Aham, the North American Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, has finalized a performance test standard that will provide appliance manufacturers with a consistent way to test the effectiveness of portable room air cleaners’ ability to remove microbiological pollutants including viruses, bacteria and mold.
The new standard, Aham-AC-5-2022, measures the rate at which an air cleaner reduces aerosolized bacteriophages that mimic many common illness-causing viruses, including Covid-19. It will provides a uniform method to assess the rate at which different air cleaner models remove microbiological pollutants from rooms of a given size. Moreover, it is the first air cleaner performance standard to focus on microbiological pollutants and was developed over the course of 18 months by a committee of public health professionals, academic researchers and leading appliance manufacturers.
«When consumers began turning to air cleaners to create a healthier home environment during the pandemic, Aham assembled a team of credible experts to develop a testing protocol to provide manufacturers and consumers with certainty regarding an air cleaner’s ability to filter viruses and bacteria – said Aham president and CEO Joe McGuire -. Aham AC-5-2022 is a groundbreaking standard that builds on the trust Aham has earned over decades of testing and independent verification conducted through the Aham Verifide® program.»
Aham-AC-5 is now available on Aham’s website along with a supplemental guide on air cleaners and microbial decontamination. The standard will be submitted to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for acceptance as a national consensus standard. As with all Aham standards, AC-5 will be reviewed and revised regularly by a committee of experts to ensure it reflects ongoing innovation.
