Cleaning Up Your Indoor Air in a Wildfire Zone
If you live in an area that is affected by wildfire and you already have an air purifier, this article will guide you in the use of the air purifier to help you make your home or office safer for breathing. If you do not own an air purifier, but are wondering if one might be useful in helping you clean your home, this article will guide you in purchasing and using one.
Indeed, if you are in an area affected by wildfire, you already know that smoke is composed of a tremendous concentration of very fine particulate matter, which can wreak havoc with your health. Even if you are essentially sealing yourself up in your home, those microscopic particles carried by the wind can seep into your house. An air purifier is not really appropriate for cleaning up the large, very visible particles which settle out of the air onto surfaces, and are easily wiped up, but can make a significant difference in removing the tiny and very fine particulate from the air that is breathed right past the cilia in the nose, and into your body. An air purifier will get the small stuff that causes big respiratory problems.
If you own an air purifier and you intend to use it to help your home recover from the onslaught of smoke and ash, you will first want to determine the state of the filters. If you have an IQAir unit with monitors, check those. If you have Blueair, Austin Air, Aller Air or other air purifier brands, try to determine how long it has been since you changed their filters. If they are due, quickly obtain new filters. It is particularly important that you change the prefilter which will prevent the HEPA filter from getting filled up with the smoke-related particulate too fast.
If necessary, you can move your air purifier from room to room during the day, but certainly you should try to eliminate the airborne smoke particulate in the bedrooms as soon as possible. Leave the air purifier off while you are doing a thorough cleaning - vacuuming, wiping all surfaces and windows clean of the fine smoke and ash dust - then turn the air purifier on high and let it remove what has been stirred up from the cleaning. Unfortunately, depending on what the wind carries in and how much rain you get, you may have to clean every day for a while.
If you have never owned an air purifier, and are considering purchasing one to help your home recover, there are a few basics to keep in mind. First, air purifier brands and models differ dramatically. Our website, www.airpurifiers.com has 460 pages of information on air purifier uses and even reviews of models we don't sell. Take half an hour to review some of the articles and guidance on the site to learn what the technology differences are. Second, choose a model with a filter than can hold a lot of particulate, and absorb a lot of odor and chemicals, such as the Austin Air HealthMate. An inexpensive air purifier, which can be obtained at a home improvement store, will typically have small filters that are made for fairly clean houses, and will fill up very, very quickly, in a wildfire zone.
The air purifier specialists at ClearFlite will be happy to discuss your particulate removal needs and your budget for one air purifier, or multiple units that can work synergistically if you have a large home. We will help you to return your home to its previous state of breathability, and quite possibly to make it even better than it was before the wildfire.
