There are many fascinating air-quality devices we can use in our homes and offices such as humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air purifiers, and others. If you’re new to this topic, however, you might get a bit lost and wonder which is which and what device is right for you and your home or office.
Here, we’ll go over the difference between air purifier and dehumidifier devices – what they are, what’s their purpose, and which you should choose if any. But first, before we delve in the air purifier vs dehumidifier comparisons, let’s take a look at both of them separately.
Air purifiers
Air purifiers are all devices that cycle through a series of filters in order to purify it. They do that by sucking in the air around them, passing it through a system of filters, and they releasing it back out. The type of filters each air purifier has will differ from model to model but most quality and standard-issue air purifiers can deal with 99% of the allergens and pollutants encountered in residential, office, general inner-city air conditions.
Air purifiers devices don’t normally alter the humidity in the air or add anything to it – they just filter it and release it back in the room they’re in. This makes them great for people with various respiratory conditions that are worsened by air pollutants or allergens, as well as for people who live in an area with polluted air.
Dehumidifiers
As their name implies, dehumidifiers are devices that dehumidify the air around them or, in other words, lower the relative humidity of the air. They do that in many different ways depending on the model you’re looking at but they generally pass the air through an evaporator coil and a condenser coil, before releasing it. There are refrigerative and mechanical dehumidifiers, absorption or desiccant models, dehumidifiers with Ionic membranes, and combinations of all of the above.
Whichever type you’re going for, assuming it’s of a good enough quality, it will work great at lowering the humidity in your home or office to whichever percentage level you want, the standard average for residential use being between 40% and 50%. They are also great for helping with water damage situations.
By using a dehumidifier you can not only reduce the humidity, thus removing the risk of respiratory irritations that come from high relative humidity but you also reduce the risk of mold and mildew in your home, as well as the risk of various insect infestations that usually thrive in high-humidity areas. If you’re wondering between air purifier or dehumidifier for mold, the latter is definitely the right tool for the job which is why you’ll often see dehumidifiers in other people’s basements, attics, and garages, and not only in their living rooms.
Dehumidifiers don’t purify the air nearly as well as air purifiers but by absorbing the moisture from it they can remove a significant portion of the allergens and pollutants that reside in the moisture itself.
Dehumidifier and air purifier comparison
In short, both devices can be very good at what they do and have a place in most homes and offices. Air purifiers can be used anywhere, regardless of the relative air humidity around them, and dehumidifiers should be used exclusively for high relative humidity areas – they should NOT be used to reduce the relative humidity below 30% as that’s too low of a threshold and can bring a whole new set of issues with it.
