Air is vital for healthy living, so ensuring your home or workplace has good quality air is of the utmost importance. Dirty air causes a wide range of problems, mainly respiratory ones like allergies and asthma. 

Also, bad air quality can significantly undermine the quality of your sleep and general wellness. When it comes to maintaining good air quality, two things are popular, air sanitizers and air purifiers. Both work to clean the air but has different working mechanisms. So deciding which one to buy can be confusing. 

At Trending Up, we specialize in providing smart home solutions to ensure our customers' better quality of life. Our specialty is ensuring your home is in tip-top conditions at all times. So we often answer questions on air purifiers vs. air sanitizers and even answer air purifiers vs. salt lamps and fans. 

Due to our experience working in this space, we know all there is to know about air purifiers and air sanitizers and thought we should let you know what both items offer. So without any further delay, let's check out all you need to know about air purifiers vs. air sanitizers!

What's The Difference Between Air Purifiers And Air Sanitizers?

Both air sanitizers air purifiers have a similar purpose, and that's keeping the air clean. The key difference is their functionality. Air purifiers clean through filtration principles, which are usually used to clean airborne contaminants. 

At the same time, air sanitizers use sanitization methods like UV light or ionization. So air sanitizers remove both pollutants and surface contaminants. So the main difference is that air purifiers clean dirty air using filters while the sanitizers use either UV light or an ionizer. 

What's An Air Purifier?

An air purifier is a device used to remove air contaminants from an indoor space. These devices are one of the most common things you'll find in a modern home.

However, you can also find commercial air purifiers perfect for large spaces. Air filters use a wide range of filters where a fan draws air in and directs it to the filter where the contaminants are filtered out, and clean air comes out.

There are plenty of different air purifiers in the market, but they usually have three central filtration systems. So let's check out the different types of air purifier filters!

Types Of Air Purifier Filters

Air purifiers usually use a three-step filtration with a few different filters. Here are some of the filters you should know about!

• Pre-filter: The pre-filter is an extensive filtration system that you will find in air purifiers. These filters capture large particle contaminants such as pet dander, pollen, and other large particle contaminants. Usually, pre-filters are made out of cloth or fabric material, but some pre-filters are made out of spongy materials. 
• Activated carbon filter: Activated carbon filters or carbon filters, in general, are used to filter volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gases, and odor pollutants from the air. These filters are made out of a "bed" of charcoal or activated carbon known for its high capacity for absorbing moisture and gaseous compounds.
• HEPA filter: HEPA (high-efficiency particulate absorbing) filters remove nano (micro) pollutants from the air. These are the most common types of filters that you can find on a wide range of products, from air purifiers to vacuum cleaners, HVAC systems, cars, airplanes, and many others. HEPA filters have different levels, and their efficiency determines particulate matter in trapping. The most common one is HEPA 13, which filters out 99.95% of particles. However, air purifiers with HEPA 14 ("medical-grade") filters trap up to 99.995% of particulate matter.

Air Purifier Pros

Air purifiers are popular for a reason. There are plenty of benefits to air purifiers, and here are some to help you understand them better. So check them out:

• It cleans the air by removing harmful chemicals from indoor spaces.
• It neutralizes unpleasant gases, odors, and toxic volatile organic compounds.
• Air purifiers eliminate the chances of contracting airborne diseases.
• They improve sleep quality.
• It comes with mechanical filtration mechanisms (filters) that make air purifiers more efficient, and only electrical energy consumed is for powering the fans.

Air Purifier Cons

Like all things, air purifiers have their downsides. So what are the disadvantages of air purifiers? Well, here in the following, we will list them out for you. So check them out:

• The performance is dependent on filter quality and the type of fan for drawing in air. 
• The filters are usually disposable, so you will need to change them regularly, which can be an expensive endeavor. 
• It doesn't have a mechanism for killing the trapped pollutants. So air purifiers can develop into a health hazard once the contaminants on the inside build up.

What's An Air Sanitizer?

Air sanitizers are devices that clean the air by neutralizing airborne pollutants in an indoor space. This device can include any substance/appliance that works by disinfecting or killing airborne contaminants. 

However, air sanitizers won't trap air pollutants like air purifiers. Instead, these devices use a range of mechanisms and destroy air pollutants. So now that you know what air sanitizers are, let's check out the different air sanitizers!

