How Long Should You Run an Air Purifier For the Best Results
For most of us who are new to air purifiers, a question intrigues us. And the question is, how long should you run an air purifier? This is the most common question you hear from most air purifier users.
This myth needs to be sorted out permanently for many new users. For this reason, we thought to bring some valuable information on air purifiers.
This article will discuss every aspect that will soothe you and make you a happy user of your air purifier. From this information, you will draw a perfect conclusion on how long should you run an air purifier? Let us explain the time you can run your air purifier in a day.
“The time you can utilize your air purifier is 24 hours a day”.
It means that you can use your air purifier throughout the day without facing any issues. However, a lot depends on different factors like filters, CADR (clean air delivery rate), the size of the room, the displacement of air, and air circulation.
An air purifier will usually purify an entire space in half an hour to two hours. Alternatively, you can run the air purifier at full throttle for a couple of hours and then switch to a low speed to maintain the air quality. Here are the factors that you need to consider.
Factors for How Long Should You Run An Air Purifier?
Several factors influence the time needed to run an air purifier. Below are some of the factors that affect its duration.
- Air Changes Per Hour
- Clean Air Delivery Rate
- Pollution levels
- Size of the room
- Types of Filters
- Air Extraction Rate
- Height Of Room
-
Time Require To Purify Room
-
Clean Air All Day And All Night
-
10. Cost Associated With Clean Air Operations
1. Air Changes Per Hour
Your air purifier shows how much time it takes to clean the air of your room by running. For your air purifier to operate perfectly, it depends upon the time air changes per hour.
It is essential to determine how long it should run based on how many air changes it makes per hour. A device’s air change rate is the air changes per Hour. According to the ACH, the maximum size of the room is based on your specific device.
Hence, you will need to run the program longer if your room is bigger than the one mentioned on the packaging. In smaller rooms, the run-time can be reduced.
The device must be appropriately used for this to work. Clean the filters regularly and replace them as necessary. Moreover, the efficiency of your purifier’s filters determines how much air it can clean on a single run.
2. Clean Air Delivery Rate
The amount of air that an air purifier can clean is limited. Consequently, the type of air purifier required depends on the room’s size.
In addition, it depends on the room area. The minimum CADR is needed. CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) measures an air purifier’s caliber.
By converting cubic feet to cubic feet per minute, we can estimate how much indoor air is cleaned by the air purifier. Nonetheless, the CADR only applies to airborne particles transport. It does not apply to gas transport.
3. Pollution Levels
Your air purifier’s run time is affected by several factors, including the power of the air purifier and the level of air pollutants in your room such as dust mites, pet dander, and other allergens.
Most air purifiers do not display pollution levels inside your room. It is therefore challenging to know the air quality inside your home.
However, the indoor air quality level is indicated by air quality indicators in some more advanced air purifiers. When the air quality indicator shows low pollution levels, you can turn off or set the device to its lowest setting.
Additionally, these lights help determine if you should enter the room right now or wait until the air is cleaner for a safe entry.
4. Size Of the Room
The air purifier needs to run all the air in the room through its filters before it can be deemed clean. The ACH is an excellent indication of the required run-time for a purifier that has enough CADR for your room.
Accordingly, room size is the second most important factor, right after the ACH. Air purifiers usually list the maximum recommended room size in their manual or packaging. Additionally, it is safest to run your air purifier longer since your filters become dirty over time and lead to lower efficiency.
5. Types of Filters
Activated carbon filters are sometimes found in air purifiers with HEPA filters. There will be much more excellent resistance to the airflow of the air purifier if the number of filters is large.
In this case, the air purifier will take longer to purify all the air currently present in the room. It is common for air purifiers to need 2 hours more to clean the air with various filters. So, run your air purifiers for at least two hours for fresh indoor air.
6. Air Extraction Rate
An air purifier cleans a certain amount of indoor air per hour by extraction. The speed at which the appliance can clean the air determines how fast the air is cleaned. Changes in air pressure are usually used to measure this.
Generally, air purifiers rates change the air four times per hour. When placed indoors, they can clean indoor air twice as quickly. Further, most air purifiers are rated to change the air two times per hour.
In other words, a HEPA air purifier with a four-change extraction rate can successfully purify the room’s air for one hour if it is positioned in such a way.
