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Clean Air For Birds - 5 Features To Avoid In Your An Air Cleaner

25 16:32:22

Air cleaners are finally being recognized as a necessary part of a healthy pet bird's life. With so many choices available, finding the right one can be daunting. You stand a better chance of bringing home an effective cleaner by avoiding the following 5 features.

 

Motor That Needs A Time Out---By definition, keeping the air clean has to mean that you are removing more pollutants than the situation is creating. That cannot possibly true if the air cleaner has to be shut off periodically for safety reasons.

Even when the cleaner is turned on again, purification is not instant so there is a lag time between the time that the air is healthy again. To avoid having to remember to turn it on and off, and having your birds breathe air that is unclean, choose a purifier that has a split capacitor motor.

This type of motor is designed for continuous high revolutions per minute, and will allow uninterrupted filtration 24 hours a day every day.

Controversial By-Products---Fresh air is always the main goal for birds in captivity---humans too! HEPA (high efficiency particle arresting) filtration is one of the safest technologies around. In fact, this is the filtering process hospitals use to keep the air clean.

Ozone and ionization are still controversial in many circles. Numerous studies have been done with numerous conclusions. Why take a chance if something else works just as well or even better?

One Filter---Even if one filter could remove all the pollutants, it will fill up faster and need replacing more frequently. The more filters you have in a cleaner the better.

Multiple filters for particles of varying sizes will insure that the big particles that can be seen are trapped before they can fill up the finer HEPA. This filter can be left to trap particulates that are measured in microns.

A filter for gaseous pollutants is also a good idea. Including this type of filter in the purifier means that one cleaner can multi-task and will remove both gaseous and particulate pollutants. This ultimately saves you space, money, and time.

High Maintenance---You want a cleaner that can take care of your bird and you, not one that requires constant upkeep. A cleaner that requires you to stop filtration and go inside the unit for maintenance is not a good idea.

Opening the unit sends the very irritants that you are trying to trap up your nose, possibly into your bird's lungs, and back into the air again. It also takes your time.

The best scenario is maintenance that can be done on the outside of the unit and only occasionally. Vacuuming the outside and occasionally wiping it down with a damp cloth should be the most you should have to do.

Fussy Placement Requirements---Some cleaners have very strict requirements in terms of where they can and cannot be placed. This is an important issue to get clear on before you make a final decision.

Believe it or not, some units must be placed in the center of the room. Not only is this inconvenient, aesthetically unattractive, but the chord can become a tripping hazard for people and sometimes a chewing hazard for your bird.