Residents of city apartments often encounter air pollution in their homes. Many people try to avoid this problem by buying an air ionizer for their apartment.
This device works by generating ions that fill the air composition of nitrogen and oxygen with a negative charge. Thanks to the operation of the ionizing apparatus, the room maintains an atmosphere of freshness, because the air masses after ionization are free of foreign odors. In addition to apartment ionizers, there are similar units, refreshing refrigerators, and cars.
Beneficial effects of ionizers
The positive effect of a device that ionizes air masses is well known. It has long been known that the production of ions significantly improves the health of the body. Purifying the air helps to increase the energy of the body. Inhaling ionized air has the following positive effects:
- efficiency and activity increases;
- the general condition of the body improves;
- the immune system is strengthened;
- sleep is normalized, insomnia goes away;
- depression, apathy disappear, the psychological state of the body improves;
- the rate of gas exchange increases, blood flow through the vessels is stimulated, the functioning of most organs is normalized and improved;
- a number of diseases are cured and progress easier.
Charged ions help improve pulmonary gas exchange by activating the work of red blood cells.
Ions prevent contamination of the body by dust particles and other unwanted air impurities. Negative ions, fixing molecules of foreign substances, pull them down.
Harm of ionization
Despite the seemingly obvious advantages of using the device, a number of negative consequences from this unit were also noted.
If you use an air ionizer for a long enough time, or if the device ionizes dry rooms, the chance of free electrical charges increases (especially if the device does not have a humidification function). As a result, any contact with the appliance or metal surfaces will result in mild electric shocks.
In addition to producing particles that carry a positive charge, the device also generates ozone, which is a toxic substance. Excessive saturation of the body with this gas causes fatigue, apathy, lethargy, and nausea. Ozone has a specific, powerful odor that is easily noticeable at elevated concentrations. The device should be turned off at night.
Poor ventilation of air masses in unventilated apartments increases heavy air ions, increases their number, making it difficult to remove dust particles through the respiratory tract.
Incorrect installation and configuration of the device can be harmful. The result of this may be that the device will provide the residents of the apartment with the opposite effect to the desired one. Instead of improving health, the body will be harmed. This especially applies to people suffering from kidney disease, allergies, asthma, for example, if an ionizing device with a bactericidal radiation function will refresh an unventilated room where many people are constantly present.Therefore, only competent specialists need to work with the drug.
The device charges all microparticles located among the air masses. Therefore, dust particles and microorganisms also acquire a charge. Then negatively charged dust and microbes fill various surfaces of the room or electrodes of the unit. As a result, a significant amount of dust will always accumulate around the ionizing device, which is why the room with this device will require frequent wet cleaning. In addition, charged dust particles will clog the bodies of people visiting the apartment and pollute the respiratory organs. For this reason, the air ionizer must be positioned so that a distance of at least 1 meter is maintained between it and people.
There are also a number of different medical contraindications that limit the use of the device:
- For some time, it is undesirable to breathe ionized air for people who have recently undergone any surgery;
- the device is harmful for people suffering from severe cerebral circulatory disorders;
- the ionizing device will have to be removed from the room where infants less than 12 months old live;
- If there is a patient suffering from an airborne disease, the device should be turned off until the patient recovers. Also, the device is turned off when the air contains viruses, otherwise the disease will quickly be transmitted to all people in the room with the ionizer;
- personal intolerance to negatively ionized air (the most rare contraindication);
- the device increases the speed of the body's metabolic processes, so it can be harmful to people suffering from various malignant tumors of the body, especially cancer cells, as well as inflammatory processes accompanied by high body temperature;
- asthmatics are not recommended to breathe air treated with an ionizer;
- Increased sensitivity to charged air is also a contraindication for the installation of this device.
If an apartment accumulates a significant amount of dust or smoke (for example, the homes of heavy smokers or apartments that have survived a fire), then turning on the device here is only allowed during the period when there are no people indoors, otherwise contamination of the respiratory organs with these particles will become inevitable.
Choosing an air ionizer
When purchasing a device that purifies the air composition, it is worth clarifying the future operating conditions of the device. Particular attention should be paid to the following points:
- The main indicator according to which air purifiers are evaluated is the ion concentration generated by the device. The optimal value is 400-50 thousand units/cm3.
- For the ionizer, an electrostatic filter is desirable, which is easy to clean;
- in the children's room it is advisable to place a salt lamp, which is a natural ionizer;
- it is necessary to clarify the declared usable area of the room by choosing a device that corresponds to the dimensions of the room;
- an apartment inhabited by smokers requires a device that emits a certain amount of ozone to destroy tobacco smoke. However, the maximum permissible concentration of this gas is 0.03 mg/cubic meter;
- bipolar ionizers are ideal for rooms containing few computers, televisions, and other electronic equipment;
- When equipping dry, unventilated apartments with an ionizer, it is necessary to equip the device with an air humidifier;
- Some devices are equipped with special sensors, indicators, and control panels. These devices are easier to control, but tend to cost more;
- When buying a device, you need to ask the seller to provide technical and hygienic certificates for the device.
