If you’re a pet owner with allergies, you may want to consider an air purifier for pet hair. Both pet hair and dander can be controlled with air purifiers by trapping the allergens floating in the air. While an air purifier won’t completely rid your home of pet allergens, the right one can significantly reduce the amount circulating in your breathing space.
Here’s a rundown of the most common and effective types of air purifiers for pet hair:
Activated carbon filters
Activated carbon filters use charcoal to neutralize odors and remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air. By chemically bonding with the offending molecules, the activated carbon filters are great for improving air quality. This type of filter is commonly used both in air purification and water purification.
However, since they’re chemical rather than mechanical filters, they’re not particularly effective against pet hair and dander. If your pets are stinking up the house, however, you might want to use one for odor control.
HEPA filters
HEPA filters are mechanical filters, meaning they can physically trap particles of dust, pollen and pet allergens. This makes them extremely effective in reducing the amount of dander and hair circulating in your home’s air.
While HEPA filters can clean up the air in your home, they cannot do anything about the pet dander and hair caught in fabrics, carpets and on surfaces like your vacuum cleaner brush roller. However, combining a HEPA filter with careful cleaning habits can definitely bring some allergy relief.
Ionized air purifiers
Ionized air purifiers use electric charges to trap allergen particles in the air. Similarly to HEPA, this type of purifier will work to reduce pet dander and hair floating in the air. They work without a fan, which makes them quiet - however, this also means they can only clear a small portion of the air in a room.
Overall, if you’re trying to get the best relief from pet allergens at home, a HEPA filter will be the best air purifier choice. You can get standalone filters for individual rooms, or upgrade your HVAC system by adding HEPA filtration. Combined with regular cleaning habits, you’ll be able to fight back against pet allergens and breathe cleaner air.
About the Author
Carolyn Andrews
Carolyn Andrews has over 30 years licensed Brokerage experience in both California and Colorado. Born in England, Carolyn moved to California in 1980, then relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1991. Carolyn has also received recognition for Top Sales at RE/MAX Alliance Aurora in 2007-2008 and is a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame & Chairman’s Club, as well as a recipient of the ReMax Lifetime Achievement Award. Carolyn has sold over 2000 homes personally in her career. Carolyn has been actively involved in many aspects of the Real Estate business including investment property, luxury homes, mountain resort property, skiin/ski out, REO/default management, loss mitigation, valuations, and disposition. She has been a speaker and panelist at several conferences and has been consulted on many occasions by various organizations in the REO/financial industries for her expertise and served on many boards. She has attended numerous ongoing classes to stay abreast of changes in the ever-evolving Real Estate industry. She is the prior State Director for Colorado for VAREP(Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals). She is a member of 3 boards of Realtors including Metro Denver, Colorado Springs and Summit County mountain areas. She heads up The Andrews Group and is or has been an active member of NAR, CAR,REOMAC, CIPS, CRS, AREAA, NAPW, NAHREP, and is an original member of the ELITEReal Estate network. She was ranked #1 for most homes sold in Denver 2007 by Denver Board of Realtors, #2 for 2008, and #2 for 2009, #5 in 2010 and #4 in 2011 and has been consistently in the top 10 ever since. Carolyn Andrews has been a top rated Endorsed Local Provider for the Dave Ramsey Organization and also a Top Producing agent for 2018 for the Homelight Company.
