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Flower power: This smart air purifier uses plants instead of filters

The term pollution probably makes you think of the air outside of your home, but indoor air quality isn’t necessarily pristine. Polluted indoor air causes millions of deaths and diseases each year, according to the World Health Organization. One company is hoping to bring more breathable air into your home via a smart, natural air purifier.

Related: Breather fresher air. See more air purifying systems here.

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Called the Clairy, it’s disguised as a ceramic flower pot that uses real plants to help filter the air. The flower pot has a built-in fan that guides the air inside your room to the roots of the plants, where there are colonies of microorganisms in the soil. The system works as a biofilter, removing chemicals like ammonia, benzene, and xylene, which produces fresher air, according to its creators.

Via the Clairy Android or iOS app, you’ll get updates about the room’s toxin, humidity, and temperature levels, thanks to sensors inside the pot. You’ll also find tips on how to improve your room’s air quality in the app. Clairy can also be adjusted to fit your needs if you have allergies or asthma or you’re pregnant.

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NASA created a list of the best plants for filtering out toxic elements from the air, including aloe vera, English ivy, and snake plants. The plants aren’t included when you back the Kickstarter project, so you’ll have to provide your own and get your own soil. For a pledge of about $150, you can claim an early bird Clairy. For an extra $50, you can get a wooden tripod. The company has already surpassed their goal of $100,291 and plans to start shipping the pots in December 2016. That’s a pretty ambitious timeline, considering each ceramic pot will be hand-crafted. As usual with Kickstarter projects, back at your own risk.

Maria Mora
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Maria Mora is a creative, media professional fusing a background of audio production with editorial writing. Technology…
Can you run an air purifier and essential oil diffuser at the same time?
URPOWER Essential Oil Diffuser.

At first glance, air purifiers and essential oil diffusers seem like they would be natural opponents. One is designed to take particles from the air in your home, and the other is designed to add (pleasant-smelling) particles instead. If you’re running them both in the same room, it’s understandable to wonder if they’re canceling each other out.

Fortunately, it’s easy to clear this confusion up. Let’s take a look at some FAQs about these two home air devices and what you should know about using them both at the same time.
What's the difference between an air purifier and an air diffuser?
An air purifier uses a filter or series of filters to remove unwanted particles from your home’s air. They are commonly used to get rid of airborne allergens, smoke, and dust, and they can also help remove bacteria and viruses from the air. The best air purifiers use true HEPA filters that can remove particles down to the size of 0.3 microns, and some newer models can remove particles as small as 0.1 microns.

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How long do I run my air purifier?
The Coway Airmega purifier.

In previous guides, we’ve discussed how today’s smart air purifiers work and what specs to look at when getting the right size for your room or house -- like CADR, or Clean Air Delivery Rate. But air purifiers can only cycle through a room’s air when they are turned on … which leads us to another important question: Just how long should you run your air purifier? Can you run it for too long? Don’t worry, we have all the answers.
How long should I run my air purifier?
The air quality inside your home is always changing, and the impact of your air purifier will depend on its size -- especially whether you want to clear up a single room or the whole house. In general, you can run an air purifier for a few hours a day and expect it to give the air in its space a thorough cleaning. If you’re only looking at one smaller room, half an hour to an hour can have the same result. That schedule can give you all the benefits that an air purifier offers without requiring it to be on all the time -- but you’ll want to run it at least once a day for best effect.

Do air purifier settings make a difference when running it?
They do. Most air purifiers have several fan settings that affect how quickly they push air through, in exchange for using more power and making more noise. If you only have a few hours a day to clean the air in your home and would prefer not to leave the purifier on when you are away, turn it to its maximum setting and let it run. Just note that max settings on most air purifiers will be too loud to hold a meeting in the same room.
Is it safe to run an air purifier all the time?
Yes. Air purifiers are generally designed to be run all the time if you prefer to. You can put the purifier on its lowest setting to diminish noise and let it run throughout the day.

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The new Wyze Air Purifier offers quiet, efficient filtration
The Wyze Air Purifier is quiet enough for use in any room.

Wyze has announced a new air purifier with three different filter options. You can choose which filter you want at purchase, but the other filters can be purchased at a later date and swapped out on the fly as needed.

The Wyze Air Purifier filter options include the Allergen (Standard) filter, the Formaldehyde (Premium) filter, and the Wildfire filter. It utilizes a true HEPA filter for 99.97% efficiency in eliminating harmful, airborne particles such as dander, pollen, and even smoke. The purifier has enough power to clean a 500-square-foot room up to three times an hour, and it's not too loud even on the highest setting. The sound ranges from 21 decibels in its sleep mode to 54 decibels on its highest level -- roughly the same volume as a refrigerator's hum.

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