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Air Purifier: Your Needs and Expectations

L

Luxi

Junior Member
Hi,

I am working on an Innovation Project in the area of Air Purifier. Therefore experiences, opinions and ideas from users of this technology are very important for me.

The aim of the project is to develop functions and products that better meet the needs of users. Often product development is driven by engineering-approaches trying to achieve best performance or technological objectives but ignoring the real needs of those using the product. Getting out and talking to users of this technology should change this.

Therefore I have several questions and would very much appreciate your inputs and experiences.

1) What where your motives to buy an Air Purifier?
2) What aspects where most important for choosing the model/brand?
3) How do you decide when it is time to replace the filter? (alert of unit, user manual , own calculation/experience,...?)
4) Where do you buy replacement filters?
5) Are there any problems that come along with using Air Purifiers or are there any functions missing that you would like to see?
6) Are you using white sound machines?
7) Are you using Smartphones?

Every comment and opinion is very welcome. Please let me know what experiences you have made with your units and what you would expect from a good Air Purifier. What functions could improve your experience and well-being at home?

Thank you,
Philippe

EDIT: Changed questions since we got some what further in the project and have shifted focus.
 
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You aren't going to get a lot of help with that type of approach. At forums like this we like members who help us and in exchange we help them. Asking so much on your first post seems like you are taking and not giving. Plus your questions are leading questions. If you don't know what a leading question is, they go something like this: "Politician X is a douchbag, rapes the elderly, and slaps babies, so do you want to vote for politician X or Y?" Your questions as they are worded are very much like that politician question.

That said, an air purifier is a fan + filter. Not much to it. There isn't much need to innovate there. Sure you can do it, but you are just going to add unnecessary bells and whistles for a lot of extra costs. I work in product design. Relying on asking your customers too much leads to an endless wishlists without costs really being considered or a true gauge on how MUCH they actually want the features. For example, sure, I'd like a pencil that has an embedded 128 GB USB drive, flosses my teeth, is a spy cam, and a voice control remote for my ceiling fan. But I won't pay $200 for that pencil you build. No one will. Your air purifier is a fan + filter. Don't overcomplicate it.

That said, I have two gripes with air purifiers. (1) Filterless models do basically nothing but collect a minute amount of particles over many, many hours. (2) Filtered air purifiers run through a fortune in electricity and filters. Fix one of those two gripes and I'd be happy with what you make. If you pressed me to ask for a bell or whistle, I'd like a digital readout of how bad my air actually was before purifying (but only if it measures allergens solely and only if that readout was truly accurate).
 
It absolutely, positively has to remove cigarette smoke and mold. Anything less is useless, anything more is just nice to have.
 
Luxi said:
  1. If you bought an Air Purifier what were your reasons to do so? //
    OR If you are thinking about buying one what are your reasons to do so?
    Smoke weed indoors
  2. What aspects did you consider when deciding for a specific product/brand?
    Filter media
  3. If having a product with an HEPA filter. Are you aware that filters need to be exchanged on a regular basis? Did you do that / are you planning on doing so?
    (If having another type of filter please skip to question 9).
    filter is replaced every 3-5 years, prefilter is cleaned monthly
  4. Does your unit alerts you when it is time to change?
    yes
  5. Would you like to get an alert via the unit, mail or e-mail? What way would you prefer?
    That would be cool, but seems unnecessary because of how infrequent filter changes are
  6. Where and how do you buy replacement filters?
    Amazon
  7. Maybe you have heard that filters cloak up depending on your individual living situation depending on many variables. Would you appreciate a tool that allows you to calculate your individual recommended exchange rate?
    Would be cool, seems like a lot of different variables to take into account however
  8. What bothers you most about exchanging filters? Could this inconvenience be reduced in some way?
    meh, not big deal, not sure how it could be easier
  9. What functions are you missing when thinking of a quality-Air Purifier?
    none
  10. Do you prefer automated units that measure air quality and adapts its performance or do you prefer manual control?
    manual
  11. Would you like to see the effects of the unit? Meaning quality of air and changes over time. Could be visualized with graphs in mobile or web applications.
    Would be interesting, not something I'd NEED however
  12. Would you call yourself an technology-affine person or a early bird (meaning someone who likes to try new technology before it is becoming a mainstream application)?
    early adopter
Click to expand...

