Purified air, what benefits does it give us indoors?

We don't always worry about the air we breathe. At least, not as much as other basic functions for our health. For example, water, which when consumed in poor condition feels unappetizing. Or food, of course, which is what we pay the most attention to when it comes to taking care of ourselves. But, normally, many people don't care too much about air until it becomes very harmful or has high levels of pollution, unless it is noticeable due to a very bad smell. At least indoors, we have the option to breathe purified air that has been previously cleaned - just like water can be freed from its impurities -, something that is capable of incorporating real improvements to our health.

In many homes, a few decades ago, it was said that the best way to breathe fresh and quality air was to open the windows. And, depending on the season of the year, freshness could come from the temperature differences. But the quality of outdoor air didn’t necessarily have to be better. Nowadays it is known that, in too many cities, what is breathed on some days of the year is of low quality and contains air pollutants that dirty this basic good. This can even make it dangerous under certain circumstances.

However, poor quality air indoors can be as harmful or even more than outdoors. On one hand, we face the problem that if the air entering the house through the windows is polluted, we will dirty our home environment even more. It is worse if we allow stale air to form between our walls, because the use of detergents, the fumes generated from cooking or other elements cause the air we breathe to get dirty, coexisting with a poison at home.

The problems arising from poor air quality are many: from encouraging the onset of respiratory diseases to poor concentration or sleep complications. However, what are the main benefits of purified air for enjoying a healthy and comfortable home?

• Quality air mitigates respiratory problems and reduces the possibility of medical complications.
• If there are children or elderly people at home, indoor air needs to be taken care of much more to avoid diseases.
• With purified air, we can sleep and rest much better.
• We gain in well-being and also gain in appearance, with skin in better health conditions.
• Clothes will also be cleaner, as well as furniture. Dust is much less present.
• The possibility of contracting allergies is reduced by breathing purified air.
• Irritability and anxiety are also reduced.
• Clean air helps to have better coexistence with domestic animals.
• With quality air, it is harder for insects to invade our homes.

For these reasons, it is very important to breathe the highest quality air possible at home. To achieve this, it’s not enough to just open the windows - in fact, the best solutions to improve the quality of what we breathe work with the windows closed - but we need a ventilation system or an air purifier.

How to live with purified air at home

There are several solutions to achieve higher quality air at home. Some of them are fully effective and others simply fail to meet their purpose, although there are mid-level options that can serve us in certain situations.

The most economical way is to install an air purifier. It requires no installation, can be moved between different rooms, and has an affordable price. However, before opting for one purification machine, several details need to be considered:

• Small size purifiers do not work. There are many models available that, rather than achieving quality air, only manage to increase our electricity bill.
• The size of the rooms will significantly influence the purifier’s capabilities. It is not recommended for large spaces.
• One of the issues with air purifiers is that they often only clean the air close to them, but not every corner of a room. It’s important to circulate the air using fans.
• They take up space and cannot be placed in a corner, as they must be able to collect air without issues.
• They purify the air inside a room, but not the air that enters it.

The best solution for achieving purified air is a mechanical double-flow ventilation system. For a consumption similar to that of a light bulb, this option eliminates contaminated or poor quality air from our homes and introduces filtered outside air through another duct. In this case, low-quality air never enters, and when it loses its properties, it is mechanically extracted. Although it requires a larger installation, mechanical ventilation is the best option for breathing purified air indoors.