Types Of Air Sanitizers

Air sanitizers have different working mechanisms, which determine which type of air sanitizer it is. So here are the types of air sanitizers you can find on the market today!

• Ionic Air Sanitizers: Ionic air sanitizers or ionic generators work by releasing either positively or negatively charged ions. The ions, once released, start to clean the air by the following process:

1. The ions bond with opposite-charged particle pollutants, causing them to become heavy and fall on surfaces like walls, carpets, floors, furniture, among others, from where you can easily clean it up. Some ionic air sanitizers come with filters that trap these contaminants once they bond with the ions.
2. The following process is sterilization. The ions oxidize organic pollutants like bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, killing them.
3. The next thing ionic air sanitizers do is eliminate odors. Ions can oxidize organic odor-causing particles, kill them, and remove them from the air.

• UV Air Cleaners: UV air cleaners have UV-C (shortwave ultraviolet) light that cleans the air by neutralizing various airborne pollutants. It can effectively eliminate bacteria, viruses, mold, and other organic pathogens and microorganisms. These air cleaners work by forcing air into an enclosed unit through a fan. The air is passed through UV lamps irradiated with UV-C light, killing the pollutants. Some UV air cleaners come with additional filters, which increases the efficiency of pollutant neutralization.
• Ozone Generators: Ozone generators work similarly to ion sanitizers but significantly differ. These generators use ozone gas to control the pollutants instead of ions. It pulls in air from an indoor space and charges it electrically before releasing it back into the room. When the air is charged, the oxygen molecules in the air transform into Ozone (03) gas. Ozone is an unstable substance, and it cleans the air by attaching itself to pollutants in the air, so this gas works as a sanitizing agent, denaturing the cells of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. When it comes to odors and VOCs, the gas reacts with the pollutants, oxidizing them and turning them into odorless substances.
• Air Sanitizer Sprays: While electric air sanitizers are very common in the market, you can also find air sanitizers that come in the form of sprays. These are sanitizers that contain a sanitizing agent in an aerosol can or spray bottle, so you'll be able to apply either airborne or directly on a surface. It works by killing air contaminants or on the treated surfaces. But don't confuse them with air fresheners which only release a scent to mask the pollutants and don't eliminate them.

Air Sanitizer Pros

Air sanitizers have a wide range of benefits. Here are some of the benefits that you should know about. So check them out:

• You get better air quality control. Air sanitizers kill all the pollutants, so these devices are an excellent option for keeping the air clean. Air sanitizers even come with filters for more efficient air purification.
• It reduces the chance of contracting diseases. Air sanitizers are brilliantly efficient in killing viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing pathogens.
• It efficiently removes foul odors. These devices work well on nasty smell-causing particles by neutralizing bad scents such as smoke, cooking smells, musty smell, among others.
• It ensures better sleep quality by making the air cleaner, healthier, and more comfortable to breathe.
• It's more hygienic as they don't allow the build-up of airborne pollutants.
• It's more affordable over time as they don't require filter replacements.

Air Sanitizer Cons

Air sanitizers, like all things, have their drawbacks, and you need to know them to make an informed purchase decision. Here are some cons that you need to know about:

• Some air sanitizers produce ozone gas either deliberately or as a by-product. Ozone is very corrosive to organic matter and can cause damage to the respiratory system, among other health problems.
• While air sanitizers are brilliant for getting rid of organic pollutants, some might not effectively remove other contaminants from the air.

Air Sanitizer Vs. Air Purifier: Which One's Better?

So now the question comes, which one comes to the top on a head-to-head between air sanitizer vs. air purifiers? Well, there is no clear answer. It all depends on what your needs are. Air purifiers are very effective in trapping contaminants and work great with inorganic pollutants. 

In contrast, air sanitizers disinfect the air and are very good at neutralizing organic particles. But it would be best if you remembered that both have their pros and cons, so make sure to read this article through and through to make an informed decision. Now, if you look closely, you'll see that both air purifiers and sanitizers complement each other. 

Many of our customers at Trending Up choose to have both to ensure the best indoor air quality. But if you must then decide to make the decision based on which one fits your needs more. If you are looking for smart home solutions at affordable prices, we can help you out. So contact us, and we will hook you up. 

Also, if you have any questions regarding smart home solutions or air purifiers and sanitizers, drop them in the comments below or hit us up on our socials, and we will answer them all for you. And with that being said, that's about all we have for you today. We will come back with something new for you soon. Until then, see ya!