Having an air purifier in your home is great if you want to remove bad particles from the air, but can we combine this cleaning technology with an essentials oil scent to make our house smell better as it's cleaned?
Well, unfortunately, you can't put essential oils inside of an air purifier as they have no place to put them, trying to add an essential oil drop to your purifier can damage it, you should use essential oils in a diffuser, air revitaliser or washer instead.
Essential oils and an air purifier machine can both improve air quality, so as you can see if you can use both of these together and what benefits they can bring, as well as alternatives, we have put together a short guide below.
An air purifier is designed to filter out bad particles from the air or airborne chemicals and improve the overall air quality inside of a room. These devices were designed only to clean the air and not diffuse fragrance, these essential oils will likely not work in an air purifier and can potentially even damage the filter or the machine.
Air purifiers with a carbon filter are designed to remove odours from the air too, so trying to put an essential oil's scent in the air can cause the odour particle to get sucked straight back in through the carbon design.
Lastly, there is no special opening to put an aromatic scent inside of your purifier, so trying to put it on the filter or other parts of the machine will not work.
As we mentioned above, a purifier is meant to clean the air, they do this in many different ways through either; a HEPA filter, carbon filter, ionizers or ozone generators, the two latter are not recommended however as they have the potential to emit dangerous ozone gas.
An air purifier works by sucking air into its HEPA filter and filtering out bad particles up to 0.3 microns in size, this can help people with allergies, as they tackle dust mites and mould spore particles.
The carbon filter part is made of charcoal and is made to take out any strong odor in the air which is bad, allowing there to be a fresh odor in replacement from the filtered air, it does this through adsorbing the heavy odor through its porous design.
Despite what many of us think, essential oils are not just great because of their essential oil scent, but also because they have anti-bacterial properties which can help to clean the air.
Many essential oils when used in the correct dosage can help to clean the air around us thanks to their anti-microbial properties, it is said that when this essential oil scent is released, it can reduce the amount of VOCs in the air just like an activated carbon filter can do in an air purifier.
However, you must be careful when using a house diffuser to clean the air as too many essential oils can have negative health effects and pollute the air rather than clean it.
We've listed some great essential oils below that are proven to kill germs and clean the air if you diffuse them in your home.
An aromatherapy diffuser that emits these oils additionally has a large number of health benefits according to the oil you use, some general ones are -
It should be noted, that some essential oil diffuser machines are not recommended to be used around people with allergies or asthma, and some oils are actually dangerous to animals, so always check before diffusing certain oils into your home if they are suitable.
Now we know essentials oils can be great due to their antibacterial property, you might be wondering if there are any similar devices to air purifiers that can help to diffuse these oils, as well as improve air quality.
That's where air washers and revitalisers come in, these hybrid multi-tech machine models clean the air with water mist rather than the standard HEPA filter found in a traditional air purifier, they do this while diffusing aromatic water in the air for scent.
Water-based air purifiers (air revitalisers) work by taking all the dirty air inside of your home and cleaning it in their water basin, which you have to empty now and then for the device to work properly, they filter out bad allergens in the air such as mould and dust and even bad odours, they then release pure water back into the air which tends to be fragrances, making it a diffuser air purifier.
If you want to clean the air in your home for more medical reasons such as allergies, then an air purifier will always work better as it comes with more efficient technology such as HEPA filter to catch small particles, however, if you want to be able to fragrance you home while you clean it then a water-based purifier might be the better option as it can act as an aromatherapy diffuser as well as an air cleaner.
These water-based air purifiers can act as a light humidifier too making them great for dry skin.
For people who already have an air purifier and want to fragrance the air at the same time, you might be wondering if you can use an aromatherapy diffuser at the same time as your air purifier.
You can use an essential oil diffuser along with your air purifier, but the odour released from the essential oils might be weakened, as it is possible that the purifier might get confused and try to clean the essential oils from the air.
Scents still might be potent in the air when first diffused, as the essential oil particles from an electric diffuser are very small and might not be caught by a carbon filter in a purifier, but when running your purifier for long enough it will eventually cleanse the air from the diffused oils.
Can water air purifiers help with removing smoke?
Yes, water-based air purifiers can help remove smoke from the air and its odours.
How often do you change the water on a water-based air purifier?
People suggest changing the water daily if your home has a lot of different odours or dirt such as a restaurant where there are many different particles in the air.
Can essential oils be bad for your health?
Most essential oils are beneficial to your health but can be bad when used in excess and some types should be avoided around children or animals.
To round up our guide, you cannot use essential oils in a standard air purifier as they are designed to clean the air, not fragrance it. You can however by a water-based air purifier which can help you clean the air, add humidity and fragrance, but these might not be as effective as removing bad particles from the air like a HEPA filter would be.
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