In-Home Air Purifiers

White95Max · 12-03-05, 07:45

Does anyone have an air purifier in their home? Any recommendations for a good one?

truzoom · 12-03-05, 07:53

First, I'd avoid the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze, simply because it seems to have many problems according to reviews of it on amazon, consumer reports, etc.; not to mention that using ozone to clean air inside a house doesn't seem too safe for humans.

HEPA units will be the better choice, although they tend to be 1. loud, 2. bulky, 3. expensive to maintain. I've got a little holmes HEPA unit that is about as loud as a being under the hood of a running engine, but it catches odors and dust and seems to make the air overall better, but not much more noticable.

Are you looking for a whole house unit or something for your bedroom?

Setec Astronomy · 12-03-05, 08:06

I'm not sure that it's accurate to say that the Ionic Breeze uses ozone to clean the air; these units are usually electrostatic air cleaners, which use oppositely charged wires and plates to attract dust particles to the plates. Some arcing occurs, which generates ozone, but as a byproduct of the cleaning, rather than the method. Anyway, that's how an electrostatic filter works, whether the Ionic Breeze works that way I don't really know.

White95Max · 12-03-05, 08:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by truzoom

Are you looking for a whole house unit or something for your bedroom?

I'd buy it in hopes of cleaning the air in the entire apartment, but I'd probably have it at the entrance of my bedroom. All of the rooms come together in the small hallway at that point.

truzoom · 12-03-05, 08:33

I believe you can also get a HEPA unit that works in conjunction with the return unit on your AC.

LangMan37 · 12-03-05, 08:38

this might do ya:

www.ecoquest.com

I've used the small one for autos and it works great. Been thinking about being a rep once i learn more about it. If you have any questions, give me a shout. I may (or may not) be able to answer or steer you in the right direction.

Spilchy · 12-04-05, 06:34

My friend has the Sharper Image thing. He placed it in his basement after it was re-carpeted. The awful chemical smell from the new carpet was gone in one day. Now, his basement has a total neutral smell. It was pretty amazing. I pulled out the tray and the blades were black with filth, so this thing really works with filtering the air. One good thing is that it is absolutely silent and has no expensive filters to change.

I saw it work first hand with excellent results. Whether or not it is well made or has reliability issues, I don't know for sure.

Other air purifiers I have seen are a couple hundred bucks, noisy and require rather expensive filter replacements.

Scottwax · 12-04-05, 06:41

I have several customers with the Ionic Breeze and none are particulary happy with them. Said they really don't notice any difference in the air quality. Consumer Reports really ripped them as well.

Accumulator · 12-04-05, 07:35

When I feel like spending the money, I'm gonna get something really effective installed on the HVAC systems. Won't be cheap though...

In the meantime, we have a few of the Ionic Breezes too. Despite what Consumer's Reports says, they sure do clean a lot of [stuff] out of the air. Very trouble/maintenance-free too, at least compared with the filter-style air cleaners we've had (and we've had a lot of them). No problems that we're aware of from the supposed production of ozone. They're silent until they get dust/etc. built up in them (takes a few years) and then they crackle in a very irritating way. Blowing them out with an air compressor usually fixes it. I took one apart and cleaned it properly once, but it was a bit of a job (and there are components that hold a residual electrical charge and will shock you even with it unplugged). The only one that died was repeatedly knocked over/abused. The others are fine after about five years (we bought the first two when they first came out).

We also still have a few of the larger filter-style air cleaner- kept the Sears ones, threw away the Bionaires. The filters are always expensive, need frequent changing, and some models make it a pain to change them. The "silent" ones from Sears aren't always silent by any means. But they're worth considering if putting a "real" unit on the central HVAC isn't feasible. Do they work better than the Ionic Breezes in a real-world sort of way?

None of them work miracles when you have two dogs and a cat that all go outside in all kinds of weather

I've found that over the course of time (years), it's easy to *say* you'll keep filters on hand and change them regularly, but it's not so easy to actually *do* it. The Ionic Breezes are the only units we've kept up with for many years.

Oh, and changing filters should be done outside. It's a messy business and will drive allergies nuts if you don't wear a mask.

CarWeenie · 12-04-05, 10:08

I have done some research prior to getting mine (we have birds at home and they generate a lot of danders).
I have a Austin Air Healthmate. It is sort of loud (similar to the sound of laptop's
fan). I guess I have those silly parrots/kids/spouse and I am used to noise.
I believe the consensus on the Ionic air is that they are not very effective. However,
they do not cause any harm either (stay away from brands that will generate ozone - that is just not healthy).

Spilchy · 12-04-05, 03:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accumulator

When I feel like spending the money, I'm gonna get something really effective installed on the HVAC systems. Won't be cheap though...

Check this out. Maybe it'll give you an idea.

http://www.ecoquestintl.com/corporat...s/ductworx.asp

Accumulator · 12-04-05, 04:11

Spilchy- Interesting, but I'm not sure it'd solve my particular problem: particulates/dust. Even with supposedly good mechanical filter units it's still a losing battle.

My attorney's legal aide as a good system (her kid has health issues) that's pretty much tailor made for what I'm dealing with, so I have some good leads on what to get. I'm just not into spending the money at present; I have two HVAC systems in the house so any such expense is really times 2. And knowing me I'd want one for the garage shop too