Air purifiers are often seen as tools for removing dust, dirt, and other minute particles from the air. This certainly is an important part of their function but it is not the whole of the story. These air purifiers also target invisible, mostly toxic gases known as VOCs (volatile organic compounds). While there are many VOCs that are present in-home air, the most common is formaldehyde. People are opting for a VOC air purifier to clean the polluted air and breathe purified air and reduce health risks.
What Are VOCs and their Problems?
VOCs are a huge class of chemical mixtures that can be transported at or near room temperatures. These compounds then vaporize under the normal temperature and pressure conditions, allowing them to build up in the air. There are many different types of chemicals qualifying as VOCs, most of them are quite dangerous to human health, especially when they are breathed in by any person.
VOCs wouldn’t be considered as a significant problem if they weren’t present in your home. Unfortunately, as part of the manufacturing processes many home products, and even building materials are treated with these chemicals. Formaldehyde, for instance, is used in a variety of paste and adhesives that are used to make various products during the process. Many people choose a high-quality air purifier for VOC reduction due to the presence of such chemicals in the home air.
Some guidelines which are common sense and not hard to follow, to reduce the health risks posed by VOCs to people are:
- House Ventilation: The most common problem is the build-up of VOCs per billion parts in the air in your indoor areas. Keep your windows open, try to not seal your house off from the outside natural air. Mixing of inside and outside air helps to dilute the VOC concentrations.
- Manufacturer’s Recommendations: If you have an opened paint you can leave it in the garage, well away from where people are living. Read what the manufacturer has recommended about the storage.
- Throw the unwanted: Throw away things like old paints, varnishes, strippers, photocopier ink, polish remover that you don’t use in a fashionable way.
- Don’t Overbuy: Buying bulk of VOC containing products is not recommended. You might save a few cents but you are bringing ‘poisons’ into your home, which should not be done or minimized.
- And finally, minimize your exposure to benzene, methylene chloride, and perchloroethylene. These are some of the dangerous VOCs in terms of human health hazards.
VOCs contain chemicals that are dangerous and can cause some serious health hazards. Follow the above guidelines to minimize the health risks of VOCs and breathe safe air. Get a quality VOC Fume extraction system to avoid the health risks associated with VOC and its consumption.
