicals,
you’ll need to keep the windows closed, or as above, turn the air purifier off
when you have them open and run it on high, when your body tells you the
indoor air has degraded.
If you are running an electrostatic air purifier, like the Friedrich or
Trion, you will have
to wash the plates more often if you run it with the windows open. You do not
incur extra cost like you do with HEPA air purifiers, but they won’t work as
effectively as it will with the windows closed either.
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