pureAir Air Purifiers

Product Notes:

We all try to keep the floor and surfaces of our homes clean to protect ourselves from allergens, germs, and odors, but we don't always pay sufficient attention to their air quality. PureAir produces four portable air purifiers featuring activated oxygen (ozone generation) and ionization technologies (in combination with air filters and other types of technology, in some).

pureAir 50

The pureAir 50 Small Space Model is the most cost-effective and lowest maintenance version of these pureAir devices. It plugs right into a wall outlet (or if that is not possible in the space you want it for, be sure to prop it up or lay it on something other than carpet so the air intake grill on its reverse side is not obstructed), and can work wonders to keep small bathrooms, bedrooms, offices, or other small spaces such as closets, laundry rooms, or the area near a kitty litter box smelling much fresher.

pureAir 500

The 500 Small Room Tabletop Model is designed to purify the air in a single room up to 850 square feet. This device also has a combination particle and odor filter which needs to be vacuumed or blown out once a month and replaced annually, when used continuously in most regular rooms (or more frequently, in some environments). It can operate at three different settings, to keep the activated oxygen at a safest level: continuous (indicated with a ring of green light at the top of the unit) for just a constant ionic clean in concert with the air filter, while people or animals are present; burst (shown with a blue light), for an automatically timed series of short releases of activated oxygen to deal with tougher odors; and away (when the unit displays red) for a more sustained release of activated oxygen for 30 minutes to deep clean the air while no one is present.

pureAir 1500

The 1500 Small Home Purifier is able to purify areas up to 1500 square feet, depending on its setting and the design of the rooms or the air flow of the home or office it's in. Both this model and its bigger brother the 3000 use three types of advanced electronic technology in all – Activated Oxygen; Negative Ions; and Plasma Generation, using Active Radiant Catalysis (ARC) – to continuously sanitize both the air and the surfaces in your home or office, as well as a more conventional passive air filter, whose three stages (mesh, foam, and honeycomb) are all washable.

pureAir 3000

The 3000 Whole Home Purifier is similar to the 1500 in embodying all the same types of technologies and also including a remote control. But it is roughly twice as big; and can be set to a much higher ozone output on Away mode; and can potentially purify the air in twice as large a space without needing to move it around (particularly if there is central heating or air conditioning moving the air around rooms); and also includes an LCD display panel. At just over a foot high, it can reduce or eliminate smoke and odors and a great deal more just as effectively as many much larger and noisier units, yet is still small enough to fit on a bookcase, shelf, or fridge (it's best to place it within a foot or two of the ceiling).

The Three pureAir Active Technologies

Unlike conventional air filters which use a fan to draw air from the immediate vicinity and pass it through some media contained within the unit to try to trap the particles and odors there, Green Tech Environmental's pureAir devices all use at least two types of more advanced active technology, to send streams of negative ions and activated oxygen molecules out in order to meet, neutralize, and help sweep away a variety of airborne elements you would prefer not to smell or breathe in.

Activated Oxygen (Ozone Generation)

The first of these is a gas composed of three oxygen atoms (i.e., O3), which is highly reactive: giving it the ability to break down the various bacteria, chemicals, mold, mildew, or other substances it comes into contact with, when they consume that extra atom of oxygen. For the units which are also equipped with a fan which push these O3 molecules out into the room, they will encounter and deactivate or kill a considerable number of potential pathogens, if there is also good air circulation in the room or house.

Ozone (O3) is essentially an oxidizing/purifying agent, releasing the extra oxygen atom to leave a harmless oxygen molecule behind. In the end, the final byproducts of the chemical reactions which occur when ozone reacts with the biological compounds it may encounter to break them down, as well, are just: carbon dioxide and water.

Negative Ions

The second active technology emits a continuous stream of negative ions away from the device, which bind themselves to the particles they encounter in the air. Those newly negatively charged particles in turn become more likely to attach themselves to any positively charged items nearby instead of remaining in the air to be breathed in by you: either to surfaces, such as walls or furnishings; or to other, positively charged particles, which will then tend to form into larger clumps that descend like dust – both of which will be rendered inert by the aforementioned activated oxygen, and which can be cleaned off the surfaces by wiping or with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter, as normal.

The two pureAir Home models (1500 and 3000) also use a third type of technology:

Photocatalytic Oxidation Technology

Plasma generation entails transforming water vapor (H2O) into a different gas mixture of powerful oxidizers such as hydroxyls and vaporized hydrogen peroxide (i.e., HO and H2O2), and propelling it into the air to actively destroy pathogens. ARC is a proprietary photocatalytic oxidation technology GreenTech developed that uses a broad-spectrum UV lamp targeted at a honeycomb patterned plate coated with a special multi-metal catalyst to convert the water vapor in the air into H2O2 and other advanced oxidation products, including hydroxides (OH-) and superoxides (O2-). These oxidizers can change the molecular structure of things they get attracted to or make contact with such as bacteria, mold, mildew, pet dander, viruses, and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), to inactivate microbes, render contaminants harmless, and destroy odors. (Short version: these are indoor versions of the old adage, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant".)

Related: See the pureWash Pro laundry system.