Few things can be as irritating as those funky odors. Imagine that your new home is filled with some musty smell or that some part of it stinks. Or your house is filled with the mold-like smell because it has just survived a major flood that struck your area. I trust you’re frantically looking for how to get rid of the unwanted smell.
Do you need a dehumidifier? Or you think it’s the air purifier that would do the purifying job? You first need to understand the difference between dehumidifier and air purifier before you know what to go for. And that’s precisely what this post is all about.
Let’s start with a brief description of each of them.
What Is a Dehumidifier?
If you want to remove excess humidity from the air in your indoor environment, what you need is a dehumidifier. Dehumidifiers are devices that draw in air and absorb the excess moisture.
This is what you would want to have running in your home during winter unless you don’t mind spending on drugs to treat runny noses. It’s usually designed like a heater and is about the same size as one.
Though it doesn’t necessarily clean the air, it regulates indoor air moisture by watching the water content in the air. You, thus, can be sure of better lung and skin health since dry or wet air, especially during winter, can cause respiratory issues and contribute to the development of chapped skin.
The lifespan of your wooden furniture can be further elongated because when the indoor air has just the right amount of humidity, furniture doesn’t easily crack. Static electricity is also drastically reduced.
How Dehumidifiers Work
A humidifier continually monitors levels of indoor humidity using a sensor that is attached to its board. When the humidity level exceeds the set maximum, the sensor on the control boards sends a signal that automatically activates its fan. This process allows air to be drawn in straight to the evaporator coil for onward processing.
The coolant the humidifiers employ the same technology as that of refrigerators in that it circulates and gets heated up at the same time inside cold evaporator coils. Doing this enables it to absorb the moisture from incoming air.
Such moisture finds its way through the collection systems of dehumidifiers which you’ll have to attach to a drainage hole. For other dehumidifiers, it goes into a draining bucket that switches off and disables the dehumidifier when it is full.
What Is an Air Purifier?
An air purifier is a device that cleans up the air you breathe in. It purifies the air by absorbing contaminants like chemicals, dust, mold, pollen, some, and spores.
This ensures that you breathe in just the air that is safe for your body. This is what you usually find in the hospital, so those airborne microbes are not given free rein.
How Air Purifiers Work
Air purifiers circulate air through their filters. The filters thus trap dust mites, furs from pets, mold, germs, pollen, odor, smoke, and other allergens.
Working this way, you can be sure of freedom from many of the airborne respiratory issues like asthma, pulmonary edema, and sinusitis. Air purifiers work toward preventing or reducing the effect of dry cough and eye irritants.
Difference Between Dehumidifier and Air Purifier
When you compare and contrast dehumidifiers with air purifiers, you’ll find out the line between the two devices is can be thin. Many users don’t readily recognize the differences between a dehumidifier and an air purifier. Some don’t know which one of the two they need.
This is because both of them come in varying sizes like portable, small, medium, and in full console. Both of dehumidifier and air purifier have health benefits as they can take care of pain and discomfort from sneeze, cough, and headache.
Still, let’s consider some of the differences employing a few indicators as highlighted below.
Function: A dehumidifier absorbs excess moistures while an air purifier purifies the air in a confined space.
For damp weather: While a dehumidifier will make breathing air safer as it absorbs excess moisture and produces some heat, air cleaner will not generate any heat; you’ll still breathe in filtered air but with high humidity.
Smoke: A dehumidifier cannot remove strong odors like the ones from tobacco while an air cleaner is capable of absorbing smoke particles by using its filtration system which may be either mechanical or ion-based.
Temperature control: A dehumidifier might not be able to produce a cool breeze; it will prevent the growth of mold and halts its spread by getting rid of excess humidity. On the other hand, the air purifier can’t control the temperature during the summer heat.
Furs at home: While a dehumidifier can do little or nothing to remove from indoor air floating furs and whiskers and such things. This is because it’s only when the humidity exceeds the maximum level that air gets sucked and all the mechanisms of dehumidifiers lack filtration properties. An air cleaner can effectively remove such particles.
Allergens: Another difference between the two is the handling of allergens. While a dehumidifier will do no such thing as fighting allergies, an air cleaner is designed to do such things because its filtration system is capable of absorbing allergens like pollen, chemical and the like.
Rainy season: Dehumidifiers are needed during rainy seasons to regulate indoor humidity and prevent unwanted growths in hidden places. But air cleaners are not so much useful in preventing the formation of mold.
Food storage: Since a dehumidifier can help to prevent the growth of mold on the food, it can be suitable for cold food storage. But an air cleaner is not capable of preserving perishable food items.
At medical facilities: While a dehumidifier is not needed in medical centers as it can’t absorb bacteria and viruses, an air cleaner is a must since it absorbs such pathogens thereby sanitizes the surrounding air.
Storing electronics and mechanical items: Since it regulates humidity, a humidifier is useful where electronics and mechanical objects are kept because it will prevent rust whereas an air cleaner has no practical use in these areas.
The preceding has given a clear idea of what a dehumidifier is as against what an air cleaner is. We have seen some of the uses and limitations of each of them. It should henceforth be easier for anyone who wishes to identify the difference between a dehumidifier and an air cleaner after reading this post.