For reference the purifier I use is the Austin Air HealthMate HM 400.
 
JulesMaximus said:
I need it to work and I want it to be as quiet as possible... which is pretty much impossible.
Click to expand...

That's what I like about living around rich folk, the air purify I have cost about $500 new, someone in Chevy Chase had tossed it out once the filter needed its first replacement, so I took it home and bought a new filter for it. Had to pay the $200 for the filter, but it has lasted 2 years so far and they say they last up to 5 years so meh, no big deal.
This thing works and isn't very loud at all. I love it for free. :biggrin:
 
mnewsham said:
That's what I like about living around rich folk, the air purify I have cost about $500 new, someone in Chevy Chase had tossed it out once the filter needed its first replacement, so I took it home and bought a new filter for it. Had to pay the $200 for the filter, but it has lasted 2 years so far and they say they last up to 5 years so meh, no big deal.
This thing works and isn't very loud at all. I love it for free. :biggrin:
Click to expand...

What make/model?
 
I purchased a tower ionic air for about $300. It came with the black light built in. Used it for about a year, and decided it wasn't doing much. Sold it on Ebay for about half of what I paid. I then purchased a filter unit from Costco figuring that if it did not work, I can return it. So far, I've had it 16 months and really like it. It is multi speed, tells you when the filter is clogged and is quiet enough to keep about 15 feet away when sleeping. It is about $350 and is the Whirlpool brand. We have dogs and it keeps the dust and fur out of the air when sleeping. We vacuum the filters every 2 weeks and that makes them last much longer.
 
Luxi said:
Often product development is driven by engineering-approaches trying to achieve best performance or technological objectives but ignoring the real needs of those using the product. Getting out and talking to users of this technology should change this.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Most users of technology have no fucking idea what their real needs are.
 
Hi everyone,

Thanks a lot for your comments.

@dullard: Thank you for the constructive feedback. I will consider this at the next opportunity. What is your gripe with air running through electricity and filters?

@mnewsham: Thank you a lot. Why do you prefer manual?

@Raizinman: You said that with the first one you figured that it wasn´t doing a lot but with the second one you are happy. Since clean air usually is not visible what is it that made you being happy with the filter-product?
How do you know/decide on when it is time to change filter?

@Jules: Do I understand you correct, that you are using it at office but not at home? Why is that?

Humpy said:
I disagree. Most users of technology have no fucking idea what their real needs are.
Click to expand...
You are a 100% right with that.“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”, Henry Ford
That though does not mean that you should not ask. It is just important to interpret the answers the right way. As you also can see we don´t run a typical customer survey but question the answers in detail to find real needs and problems.
Someone asking for a smaller unit might have the problem that he is bothered by the unit in his room or might want to move it from one room to another. Those are two completely different problems and could be adresed by different approaches and not only by the "claimed" reduction of price.

Thanks to everyone!
 
Luxi said:
Thank you a lot. Why do you prefer manual?
Click to expand...
I know how much smoke there will be in a given situation, I find it much easier to just turn the unit on high for 20-30 minutes and then put it back on low when I am done. I suppose if there were an accurate enough automated on/off hi/low function I would use it, but manual really isn't a big hassle, if I did have an automatic one I would still want to keep the option to run it manually, no matter how good the automatic sensors are.
 
Hi everyone,

we have reached phase 2 of the project. Aim is to verify ideas. Is there anyone who would like to participate. Would be an 10-15 minutes interview.

Questions would be about your personal opinion and experience and participation would be very much appreaciated!!

Please send me a private message or directly contact me at innovation@gmx-topmail.de
Thank you very much.
Philippe
 
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