Is Your Air Purifer Among the 25% Found to be Substandard?

Most of us Beijing dwellers have bought an air purifier ahead of the capital's smoggy winter season, and assumed that such a device would be enough to ward off harmful pollutants. However, a new study finds that air purifiers should come under much higher scrutiny, because nearly 25 percent of them may not be up to par.

On October 21, Xinhua reported that the alarming results came from inspections of 61 batches of air purifiers sold to Chinese consumers from 56 companies throughout 2016. Those inspections were held randomly, and they found that 15 batches, or 24.6 percent, were substandard in safety or performance.

Zhang Wenbing, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, detailed the results to the media, but did not reveal whether the faulty purifiers were made by Chinese companies or foreign firms.

If you have concerns about how well your home or office is being protected from pollutants, then we suggest purchasing an AQI monitor like the AirVisual Node or Origins' Laser Egg. That way you can keep an eye on the room's AQI and turf your purifier for a better model if the monitor's readings go too high. We also urge you to check out our 10 tips to make your home more pollution proof, which lists several handy suggestions that will boost your purifier's performance (everything from replacing your filter more frequently, to ways that you can block gaps in windows that let smog seep in).

And for those of you who have worries about stepping outside to face the smoggy conditions, be sure to check out our recent article about how to maximize the effectiveness of your breathing mask.

On another note, voting is now open for the Round of 32 in this year's Pizza Cup. Read the voting process here or head straight to the voting page by scanning/extracting the QR code below. Voting for this round closes on October 24 (Monday) at 2pm.