Air Cleaner Testing

Tests are carried out by air cleaner manufacturers and by their associations. Many claims on effectiveness are carried out by the manufacturers themselves or use the data from the filter suppliers. This can be highly misleading as much of the data only relates to filter efficiency not the effectiveness of the whole unit.

Two kinds of tests have been carried out on air cleaners: laboratory and field tests. The laboratory tests establish the theoretical performance of the equipment in controlled surroundings, the field tests test them in hospitality (and other) venues.

The laboratory tests are useful in that there is no ‘noise’ in the data. They do compare equipment on a like-for-like basis and they are easy to repeat and get identical results anywhere in the world. The disadvantages are that the results may not be similar to those achieved in the real world due to:

• Air leakage in the building

• Interference from other equipment

• The much more complex contamination in the outlet