| Ionic air purifiers have been hurtled into the | | | | potency of airborne particles without actually |
| spotlight with the advent of the Sharper Image | | | | drawing them into the filter itself. The Sharper |
| air purifier, called the Ionic Breeze. Despite a round | | | | Image air purifier now comes with an |
| of advertising that has wearied rather than | | | | OzoneGuard, which claims to convert a significant |
| enthused consumers, many other manufacturers | | | | amount of dangerous ozone into oxygen, but this |
| have joined the ionic air purifier market. So are ion | | | | arguably is a relatively useless feature, as much |
| air purifiers actually any good? | | | | of the dangerous ozone that might be in your |
| The main selling point of ionic air purifiers is the | | | | home would be generated by a different kind of |
| silence with which they are said to remove | | | | air purifier. |
| particles from the air. This is due to the lack of | | | | There is no doubt that ionic air purifiers do have |
| circulating fan in this type of air cleaner, as the | | | | some air cleaning capacity, but this is likely to be |
| Sharper Image air purifier, the original ionic cleaner, | | | | insufficient as to make a real difference to the |
| relies on electrostatic plates to circulate the air. | | | | quality of the air in your home, particularly if there |
| Independent tests have shown, however, that | | | | is an allergy or asthma sufferer under your roof. |
| this reliance is somewhat misplaced - while a | | | | While ion air purifiers might be better than nothing, |
| fan-assisted air purifier can process a room's air | | | | you might be better advised to spend your hard |
| within one minute, this ionic air purifier has a | | | | earned money on an air purifier that has been |
| turnover rate move only an estimated couple of | | | | tried and tested, and been proven to reliably |
| cubic meters per hour. | | | | remove a significant amount of airborne particles |
| Some ion air purifiers have added extra features | | | | from the atmosphere in your home. The ionic air |
| to increase the effectiveness of their cleaning | | | | purifier is not this type of air cleaner. |
| power. Some manufacturers have added negative | | | | Ionic air purifiers - are they worth buying or not? |
| ion capabilities, which claim to neutralize the | | | | Maybe not. |