7. Height of Room
Rooms usually reach a height of 8 feet. Your residential air purifier is recommended for rooms of a maximum size based on this information. In any case, if the height of your room differs, your calculation of the run-time must take this into account.
By multiplying the recommended room size of the air purifier by 8 you can figure out the room size of the air purifier. The cubic foot dimensions will be displayed accordingly.
8. Time Require To Purify A Room
Purifying a room’s air would take an air purifier about 30 minutes to 2 hours on average. After running an air purifier for 20 minutes, you should notice an improvement in the room’s air quality.
Additionally, the effectiveness of an air purifier is dependent on several factors. These factors include the rate of air changes per hour, the model type, and the size of the room to be purified. Air can be extracted from a room in an hour using the extraction rate.
An air purifier’s efficiency is also highly dependent on the weather where it is installed. In the summer, pollutants such as pollen are more prevalent. Therefore an air purifier must operate for a more extended period to properly clean the air.
In comparison with an air cleaner that runs at two air changes per hour, running a HEPA air cleaner at 4 air changes per hour for 15 minutes would take about half as long to clean the air. Furthermore, the air cleaner should be able to deliver enough airflow to fit the size of the room.
9. Clean Air All Day And All Night
The air purifier should run continuously throughout the day and at night. Despite the unit’s ability to clean 95% of airborne impurities currently present in the air within 1-2 hours. Further, it only keeps it clean as long as it is running.
You can get air from outside into your house through the vents in every room. In addition to odors and dust particles, this air can contain allergens such as pollen and dust. As impurities from the outside build up in the air when your air purifier is not operational, all the room air will again become dirty.
10. Cost Associated with Clean Air Operations
When it comes to your electric bill, be wary of spending too much. Find out when the off-peak times are with your energy provider. Few people consume energy between 9:00 pm and 9:00 am, resulting in lower electricity rates.
The best time to run your unit is usually between 9:00 pm and 9:00 am. There is a way using it will let you save your hard-earned money. As long as your unit is running, you’ll be able to filter the air in your room. Further, let the air purifier do its job whenever you are in the room. And when you are not at home or outside at work, you can restrict your air purifier.
It means that you can run your purifier for as many days as you need to during regular hours. Splitting these times is also an option. If you use the air purifier at work or while relaxing. You may want to run it 1-2 hours before going to bed and 1-2 hours after waking up.
The only thing you need is the help of a timer that will regulate the operations of your air purifier for you. We hope you now have come to a better conclusion for How Long Should You Run An Air Purifier?
Should You Sleep With an Air Purifier On?
To ensure you are breathing clean air all night long, you should use an air purifier in your bedroom. Furthermore, place your air purifier safely where the unit will have the most effective cleaning function in your bedroom.
In addition, you must place the unit, so it can absorb dirty air and release purified air toward you. This is especially true if the unit comes with a jet focus mode. Now you can leave an air purifier on while sleeping.
Is It Safe To Run Your Air Purifier too Much?
There are numerous air purifiers currently available in the market that use a self-adaptive feature. Most air purifiers are built to function nonstop without suffering any damage, so running them nonstop is perfectly safe.
Even if you leave it on all night, your air purifier will not cause you a problem. Even when the air purifier runs for long periods, the HEPA filter does not get damaged or hot. Because of this feature, your air purifier detects indoor air quality and turns its operations only when needed.
In the case of standard air quality, this air purifier will turn into a super low-power mode. In other cases, the air purifier goes to standby mode. And it will not operate at all. Thus, it is cost-effective to get clean air with this air purifier running.
Conclusion
A common misconception is that running an air purifier all day will improve indoor air quality. No doubt there are many benefits that these air purifiers provide you, but it comes with certain downsides. These downsides are that filters will wear out faster, especially HEPA filters.
We hope that we have covered everything necessary to have adequate information on running your air purifier. Consequently, you should keep your air purifier running for a certain period. This limited time will be appropriate for your room for eliminating all the indoor pollutants.
An air purifier can improve the quality of your room’s air for 30 minutes to two hours in most cases. Now you can run your air purifier for extended hours or limited hours. The choice is yours. It all depends on various factors discussed with you in the above sections.
