In-Home Air Purifiers

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?
 
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.
 
truzoom said:
Are you looking for a whole house unit or something for your bedroom?
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :nixweiss
 
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? :nixweiss 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.
 
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- 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 :o
 
Consumers Distort did a comprehensive review not too long ago....it included both table top style units and the more permanent type that are integrated with the HVAC system. They can run into big $$$.
 
Yeah, big $$$ is right, and then you need to find one that your preferred HVAC contractor handles. I'm pretty particular about who I let in the house and who I get major systems from, which doesn't make it any easier...
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah, big $$$ is right, and then you need to find one that your preferred HVAC contractor handles. I'm pretty particular about who I let in the house and who I get major systems from, which doesn't make it any easier...
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Smart man, can't be too careful these days.
 
The ionic type filters don't work worh a darn in removing particulates from the air. In a week's time you will have a thin layer of dust on the plates. My TV screen in the same room had about the same amount of dust on it. The filter in my central air did a better job of cleaning the air. I think your money is better spent on high quality, pleated AC filters that are replaced often.



The ionic filters do a good job of removing odors. No matter how stuffy, musty, or bad smelling a room is, the ionic filter gave it a "just rained" type smell.
 
lagniappe said:
The ionic type filters don't work worh a darn in removing particulates from the air. In a week's time you will have a thin layer of dust on the plates. My TV screen in the same room had about the same amount of dust on it. The filter in my central air did a better job of cleaning the air. I think your money is better spent on high quality, pleated AC filters that are replaced often.



The ionic filters do a good job of removing odors. No matter how stuffy, musty, or bad smelling a room is, the ionic filter gave it a "just rained" type smell.
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I think Consumer Reports came to the same conclusion. I read their reports cause I wanted an air filter to help with my allergies. Wasn't worried too much about smoke cause no one smokes in my house.



My doctor told me to save the dough and just buy better furnace filters (I use 3m's filtrate now). If I had to get one though, I'd get a whole house one that hooks up to the HVAC system.
 
Rigid (Shop vacuum cleaner) HEPA filter I put a 12 v computer fan and it filters the air and cools the computer at the same time. The computer stays on all the time so my’s well have it filter too.

Cost $20.00 for filter $10.00 fan and some time making a support for it, works good for a small filter.
 
I have a few of the ionic breeze things in different sizes. They do pick up a decent amount of dust. The thing I like about them is that they are quiet. When they start to hiss and buzz, I usually clean them. The fan style HEPA filters seem to work faster when you blast them, but they're just so noisy IMO.

I'm also thinking about one of the big $ HVAC systems, just a lot of research ahead.
 
Yeah, CR really has it out for the Sharper Image and ORECK models.





They rated "Aprilaire 5000" tops in the whole-house version. It's quoted at $500 and requires professional installation. I believe the replacement filters get expensive for all these units.



The best "room" unit was Friedrich C90A ($500) but doesn't really have that great a rating compared to the whole-house units.
 
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