Skip to main content

Your air purifier isn’t protecting you from this silent killer. It should be

I get plenty of pitches for air purifiers. That shouldn’t be a shock given how they were in huge demand all throughout last year. Before the pandemic, I don’t think even one of my friends or family members owned one, but now they’re just about everywhere — including small businesses that want to do their due diligence to protect customers.

While studies haven’t been concrete about their effectiveness with combating the coronavirus, the EPA states that they can help reduce the potential for airborne transmission of the virus indoors — albeit, when they’re used in conjunction with other best practices recommended by the CDC. Everyone is taking all the precautions they can and I’m all for using air purifiers in the home. Better safe than sorry, right?

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Recently, I’ve been using the Mila air purifier in my apartment. It’s not the first, nor is it the last one I’ll check out either. What astounds me about it is that it’s smarter than many other air purifiers I’ve come across. It’ll clean the air I’m breathing, but more importantly, it monitors one thing that can potentially kill you at home.

The other invisible killer

Carbon monoxide. It’s the other invisible killer that can kill you. We’ve all heard stories about fatalities due to carbon monoxide, but long term exposure at low doses can prove harmful as well, which is why I appreciate the Mila air purifier more than others I’ve checked out. Fundamentally, it functions just like any other before it by sucking up the surrounding air, putting it through various filtration systems, and then releasing fresh air back into the room. It’s that simple!

Setting itself apart from the general pack is Mila’s ability to also monitor the air quality of your home. There are dedicated gadgets that can do this, like AirThings’ various sensors, but it’s convenient to have it all integrated here — plus, that means one less app to manage. In fact, it goes beyond the traditional air purifier because it monitors for particulate matter in the air: VOCs (volatile organic compounds), temperature, humidity, and CO2. Similarly, Dyson’s line of fans and humidifiers track for particulate matter as well, such as the Dyson Pure Humidify and Cool, but they cost a pretty penny.

Still, Mila’s ability to monitor carbon monoxide sets it apart from most air purifiers. Very few offer this ability, so if you own an unvented gas heater or stove, you really should invest in a carbon monoxide detector. Mila does this, while also monitoring and cleaning the air around it. The unit itself has a display on it that shows the air quality level in the room, along with controls to adjust the level to my liking. However, you can view granular details through the Mila app for mobile. It breaks down all of the stuff it’s monitoring, like humidity, air quality, and yes, even CO levels.

So far, it has been reading at a steady 0 ppm for carbon monoxide in my home, but even if I may not be constantly worried about it, knowing the fact that it is tracking levels regardless is reassuring. Even though there hasn’t been any detection yet, I’m told that Mila will display a warning and even emit a beep to indicate detection. This silent killer isn’t one to mess around with, more so when there have been countless news reports about carbon monoxide poisonings unintentionally happening in homes. But the app does a nice job of arranging all the information it gathers, so I’m better able to determine culprits of low air quality — like right after cooking in the kitchen or using harsh cleaning detergents.

You should be able to trust an air purifier

One of the major contentions I have with most air purifiers is that they just do their thing, with no way for any of us to validate whether they’re accomplishing the task they’re meant to do. We just have to trust that they’ll do the job. Yet, it’s that blind faith that has compelled consumers to gobble up air purifiers during the pandemic.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Measuring the effectiveness of an air purifier is nearly impossible, but data gathered by sensors accustomed to monitoring specific particulates certainly helps to establish tangible results. That’s partly why I have more trust in Mila than some other air purifier that’s just filtering the air and nothing more. That’s not to discredit some of the other particulate matter that it monitors, especially when VOCs can prove to be equally harmful. But I sleep at night knowing that if ever there’s a smidgen of carbon monoxide in my apartment, Mila is there to track all of that data.

Data collection is crucial in my opinion with these small appliances, because, despite their claims of performing a job, filtering the air in this case, the data that a connected air purifier like Mila obtains provides me with some degree of validation.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
John Velasco
John is the Smart Home editor at Digital Trends covering all of the latest tech in this emerging market. From uncovering some…
Dyson’s newest air purifier can capture and destroy formaldehyde in your home
Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic

Dyson announced their newest purifying fan Tuesday, a device capable of not only cooling a room, but heating it as well. The Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic is the company's first device to continuously destroy formaldehyde that’s been released into the air in your home from household items. Its previous air purifiers could only capture it, not get rid of it altogether.
Formaldehyde can be found in almost everything in your home, including furniture, mattresses, electronics, air fresheners, and more. Breathing in formaldehyde can exacerbate allergies, and has been linked to cancer. You don’t want to be breathing it in when you don’t have to. It’s also very hard to figure out how to capture it.
“Our chemist team has been searching for various methods to solve this problem for the past three years,” said Dr. Nathan Brown, head of research at Dyson. “We have tested more than 20 different catalysts – materials that would enable a chemical reaction to take place, but isn’t consumed or used up by the reaction. We ultimately identified the mineral Cryptomelane as the ideal catalyst.”

Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Cryptomic Image used with permission by copyright holder
Essentially the device is using the mineral Cryptomelane as a catalyst to trap formaldehyde in the air. Cryptomelane has billions of atom-sized tunnels, which are the perfect size to trap and destroy formaldehyde in the air. The destruction is done through oxidation, the company said.
Here’s how Dyson describes the process:
"There is an oxygen-rich surface on the catalyst that works to destroy formaldehyde by removing electrons during the chemical reaction causing it to break into the smaller, safer molecules – carbon dioxide and water," the company said in a statement. "The amount of carbon dioxide and water that results from this process is very small. For reference, the technology panel produces 20,000x less water and CO2 than a mouse gives off breathing per day."

Read more
The Biotica800 air purifier uses probiotics to clean the air in your home
breathe easier with probiotics betterair biotica800 air purifier

When you think of probiotics, you probably think of your gut. Seriously -- the typical use of a probiotic is to encourage the growth of healthy bacteria in the digestive system. You can buy them over the counter in pill form, or you can just eat as much yogurt as you want. Either way, you want the germs to grow because they're healthy germs. BetterAir has taken that same approach and applied it to air purification.

The BetterAir Biotica800 uses probiotics to purify the air in your home or workspace by spreading patented Enviromental Probiotics, or Enviro-botics, through the home. These probiotics are able to penetrate spaces that a normal air purifier cannot, such as the carpet and the drapes. Rather than waiting for air to pass through a filter, the probiotics work on the causes of indoor air pollution at the source.

Read more
Amazon Big Spring Sale: Get up to 43% off Echo smart speakers
The Amazon Echo Pop on a desk.

Make your home smarter by equipping it with an Amazon Echo smart speaker. You'll be able to afford multiples of these Alexa-powered devices through the discounts that are available in Amazon's Big Spring Sale, with prices that start as low as $23. They're going to be more effective if there's one in every room in your house, so don't miss this chance to stretch your budget and buy more of these smart speakers in one transaction. It's highly recommended that you proceed with your purchase of these Amazon Echo deals as soon as possible though, as you're increasing the risk of missing out on the savings the more that you delay.

What to buy in Amazon's Big Spring Sale for Amazon Echo smart speakers

Read more