What are your thoughts on air purifiers?

Asked by LifeQuestioner (4203

) June 7th, 2023

Most of us live and work in buildings that have air filters, but many of us with allergies, etc. also have air purifiers. Is this a redundant mechanism?

I did get my job to agree to my getting an air purifier for my office, but I am still a bit miffed by their response. I let them know that I frequently get dry itchy eyes and an irritated nose while at work, and that I would thus like to order a small air purifier for my desk. (Note that the assistant pastor in the office next to mine already has one that the church purchased for him.)

My request was met by the following: “I don’t expect that a unit like that will do much when fighting against the air handler unit for the church, but if you would like to try it, I don’t mind.”

I thanked the respondee and left it at that, but I don’t understand why he doesn’t understand that the air handler unit is obviously not adequately handling the dust in my office. Not to mention, we are in an area of the country that is experiencing really bad air quality right now, due to the smoke coming down from the Canadian wildfires. I am sitting in my office with the door closed, with the doors to the outside some 30 feet or so away from my office door, and I can smell the smoke in the air.

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5 Answers

They’ll work in small, enclosed spaces. They don’t do much out in the open and they won’t magically de-dust an area. If you can get your area super clean an air purifier will help keep the future airborne dust at bay, but only in an enclosed space. Air is already filtered through the building HVAC. That’s what the response was talking about.

Blackwater_Park (9147

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If you get dry itchy eyes in an environment with AC the problem is probably the air is too dry rather than irritants left in the air. You may be better off with a humidifier or moisturising eye drops (although be careful with those – the US has had issues with contaminated batches recently)

Lightlyseared (34863

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@Lightlyseared but I know that’s not the case for me because I have my AC on at home quite a bit, since I have grass allergies as well. And I never have that problem at home. If anything, the AC is on less at work. It’s something specific in the environment of my office that is irritating my eyes and nose.

LifeQuestioner (4203

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@LifeQuestioner I’ve heard/read about people complaining about carpeting bothering them for probably 15 years. It’s cheap, industrial, and probably has a bazillion chemicals floating up from it. Not to mention whatever cleaning products are used. But I don’t think a purifier would help with chemicals.

smudges (11188

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@smudges but again, there’s carpet in my apartment and in my office, so I don’t think it would be that because it’s only when I’m working that I have that issue.

LifeQuestioner (4203

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