Deteriorating air quality has driven many Indians to install air purifiers at home, ensuring they breathe cleaner air and enjoy restful sleep. In fact, Delhi’s “poor” Air Quality Index (AQI) during the last week of October triggered a massive surge in air purifier sales in the capital, as per a report published in PTI. The rising pollution levels have driven residents to purchase these devices along with face masks to safeguard themselves from the smog. “At least two to three customers visit us daily to purchase purifiers, and we receive around 20-plus phone inquiries every day,” said a salesperson at Croma Odeon, Connaught Place, adding that sales had risen by nearly 60 to 70 per cent in recent weeks.
“Sales have gone up by around 60 per cent,
both through walk-ins and online orders. Since mid-October, customers have been reaching out to us regularly, so we’ve increased our stock to meet the demand,” said a representative at Mahajan Electronics in Raja Garden.
The need for an air purifier is well documented, but many buyers overlook one crucial step before plugging it into their home’s power outlet.
What Does Air Purifier Do?
According to health experts, prolonged exposure to polluted air can trigger respiratory infections, eye irritation, fatigue, and exacerbate existing health conditions.
Also Read: As Delhi Chokes In Toxic Air, Demand For Purifiers Soars
An air purifier can trap pollen, dust, smoke, pollutants, and germs using filters such as HEPA (H13 or H14) and breathe out fresh air back to the surroundings. The HEPA filter (H13 or H14) captures 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns, including PM2.5 and allergens.
Viral Post
It wouldn’t be a stretch to call air purifiers a necessity and not a luxury. Recognising exactly this, a Reddit user recently purchased an air purifier in hopes of making his home a healthy breathing space. Quickly, they ran into trouble.
“Bought it yesterday. Ain’t coming below 200 from past 1 hour. Anyone else faced the same problem?” the worried buyer wrote. They attached a photo of their air purifier and wrote: “Also which air purifier is genuinely good? Delhi is cooked tbh, (sic)” suggesting they might have considered replacing it, believing they bought a faulty one.
Within minutes, hundreds joined the discussion, offering suggestions to help the original poster whose air purifier’s AQI reading remained above 200.
Almost instantly, it was diagnosed what was up with the “faulty” air purifier.
Also Read: Smart Tips For Choosing The Right Air Purifier
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Rookie Error?
“Put it in a room as per it’s capacity and close the door and windows. Also check if the filters are out of its packing, (sic)” a user responded to the viral query. The solution was in the second sentence of the user response: the factory plastic the buyer forgot to remove from the air purifier’s filter.
Comment
byu/Audemars_Philippe0 from discussion
indelhi
Not Uncommon
A user on Reddit in a now-deleted post revealed about four years ago that they ran their air purifier with the plastic cover on the filter for a year.
Just went to replace my air filter…
byu/networkingsight inWellthatsucks
“Our air filter has been in our living room for six months so I decided to switch out the internal filter and found this,” another user realised after using their air purifier for six months. In this case as well, the filter was still sealed in its original company plastic.
If you are reading this and somehow overlooked this crucial step after setting up your air purifier, you’re welcome.
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