If you want your air purifier to do its job effectively, you must put it in the appropriate area.
Based on several user manuals, this article discusses where to put your air purifier, where not to put it, and how far to put it from things like walls, furniture, and appliances that use electricity.
You can also check out Iupilon’s recent review about “Can an Air Purifier Be Plugged into A Surge Protector” for additional purifier references!
Benefits of Wall Outlets
You’re drawing significant power from the electrical grid when you plug an air purifier into the wall outlet. A wall outlet is basically designed to handle the large load of most appliances.
They also reduce tripping hazards, which are dangerous if something’s wrong with either the outlet or the plug. Electrical appliances in general are better off plugged into a wall outlet. Electrical appliances need a consistent flow of electricity that can also warm cables as the days wear one. That’s why it’s complicated to plug in appliances in wet areas.
This application can cause a power strip to overheat or trip its circuit breaker.
That’s why it’s essential always to use a dedicated outlet when using these machines.
Notes on Using Power Strips
There never seem to be enough extension cords—whether you live in a house, apartment, dorm, or mobile home.
The constant on-and-off power demands of a large device like a refrigerator can quickly overload a power strip.
These appliances require particular outlets in the wall to function correctly.
You could perhaps blow a fuse if you try to use more than one device at a time in the same outlet.
There should not be an excess of one power strip plugged into an outlet.
In reality, daisy-chaining, or connecting numerous power strips in series, is the quickest method to overload your electrical system and is against most fire safety rules.
Also, power strips shouldn’t be used with extension cords.
If you need to plug in more electronics but don’t have enough wall outlets, try turning off one appliance before plugging in another, or go completely cordless.
Instead of plugging these air purifiers into an extension cord, you should remove whatever is using too much power from the wall socket.
It may need some shifting, but it’s the better and safest option.
Air purifiers, like any electrical device, should be kept at a safe distance from other devices to prevent the possibility of damage or malfunction.
However, the recommended safety distance from other electronic devices is not always included in air purifier instruction manuals.
The Coway and BlueAir user manuals recommend keeping the unit a distance of 6.5 feet from those other appliances, whereas the Winix document recommends a much closer 1 to 2 feet.
With such a significant variation, it’s safe to assume that the minimum distance needed varies significantly from one device to the next.
That’s why we here at Iupilon advise keeping a space of 6.5 feet between you and your target at all times.
Can I Plug Air Purifier into Extension Cord?
Plugging an air purifier into an extension cord for electricity is possible; however, you should avoid plugging too many gadgets into a single extension cord because doing so could cause the voltage to become unsafely high.
The typical air purifier uses between 50 to 120 watts of power, which is within the capacity of the vast majority of extension cables.
Verify the Wattage First
Before connecting to your air purifier, it is a good idea to verify the wattage capacity of the extension cord to ensure that you are not straining the cable. This can be done by simply looking at the extension cord’s label.
Unless batteries power them, air purifiers must be plugged into an electrical outlet.
Plug-in air purifier versions come equipped with a fixed power connection that is permanently attached to an electrical outlet at all times while the models are in operation.
Powering Rechargeable Purifiers
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are what power air purifiers that run on batteries, and the only time these purifiers need to be plugged in is to be recharged.
Rechargeable air purifiers typically come equipped with power cords that may be removed from the device for portability.
Employing an air purifier as a weapon against hazardous airborne particles and poisons is efficient.
On the other hand, most first-time users question how an air purifier gets its electricity.
While shopping for purifiers online, you should be aware that the product photos may give the impression that a particular gadget is battery-operated when, in reality, it does not have this feature.
Picking the Right Extension Cords
When selecting an extension cord for your home appliances, there are a few key considerations you should give careful attention to, including the following:
Reduce resistance and improve overall efficiency by utilizing the shortest cord possible. When using an appliance with an extension cord, the energy needed to run the appliance is increased, which is proportional to the length of the extension cord. In addition, longer wires are far more likely to become tangled, which increases the risk of tripping over them.
Select an extension cable that is compatible with plugs that have three prongs. Because of this, the electricity will be more grounded, and no one will receive an electric shock as a result.
To lower the risk of the extension cables overheating and catching fire, you should try not to overload them with many appliances.
Can Air Purifier Be Plugged into Power Strip?
You may connect an air purifier to a power strip in your home.
