Healthy Air 101:
How To Breathe The Best
Dorm Room Air On Campus

With summer in the rearview mirror, it’s the time of year when college and university students return to campus. Many of those students are returning to dorm rooms that house hundreds and have been in use for decades. Unfortunately, student dorms aren’t always the best in terms of indoor air quality (IAQ). Here are a few reasons why bringing an Intellipure Compact air purifier to school makes for a solid educational investment.

Mold Never Sleeps 

One of the top health issues found in college dorms is mold. Dormitories are often decades old, with many suffering from maintenance issues. Things like roof leaks, plumbing leaks, window leaks, high humidity, and poor ventilation are perfect conditions for mold growth. While a dorm room may look clean on the surface, mold hides behind cabinets, inside walls, under carpets, and even in ceilings. That’s why having a portable in-room air purifier is important. Mold spores are too small to be seen by the naked eye (from 2-10 microns) but they have a detrimental effect on health. Even worse, some molds (like black mold) emit toxic chemicals. 

Stale Air

It seems that dorm buildings aren't always built with ventilation in mind. Some buildings use massive air handlers that heat and cool the entire building. While efficient, it can also lead to pockets of stale air in rooms with clogged ducts or poor return air flow. In worst-case scenarios, there may only be radiant heating for the winter and no fan-driven air conditioning in the summer. That means no air movement via climate control, so each room needs its own solution. The Intellipure Compact air purifier pulls in air from the front and sends clean air out of the top to promote in-room air mixing. Combined with a six-stage volatile organic compound (VOC) adsorption filter, harmful gases and odors are removed while air is circulated.

Dorm Room Smells

Let’s face it: Putting hundreds of students into one building can lead to some … interesting smells. Maybe someone left a pizza under their bed for a whole semester, or one too many bags of popcorn were accidentally grilled in the microwave. And of course, sports seasons bring their own brand of effervescence to the air. Even if a dorm room tenant keeps things tidy, smells can seep in through door gaps, open ceilings, even through walls. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can just grab a can of air freshener and solve the problem. You need to remove the compounds from the air that create the smells, not just add chemicals to cover them up. That’s why having an air purifier with a VOC filter is important for personal comfort. A VOC filter removes the gases, chemicals, and organic compounds from the air, leaving it smelling clean again.

Cold & Flu Season

Friends aren’t the only things that hang out in dorms together; so do viruses and bacteria. During the winter months when everyone is huddled inside and fresh outside air is at a minimum, that’s when the risk of airborne illnesses starts to rise. While washing hands and cleaning surfaces are great ways to prevent illness, protecting the air you breathe takes a different approach. To remove airborne viruses and organisms harboring liquid droplets, you need an air purifier that can filter out even the tiniest of particles. The Intellipure Compact removes up to 99%+ of airborne mold, bacteria and viruses from the air with better than HEPA efficiency.

Bottom Line

When it comes time to hit campus, student health needs to be a top priority. It’s hard to get good grades if sickness, asthma, restless sleep, and other health issues stand in the way. The Intellipure Compact air purifier is the perfect size for dorm rooms up to 500 square feet. It’s also quiet at just 34 decibels on low setting, so it works without being intrusive during study time. Its efficient fan design moves a steady 22 cubic feet of air per minute (low) up to a room-clearing 150 cubic feet per minute in turbo mode, perfect for a packed dorm on video game night. An investment in great indoor air quality will pay long-term dividends later in life!

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