Essential oils are a great way to add freshness and healing qualities to the air. Several medicated essential oils can relax your mind, remove stress from the body and make you feel light at heart. Furthermore, some essential oils even have the quality to purify the air. This leads to the question, can you use essential oil in an air purifier?
The answer is a straightforward
NO! It isn’t a good idea to use essential oils or perfumes with ordinary air purifiers. However, there are some ways to diffuse essential oils in the room. In this article, I will provide scientific reasons as to why you can’t add essential oils to air purifiers and which devices you can use to diffuse oils and perfumes in the room.
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Why can’t you use essential oil in an air purifier?
By default, an air purifier is a device used to filter the particulate pollution from the air. You can use an air purifier to remove dust, pollen, pet hair, molds, mycotoxins, paint fumes, and VOCs from the air in your room. There is no specific chamber in an air purifier to add essential oils or perfumes to it.
The lack of space is the first reason you can’t add essential oil and other diffusible substances to an air purifier. No air purifier has space to put liquid inside it. Moreover, diffusing of oils requires a special type of nozzle and jet. This jet sprays the liquid oils in such small quantities that they are easily dispersed in the air. As air purifiers have neither the storage nor the jet to diffuse essential oils, they are not functional.
Secondly, the only way you can introduce essential oil in an air purifier is the intake or the air filters (for experimental purposes only!). If you decide to put some essential oil in the air intake portion of the air purifier, this is what will happen. The oils will be sucked through the inlet in the form of tiny droplets. Some of the drops will be absorbed by the pre-filter, and the rest will travel to the HEPA filter. Some drops may even pass the HEPA filter and settle at the activated carbon filter because essential oils are made out of hydrocarbons.
As a result, the oil-bathed filters will become the site of attraction of dust and other solid particles. These two ingredients will combine to form mud and goo on the filter. Thus, your air filters will become clogged and won’t filter any air. Moreover, if you continue to ignore the clogged filters, your machine will burn out. Otherwise, you may need to replace the HEPA as well as all the other filters of the air purifier, which can be costly. In short, it isn’t a good idea to put essential oils in an air purifier by any means.
How does an air purifier work?
Another way to realize the question at hand is to understand the inner workings of an air purifier. The air purifier is a device used to clean the bad stuff from the air and make it safe and breathable. A number of different filters and techniques are used in the air purifier to ensure that even the microscopic particles are removed from the air of the room. These filters are:
- Mechanical Pre-filter
- HEPA filter
- Activated-carbon filter
- UV-bulb filter.
It all starts with the air intake, usually located at the back or the sides of the air purifier. First, the air passes through a mechanical pre-filter. This is the most basic permanent filter that can catch large dust particles and pet hair from the air. The filtered air then travels to the HEPA filter that can catch up to 0.03-micron particles. As a result, most of the solids are now out of the air, but it still contains diffused liquids, smoke, and odor. Therefore, the next filer in line is the activated-carbon filter or AOC. This filter contains numerous active-carbon reagents to attract any carbon-containing compounds in the air.
Most of the odor, smoke, VOCs, essential oils, and perfumes are organic compounds and have carbon as the building block. Therefore, these compounds are attracted to the filter and settle down with the reagent till you replace the filter. Therefore, if you choose to add essential oils or perfumes to an air purifier, they get stuck. The active-carbon filter will attract all the remaining oil particles from the air, and you will get oil and perfume-free air all the time.
How to diffuse essential oils in the air?
The device that you are looking for is either a diffuser or an air revitalizer. In the case of a diffuser, it is an excellent piece of equipment that you can use to diffuse essential oils and perfumes in the air. Moreover, some air diffusers even come with a UV bulb to sanitize the air. As a result, you can clean the room from germs, bacteria, and viruses while making it stress-free and aromatic.
