If you’re worried about your electrical bills versus clean air at home, you’ve probably thought at times: should I leave my air purifier on when I’m not home? This question might have baffled you a lot, but worry not – we’re here to answer!
Oftentimes, air pollution will find its way into our homes – from the doors, windows, and any other openings. Even if you’ve already cleaned the air indoors, it will still accumulate dust and dirt later on. The result – your air purifier will have to start all over again and clean a huge chunk of indoor air pollution!
Therefore, we give you some advice on how long you should leave your air purifier when you’re heading out (or even just sleeping). This will help you get the most out of the cleaning device.
Is it safe to leave the air purifier on when not home?
Absolutely! Whether you have an air purifier for large areas or a smaller room, leaving the air purifier on will help continuously clean the air around you. Now, you might be thinking – why should I leave the air purifier on all day when nobody’s there?
The logic goes like this: if you leave an air purifier running all day and night, it will keep cleaning the air. It might be on low load but at least it’s doing its job constantly. Think of it as a security agency deploying different staff at certain times of the day to ensure that an establishment is safe from crooks.
On the other hand, if you don’t leave the air purifier on, the room (or home) will accumulate dust. Once you come back, your air purifier is back to square one – it will have to clean a big pile of dust, which isn’t looking good for its filter and motor.
A common mistake that most homeowners make with managing air purifiers is overworking the unit and depending on it too much. Letting the air purifier process small amounts of indoor air instead of a big chunk all at once will help make it last longer than you think it should!
How long can you leave an air purifier on for?
An air purifier can be left for up to 24 hours, which means you can run it all day! Regarding that, you might be wondering: how much electricity does an air purifier use? Don’t be alarmed – air purifiers cost less than a dollar a day to operate thanks to their low wattage (typically 15 to 50 watts on average).
By doing the math, you’ll get only a fraction of a dollar per day when computed with the typical electricity rates in the U.S., which means that air purifiers won’t take a huge chunk of your monthly bill. Therefore, they are safe to use all day.
With that said, we advise you to leave your air purifier on using its eco-mode (or slowest speed) so that it won’t consume a lot of electricity while you’re gone. The medium and turbo speeds are best reserved for when there are people (and pets) in the house.
Should I turn my air purifier off at night?
We don’t recommend turning your air purifier at night because it will leave out pollution that could be lingering during your sleep. If you want to know how to use an air purifier effectively, you should start with running the air purifier.
Are you worried about overheating parts? Air purifiers don’t have them – they are designed to run all day without getting you in trouble. You can safely leave them running for 24 hours without worry (but you can still turn them off for maintenance needs). If you own a HEPA-type air purifier, you’re in good hands. They don’t have parts that will overheat when you run the unit for long hours.
Should I sleep with the air purifier on?
Yes, air purifiers are great sleeping buddies. If you haven’t been sleeping well due to excessive coughing and bouts of allergies, air purifiers will help you out. You might wonder: “how can an air purifier help me sleep better”?
By continuously cleaning the air while you sleep, you’re less likely to wake up all of a sudden at 3 AM due to the aforementioned respiratory problems. Once the air in your bedroom is cleared of dust and the like, you’ll sleep better as your airways won’t get irritated by pollutants.
Aside from that, air purifiers are typically not very noisy – especially if you use their “sleep mode”. Many air purifiers only have 22 to 32 dB on their average noise levels so they won’t be a threat to your ears when you sleep. Likewise, most of these air purifiers have a “dim mode” on the control panel, meaning your eyes won’t get blinded in the middle of the night.
Should you run an air purifier with the windows open?
Generally, no, as air purifiers won’t work when there are room openings (e.g. doors and windows). Do you know what causes excessive dust in a house? When you leave the doors and windows open, it will invite dust and other types of pollution into your home, worsening your indoor air quality!
However, there is an exception to that rule. Let’s say you are cooking fish in the kitchen or someone is smoking tobacco at home. How do you get the smell out? That’s when you can open the windows and doors.
Despite the powerful HEPA filter, air purifiers can only take so much and if you trap the smoke inside your living space, your unit will suffer badly. Therefore, it’s best to air out the smoke so that the air purifier will only have a couple of particles to deal with.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, air purifiers can be left turned on when you leave the house or when you sleep at night. Not only will it save you time and effort having to wait for the dust to disappear from your indoor space, but it will also help the air purifier filter and motor last longer. We hope this article helped you use your air purifier more efficiently!
