Filtrete™ Room Air Purifiers - Frequently Asked Questions

The air inside a house can be 2 to 5 times worse than outdoors. We live, sleep and cook as well as have palnts and animals in our homes. All these aspects of modern life introduce particles that can cause allergic reactions includeing sore, itchy eyes, running nose and sneezing. These particles include pollen, dust, mould spores, dust mite debris, cigarette smoke and pet dander. Most of these are too small to be visible to the human eye. Some are as small as 1.0 micron, which is 500 times smaller than the width of a human hair. These particles that, when exposed to in a significant quantity of over a duration of time, people develop allergies towards.

Air purifiers are designed to remove particles from the air. The aim being to reduce an individual's exposure to the air born allergens. Room air purifiers come in various shapes and sizes. There are two considerations to make when purchasing one.

1. The clean air Delivery Rate(CADR). This is a measure of an air cleaner's delivery of particle free air. The higher the CADR, the quicker the air cleaning. CADR is usually measured over three particles: smoke, dust, pollen, each of which will be removed at different rates.
   
2. The effective room size. This is the room siz the purifer is capable of cleaning. The typical UK bedroom is arounf 13m². Make sure your purifier is adequate for the intended room.
   

Filtrete room air purifiers have been developed by 3M through over a decade of innovation and product improvement. They use patented filter technology which allows more air to pass through the purifier. As a result, allergens such as dust and pollen are removed more quickly.

Most permanent and washable filters quickly lose there electrostatic properties through washing and clogging. Filtrete room air purifiers use replaceable filters to deliver and enhance filtration of an electrostatic filter on a sustained basis.

In summary, Filtrete Room Air Purifiers deliver:

• Up to 30% more circulation
  
• Up to 24% higher pollen capture rate
  
• Up to 12% higher dust capture rate
  

Filtrete™ are electrostatically charged during production. This means that particles passing through the filter are attracted to the filter material and this increases the amount of particles removed from the air. The particles are then fully locked into the filter, reducing the chance of the chance of them being returned to the environment.

Once a filter has become "fully loaded" with particles it will become much less effective at filtering due to reduced air flow and electrostatic charge. By using replaceable filters, Filtrete air purifiers are less likely to become overloaded. The result is effective purification on a sustained basis. Some purifiers require regular cleaning or washing. This process often returns particles back to the environment. Once Filtrete filters are fully loaded they and the captured allergens can be disposed of effectively and easily.

Filtrete™ Room Air Purifiers are very cost effective to run. See table below. All costs are based on £0.108 per KWH. Purifier on high speed seeting contantly running.

3M recommends that you replace the filter every three months of continuous use.