Air purifiers

[val douest]

Has anyone any experience of air purifiers?  I would like to buy something to try to make at least one downstairs room in the house more or less cat-free for the comfort of visitors with allergies.  It is impossible to keep the cats completely out of any of the downstairs rooms as they interlink, but the cats usually just pass through the dining room en route to the kitchen so an air purifier could be worth a try in there.  I have been looking at something called the Airfree steriliser 

http://www.allergybestbuys.co.uk/ebuttonz/ebz_product_pages/airfreeairsteriliser-903020m.shtml#

which has lots of positive reviews but it's quite pricey so any firsthand experience of that or any other air purifier would be useful.

Thanks,

Val

[Pickles]

I really do not understand how the one that you mention is supposed to work. It consists basically of a very small hot plate and vents underneath and on top. There are no filters. There is no fan or other means of getting air in or out - other than EXTREMELY WEAK convection, which will not give anything like the air flow needed to "treat" the air in a room bigger than a cardboard box. I am afraid that like many such devices, it appears to rely on the placebo effect, and is very expensive. The US FDA has told the agents specifically to stop advertising that it kills H1N1 (on the basis that this is an unapproved device and to be perfectly frank I doubt it would get approval anywhere).

Regards

Pickles

[Jay]

Some interesting reviews, including THIS one. I don't think it is what you need though as  "This technology is NOT effective for removal of pollen or other non microorganism particulates which are not “alive”."

[Pickles]

[quote user="Jay"]Some interesting reviews, including THIS one. I don't think it is what you need though as  "This technology is NOT effective for removal of pollen or other non microorganism particulates which are not “alive”."[/quote]

The "air purification" sector is awash with snake oil salesmen, so it would be wise not to suspend your critical faculties when reading any "testimonials". This product would be less effective than leaving a naked 60W incandescent light bulb switched on in the room all the time - it has about the same surface temperature but the light bulb has a much better airflow. Now, how much do they want for this? Where's it been tested? Where are the independent test reports? How does it work? Does the description make it seem remotely likely that the product is going to do any job other than transfer funds from your bank account to theirs?

EDIT: Suze's suggestions (below) get my vote.

Regards

Pickles

[Suze01]

IME the only way to make a room cat-allergy-friendly (I'm allergic, but have a cat) is to not have soft furnishings. Go for wood/tiles floors, leather (or fake) sofa's, no curtains, have blinds if necessary and use a good quality vacuum cleaner with decent filter regularly (ie: Dyson). I have suffered some very bad reactions at friends houses in the UK (fully soft-furnished).

[pachapapa]

The strawberry test is very convincing.

http://www.airfree.com/testes/testeshome.htm

[Pickles]

[quote user="pachapapa"]The strawberry test is very convincing.

http://www.airfree.com/testes/testeshome.htm[/quote]

Thanks for the link, PPP. Just for fun, I thought I'd have a look at the report by the UK's "Insect Research Institute". Of course, there does not appear to be any such organisation ("institute" IIRC is a protected name, for good reasons) and the test has been carried out by an organisation called "Insect Research and Development Ltd", paid for by the manufacturer. In the test, basically, dust mites were physically introduced into the "incinerator", and surprise, surprise, they died.

As a test of whether this device could actually do what is claimed in the advertising, nul points.

Regards

Pickles

[Benjamin]

[quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="thermal"]An air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. These devices are commonly marketed as being beneficial to allergy sufferers and asthmatics, and at reducing or eliminating second-hand tobacco smoke. Commercial grade air purifiers are manufactured as either small stand-alone units or larger units that can be affixed to an air handler unit (AHU) or to an HVAC unit found in the medical, industrial, and commercial industries.[/quote]Do the medical products you are advertising cure verbal diarhea. It would appear that they are not very effective![/quote]

Nearly fell off my perch laughing.   [:D]  [:D]

[nomoss]

The only air purifiers I have any experience with are electrostatic filters. They are available as stand-alone units or for building in to an HVAC system. They do produce some ozone, which I don't mind, and which I don't believe has any ill effects. There are some who disagree with that.

I installed a largish unit in our house in Spain, in an air circulation system for the entire house. The initial idea was to stop dust going down into the basement, where we had a large living area, by taking air from the ground floor, filtering it, and feeding it down to the basement. Not only did it remove all the dust, but also tobacco smoke (we smoked in those days) and all cooking odours.

I recently bought a smaller electrostatic filter unit which I am installing in our new house here. I bought it from this company in UK. http://www.puravent.co.uk:80/