Tried and Tested: Does an air purifier improve the air quality in your home when decorating?

Ever since we moved into our unmodernised Edwardian home two years ago, I’ve become a bit of a DIY fanatic. We’re always creating something new or revamping an area in our home, and at the moment, it’s the upstairs. We’re currently in the middle of a bathroom, hallway and spare bedroom renovation, which means were living amongst a fair bit of dust and dirt.

I have always been concerned about the amount of dust lingering in the air during these projects. I absolutely love creating my vision in our home, especially seeing the end result, but when it comes to the dusty air - not so much. My 7-year-old has mild asthma, so I’m constantly hanging dust sheets and keep every single window open to try and minimise any problems with his breathing, but air quality has always been one of the biggest concerns during our home renovations.

We’ve previously owned an air purifier that we used in my son’s bedroom in our first home during renovations. I got it with the intention of helping him to breathe easily at night, but we couldn't make use of it for long because he absolutely hated the sound of it. The noise petrified him and he couldn't sleep. Because he struggled to breathe mostly at night, I tend to switch it on when he was in deep sleep but even then, there were times where he'd wake up in the middle of the night and cry for us to switch it off. In the end, we stopped using it completely, which didn't help the environment in our home and didn't help my son either. So, the promise of an air purifier that’s quiet when in use was a huge plus for us.

The PureSense technology uses sensors to measure the temperature, humidity, light and particles in the room. It then gives you an air quality reading (in the form of a light and number) through the app and can automatically adjust if you want it to. We measured the air quality in my son’s room before, during and after painting to see how the purifier made a difference. According to the manual, this feature will give you a reading of anything from 0 – 250+, and the lower the number the better the air quality.

Before painting and sanding the walls the level was at 13, which I expected to be worse considering his room is a loft conversion which generally feels quite stuffy. My theory is that dust rises through the house before settling on surfaces in there.

We left it running while we painted and it went down to 6/7, which was a surprise to know the air quality was better during painting than it was before. I felt the difference while I was decorating and didn’t struggle to stay in the room to do further works at all. I felt the breeze the whole time.

One day after painting, the reading had gone down to 2 and I was really pleased to find that there was no paint odour in his room and the levels remained consistent all day. After 2 days, the reading was down to 0 and for the first time his room felt so light and airy. It’s been at a consistently amazing level since and he hasn’t coughed in his sleep once.

As the air purifier was going to be used in my son’s room, I wanted him to be part of the set up. He read the manual with me and we downloaded the Wellbeing app together and he immediately became more interested. I showed him how the purifier uses colours to demonstrate good or bad air quality, and even explained the 5-stage filtration which captures microscopic pollutants (which he is allergic to). How it protects him from harmful gases and odours and airborne bacteria was a complete shock to him. We tested out all 9-speed settings and it was all so easy to understand. He's a little whizz kid so was really intrigued about it all.

While I was decorating, he was downstairs monitoring the levels on the app and was fascinated by the air changes as I sanded and painted.

My favourite thing about the app is that I was able to switch the purifier to a higher speed one evening when we were out for dinner, meaning that the air would be being cleaned as we headed back home for his bedtime. It's pure genius!

My experience with AEG Air Purifier has been nothing but positive. The dust we live in has been an absolute nightmare for all of us, but the technology in this beautiful purifier has ticked all the boxes.

But the biggest test was definitely the noise. His biggest fear. Once everything was download and connected; my words were "Is it on? I can't hear it?" We were adamant something wasn't right until my son saw the light around the top and felt this slight breeze against his face. His little face was so happy; "Mum I can't hear it, but I can feel it, it’s a fresh breeze!" Music to my ears. I was so relieved. The fact that it is so silent, means you hardly notice it in the room. That night, he didn't question whether it was on or not, he was oblivious that I’d switched it on. It allowed him to have one of the best sleeps without waking up with an irritable cough.

Plus, I can comfortably check the air purity levels on the app while he sleeps and know he’s safe from harmful particles. Since we’ve been using it, the colour has remained green. It’s not only helped my son to breathe at night, but it’s made the renovation process easier for all of us. We no longer have the stress of managing my son's asthma and I’m able to work in a room which would previously have caused me major headaches. It has made a huge difference to our family, and you wouldn't even know it was there.

This product was gifted free of charge in exchange for @edwardian_love's honest opinion.

Images supplied by @edwardian_love