However, before plugging your air purifier into a power strip, you need to be sure that doing so is safe by carefully reading the directions that come packaged with the device.
You and your loved ones can benefit significantly from using an air purifier, an excellent appliance that can be left on continuously and keep the air clean.
When an air purifier is hooked into a surge protector or power strip, it can cause harm to the device; however, specific models come equipped with built-in safety circuits that prevent this damage from occurring.
If the air purifier is hooked into a power strip, it may cause harm to the device because it does not have the same safety circuits as other models.
Do not plug the product into an electrical outlet or power strip already used by many other appliances; instead, use an electrical outlet designated explicitly for use with the device.
If the device can produce a sufficient amount of negative ions, it can function as an air purifier when plugged into a computer.
The output of the device will be determined by the dimensions of the space, the nature of the air filtration system, and the efficiency of the negative ion generator.
To be effective, a unit will need to have a higher output in smaller spaces, whereas a unit with lower output will be more beneficial in larger spaces.
If you suffer from allergies, you could discover that an air purifier plugged into your computer can help alleviate your condition’s symptoms.
These devices can remove various allergens from the air, such as pollen, mold spores, dust mite dander, and pet dander.
Unless their batteries are built-in, air purifiers must be plugged in at all times while used.
Keeping an air purifier linked to a power outlet typically requires the usage of a cable that is either USB, DC or AC.
Plug-in air purifiers can run continuously, although battery-powered air purifiers typically have a run period of between 8 and 12 hours before needing to be recharged.
Extension cables are perfectly acceptable while working with air purifiers; however, you should consider upgrading to a surge protector to safeguard the purifier against sudden spikes in power that may occur at any time.
Is It Safe to Use an Extension Cord with a Power Strip?
While power strips and extension cables can be used together, there are certain things to remember.
The reasoning is that your devices may not get enough power if you use an extension cord since the long wires can create a voltage drop.
To prevent many gadgets from being damaged in a power outage, power strips are hooked into a single wall socket and then connected to the devices to be powered.
While extension cables are made to be plugged into an outlet and then routed through the wall to another outlet, the latter being located further away than the former without using an additional extension cord, the former is not the case.
Putting them on a multi-outlet circuit is not recommended.
Although power strips have many applications, they should not be plugged directly into an extension cable.
It would help if you didn’t do this because the electricity flowing via the extension cord is impossible to regulate.
In other words, the total power consumption of the devices plugged into the power strip may exceed the capacity of the extension cord.
An extension cord can overheat and catch fire if subjected to too much current.
If you have several devices plugged into a single outlet, when one fails or malfunctions, the power will be drawn from that outlet by all other gadgets.
Using an extension cable in place of a grounded three-pronged socket is also unsafe for anything electronic or electrical that requires grounding.
Do not use your extension cords with a power strip unless the strip has been hardwired.
If possible, you should not use an extension cord with a power strip.
Always use direct wall plug-ins to prevent outlet and power strip damage.
To avoid overloading the outlet, never connect a power strip to an extension cord or the other power strip.
A better solution is to use a power strip, which may be plugged directly into a wall outlet, instead of an extension cord.
The explanation is that an extension cord lacks a circuit breaker, but a power strip has one built in.
This implies that the power strip will immediately shut off the electricity to your appliances in case of a power surge or overload.
This is beneficial for your home appliances as an excessive voltage is avoided.
Do Air Purifiers Run Up Your Electric Bill?
Purifying the air in your home is becoming increasingly important—in most cases, you’ll find yourself using the air purifier continuously throughout the day.
Therefore, it is essential to investigate the estimated power consumption of a given air purifier.
In general, air cleaners do not eat up a lot of power.
For comparison’s sake, running your dishwasher for 30 minutes or your refrigerator for 4 hours is about the same energy consumption as operating your air purifier nonstop for 12 hours.
The electricity needed to power an air purifier is comparable to that needed to power a laptop computer.
A filter and a fan are the two main components of an air purifier. Cleaning up dirty indoor air is its primary function.
The fan pulls in air and then forces it to pass through the filter, completing the process.
The purpose of a filter is to remove contaminants from the air. When the filter is complete, the cleaner will release the filtered air.
It’s a straightforward procedure with potentially enormous benefits for air quality inside your home.
