It’s a no-brainer that carpets can hold onto and trap many particles inside your home.  An air purifier is a device that removes contaminants from the air. Carpets and an air purifier in retrospect have similar characteristics, as they both act as a filter for contaminants and particles.  Air purifiers trap air pollutants and contaminants, and carpets trap dirt and contaminants.

Air purifiers remove pollutants using one of the three most common methods filtration, ionizing, and electrostatic precipitation. One of the most important developments was the HEPA technologies in the 1940’s. In fact, the most effective form of air filtration is a HEPA (High-efficiency particulate absorber filter). These super-filters remove 99% or more of airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns from the air. This includes the most common allergens which are pet dander, pollen, mold spores, along with numerous types of bacteria. Air purifiers are not cheap, they fluctuate in price anywhere from $80 to $1,000. They are highly recommended for anyone who suffers from allergies or asthma. Texas is a state that’s known to be one of the most challenging places for allergies, an air purifier could be a wise investment if your family is plagued with allergies.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in its site for school indoor air quality, cautions that carpet “acts as a reservoir for dust, dirt, pollen, mold spores, pesticides, and other materials. However, the EPA concedes that meticulous maintenance of carpet with a vacuum cleaner with high-performance filtration and periodic wet extraction cleaning will remove the allergens and other bad stuff trapped in carpet.

Can an air purifier assist with the contaminants that are released into your carpets? To a small degree, yes they can. If air purifiers can filter out microscopic contaminants out of the air, that is less dust and pollutants that your carpet could be absorbing. That doesn’t mean you need to go out and purchase an air purifier. With routine vacuuming and carpet cleaning methods, that is what will prove to be the results for keeping your carpet contamination at bay.

If you are in the market for an air purifier, make sure and do your research. The most effective air purifiers tend to be HEPA but make sure to distinguish true HEPA filters from “HEPA-type” filters because they are not the same. “HEPA-type” filters are those that look similar to true HEPA filters but fail to meet the same requirements. They are not standardized and can have any range of efficiency and minimum particle size cleaning.