INTERIOR INSPIRATION
BY KATE KINGSTON
Kate Kingston, Managing Director of Kingston Shaw, an award winning
interior design company with offices on the Wirral, London and Dubai,
shares with us the latest trends for creating the perfect home.
STYLISH TECHNOLOGY – MAKE TIME TO BREATHE
As times change and personal safety
becomes more of a pressing issue, we are
being asked repeatedly by our clients
how to best purify the air in their homes.
Traditionally the units offered were either
clumsy or inefficient or both. We have
researched the best of the best purifiers on
the market and ranked them for both style
and functionality. Clean, breathable air has
never looked so good.
But what should you look for and what is the
difference between an air purifier, ioniser,
sanitiser or an air filter?
Here is the science bit…
Air Filters (also called air cleaners) and air
purifiers are commonly thought to be the
same because after all they both clean the air
in some form or another.
In short, both air filters and air purifiers do
filter contaminants, but they do so in different
manner.
If you have a forced air, heating and cooling
system in your home or business, this is what
blows air through the ductwork and air vents,
which are located throughout the building.
These systems have air filters that are
designed to keep the HVAC unit clean inside.
In doing so, they make the HVAC system
more efficient. Air filters also reduce airborne
particulate like dust and dander from being
recirculated throughout the home. They key
thing to note here is that air filters work by
effectively trapping contaminants.
There are many different types of air filters;
not all filters are able to remove the same
types of contaminants from the air. HEPA air
filters, for example, are widely acknowledged
to be most powerful types of air filters on the
market because they are capable of capturing
99.97% of contaminants in the air that are
as small as 0.3 microns in size. This means
that they are effective at capturing not only
dust but also bacteria. As such, not only are
HEPA air filters used in homes, but they are
also used in industries where the air must
be highly sanitized. An example here is in
the medical industry. There are also carbon
air filters, which are effective at removing
cigarette smoke and various other chemicals.
Air Purifiers
There is a range of air purifiers on the market.
Some are standalone systems; others are
installed in the ductwork. Air purifiers are
designed to kill bacteria, moulds and fungus.
Air purifiers accomplish this by using UV
germicidal lamps (instead of using a filter),
which means that some air purifiers can only
destroy these organisms when they are in
close contact with them.
So what should you look for? A powerful filter
that does not only attract the pollutant but
destroys it, we only found one on the market
that does this and that is the Intratek model,
but depending on your need, a HEPA filter
should suffice most domestic needs.
1. VL 20 from Intratek
We love this product as it actually sanitises
the air, including Covid 19, it's small, can be
wall hung or used stand alone, the units can
be colour paint matched or branded, so it's
great for our commercial clients too!
www.intratekltd.com
2. Molekule Air
Styled to perfection, this
handy standalone unit
packs a punch in the style
department and uses the
patented PECO system
(Photo Electrochemical
Oxidation)
www.molekule.com
3. Dyson
A perennial favourite, our only problem with
this machine is that the filters need changing
frequently and until they are the microbes,
dust etc languishes in the machine. On the
flip side it is the only machine that heats and
cools your space too!
4. Dimplex
This little number
is a purifier so
does not sanitise
the air but it is
really good at
relieving the air
of pollutants and
dust. The design
doesn’t offend us
too much and is
by far the most cost effective! Be careful not
to compare oranges and apples!
www.dimplex.com
5. Swiss Style
By far our favourite
styled purifier,
what it has in style
makes up for its
performance.
More of an ioniser
than a purifier, but
oh so pretty!
www.appliancist.
com
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