A diffuser with a UV filter works in the same way as the UV bulb of an air purifier. It takes air from the surroundings and passes it between two oppositely charged plates. These plates emit ultraviolet rays that destroy the DNA of germs and airborne viruses from the air. So, the germs are converted into unstable positive and negative ions and disperse in the air. Secondly, the air diffuser takes the oils from the container and diffuses them in the sanitized air before releasing it back to the room. However, the air diffuser is not suitable for removing solids and other harmful pollutants from the air. For that purpose, you still need an air purifier.
In this regard, an air revitalizer is the second-best option for you. It is a hybrid device that has the machinery from both an air purifier and an air diffuser. The air revitalizer takes the air from the environment through its air intake. The air then passes through the several stages of filtration, just like in the air purifier. Lastly, the air diffuser portion of the revitalizer diffuses the essential oils in the filtered air and releases it back to the environment.
Can essential oils clean air?
Yes, some essential oils can remove germs and VOCs from the air. If you don’t know much about essential oils, you better start reading. Essential oils are more than simple aromatic compounds that remove the odor from the room. Some essential oils have antibacterial properties, just like the UV filter of the air purifier. These oils can kill bacteria, germs, and airborne viruses from the air and make the room fragrant.
Similarly, some essential oils have anti-microbial properties. These oils attract chemicals, paint fumes, and other voltaic organic compounds in the air. Suppose you use such oil in your room. It will have the same effect as an activated carbon filter.
Which essential oils have air purification qualities?
Several essential oils have purification qualities. However, it would be best to dilute the oil in a carrier oil to avoid excessive diffusion. Some of the best essential oils are:
Peppermint Essential Oil:
Peppermint Essential Oil is a multipurpose essential oil. It can relax your tired muscles and stimulate your senses. This oil has an antiseptic quality that can remove dirt and infection from any surface, including your body. It also acts as a natural insect repellent.
Chamomile Essential Oil:
Chamomile Essential Oil has a calming and soothing effect on your senses. It has been used since ancient times to cure skin diseases like eczema. Moreover, it is also suitable to cure allergic reactions like inflamed skin.
Lemon Essential Oil:
Lemon Essential Oil is famous for its odor-removing qualities. It can freshen the air in the room and absorb all the odorous molecules from the air.
Lavender Essential Oil:
Lavender is the crown jewel of essential oils. It has odor-removing, stress removing and aromatic properties. Moreover, Lavender Essential Oil acts as a surface disinfectant, insect repellent, and air sanitizer in the house.
Eucalyptus Essential Oil:
The best anti-allergen essential oil is no other than Eucalyptus. It has anti-inflammatory effects and can remove all the allergens from the house. As soon as you breathe in the eucalyptus air, you will feel its soothing effect. It can remove irritants, allergens, mold, and mycotoxins from the air.
Choose an air purifier
Air purifiers have become extremely popular in recent years. However, with so many different variations on the market, it can be difficult to pick the right unit for your home. Click on this link and I’ll walk you through how to choose an air purifier. I’ll also look at some of the pros and cons of each type of air purifier. Click on the link to learn more!
FAQs
Can I use an air purifier with an air diffuser for essential oils?
No, it is not a good idea to use essential oils in an air diffuser and air purifier at the same time. The oils diffused will be quickly filtered by the active-carbon filters of the air purifier. Therefore, you should use the best air revitalizer to diffuse essential oils while keeping air purified.
Is an air purifier more powerful than a revitalizer?
Yes, air purifiers have a better purification system along with sanitization abilities. On the other hand, an air revitalizer only filters air through a mechanical filter and diffuses essential oils and perfumes into the air.
Do diffusers purify the air?
Air diffusers don’t have purification qualities. However, some essential oils can purify the air and make the room aromatic. You can use such essential oils in a diffuser to purify the air.
Conclusion
Essential oils are the favorite compounds of many people. They have aromatic qualities along with purification properties. However, it is impossible to use essential oil in an air purifier due to a lack of hardware support. You can use a diffuser or an air revitalizer to diffuse essential oils in the room.
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