Borosilicate glass and plastic fibers are commonly used to create filters.
Using activated carbon filters, alone or in conjunction with another filter type, effectively eliminates unpleasant odors from indoor environments.
Many consumers are worried about how much electricity their air purifier will use.
Before you buy an air purifier, it’s a good idea to see how much it will cost you to keep it running.
Electricity rates in the United States have an average cost of 11.74 cents per kWh, varying considerably from state to state.
Luckily, air purifiers don’t consume much power, no matter where you happen to be located.
The effect on your energy bill is the same whether you measure air purifier power consumption weekly or monthly.
To put it in terms that the general public can grasp, the energy consumption of an air purifier is comparable to that of a mobile phone charger.
That translates to only approximately $12 per year to keep one running all day.
When looking for an effective air purifier, it’s not enough to consider how much energy it uses; you also need to consider the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR).
CADR is the rate at which a given air purifier can distribute its filtered air to a given space.
The bigger the room it can clean the air, the quicker it can do so with a higher CADR.
A model’s energy efficiency improves when its dimensions are appropriate for the available space and its high CADR.
Your home’s energy effectiveness can be improved by selecting an air purifier that uses HEPA filtration.
There is no better way to purify the air in your home than with a HEPA filter.
How Far Should an Air Purifier Be From The Wall?
For air purifiers to function correctly, they require large enough space to draw in air and expel it into the room.
When it is pressed against the wall, it cannot take in as much air as it usually would.
It isn’t easy to provide a conclusive answer to where an air purifier should be located, but for the device to function efficiently, it must be positioned in a good area.
It would help if you thought about several things, such as positioning the air purifier near a source of pollution or ensuring that the purifier does not create issues with other electronic equipment.
If you have a portable air cleaner that can be moved about easily from room to room, you should take it wherever you go.
For instance, you may put it to use in the morning in the kitchen when you’re getting breakfast ready to eat.
Bring the air purifier with you when you go to the living room to watch some television and relax.
If the air purifier is challenging to move from one room to another because of its weight or size, you should position it in the area of the house that has the highest level of air pollution.
If the most incredible amount of pollution in your home is caused by the kitchen, you should put a ventilation system in the kitchen.
It is common knowledge that food, particularly if it has been burned, can produce odors that are less than pleasant.
If dust and dander from pets are the sources of the issue, the living room is the ideal location for an air purifier.
And if you have significant worries about the quality of the air in the room in which you sleep, then installing an air purifier would be a fantastic solution.
If you were to place certain air purifiers close to the source of the stench, you would be unable to detect the odor.
Some air purifiers feature powerful filters designed to remove odors.
If you take this advice and put it into practice, the smell will not permeate the entire home; instead, it will be confined to the area where it was produced. So, again, this is beneficial information.
What Cannot Be Plugged into an Extension Cord?
- Another home device that an extension cable cannot power is a vacuum, which must be directly plugged into an electrical outlet.
- If you have a coffee maker at home, you shouldn’t plug it into an electric cord or a portable generator. Instead, you should use a power strip, although it’s preferable to avoid the cable entirely if possible.
- Extension cords aren’t made to support the weight of an air conditioner; plugging one into a standard outlet could damage the cord or start a fire if you attempt to use an air conditioner with only a primary extension cord. In addition, the bulk and weight of an air conditioner are too much for most extension cords to handle safely.
- If you put them into such an extension cord, they may cause the cord to become overloaded, which may result in a fire. Additionally, the high voltage may result in the chord becoming a shock hazard, and the amount of electrical current may be excessive for the wire gauge of the extension cord.
- Laptops also pose a significant risk of overheating, which can cause their internal components to get damaged. This risk is increased when the laptops are plugged into an extension cord.
- Toasters require a significant amount of power, which increases the possibility of fires and other issues when a lengthy extension cord is used with the appliance. This is in contrast to when the appliance is powered directly from the wall socket.
- Instead of using extension cables, refrigerators should only be plugged into the wall socket where they were supposed to be used.
- Heaters for enclosed spaces are not intended for use in the great outdoors, as a permanent fixture, or in conjunction with extension cords; inappropriate usage of these products can result in fires, electrocution, and personal damage.
- Microwaves can generate power surges because they use a lot of electricity, which can lead the cord to get damaged and put everyone who comes into contact with it at risk.