Ionic Air Purifier

An ionic air purifier works to remove dust and other impurities in your air by pulling household air through a device that extracts the dust using an electrostatic charge.  You can buy your own ionic air purifiers by searching on the Internet and by shopping at most household and home improvement centers.

An ionic air purifier works differently from most fans and air purifiers that you may have seen.  Surprisingly there are no moving parts in one of these devices since they don't use anything as old fashioned as a fan to move the air. Instead, they use a complex system of electronics to move the air from one side to the other and draw the dust out of the air through static electricity: It's like charging up a comb with static and finding that it attracts the dust from your couch: this is the same principle applied to an air purifier.

Ionic air purifiers are controversial because many people believe that they simply don't work and that the benefits of buying one are dubious.  Some people claim to have tested these purifiers and found that it's simply a case of placebo effect: No air moves in or out of the device, and no dust is removed from the air, but some people still like them because they believe the strong marketing associated with these devices and want to believe that they are doing the best for their family and house.  Because of the controversy, it's important to evaluate the claims of ionic air purifiers skeptically and try to sort out the science from the marketing.  If you can't take the risk that these devices may be purely marketing, it's probably a better idea to purchase a more traditional air purifier which may not be as high tech, but has been proven to work with its older technology over the years.  The rule of thumb with an air purifier is that if it does not have a place to remove the dust that has been removed from the air over the passing days or weeks, it's probably not purifying the air very well and may not be worth your time or money. If you purchase an ionic air purifier and find that you see less dust around the house and find yourself sneezing less since there is less dust around, keep using the device.  If it seems to not be doing much except drawing some electricity and looking very high tech and post modern in the corner, feel free to return it and complain that it certainly does not do what the manufacturer claims.