Do air purifiers really work?

[OutHouse]

I have a iQair in my bedroom and I sleep so much better. My night time allergies during hay/alpha cutting season are pretty much gone.

The down side is that the replacement filters are 200 bucks..

 

[mmntech]

I've got a sharp one in my mancave. Sort of works. Keeps the dust down but the electronics attract more than it can handle. Not to mention the replacement filters are bloody expensive. They're like $100 for this little thing. I just ended up using substantially cheaper furnace filters for it. I cut them to fit and they work just as well.

The only real health benefits I've ever gotten from it is help with my hay fever. Come winter all it does is keep the dust down, so I don't have to clean as often. It'll get turned off and it'll be days before I even realize it. My mom won it so I really can't complain, since it was free.

 

[IAteYourMother]

For THOUSANDS of years people lived on this planet with no filters/purifiers.

You will survive.

Besides, even if you filter your air, guess what....if you live close to a highway or metro area chances are you are getting way too much pollution anyways.

Don't worry about these little things in life. Just hope for the best.

For thousands of years, people also had much worse health and lower life expectancies. Pretty stupid reasoning.

 

[OutHouse]

Besides, even if you filter your air, guess what....if you live close to a highway or metro area chances are you are getting way too much pollution anyways.

do you even have a fricken clue of what you are talking about?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Just dust your damned house already

<-- always an idiot in the bunch....

 

[Ausm]

I tried one in my Old man's house and he smokes like a chimney, it didn't help.

 

[SP33Demon]

I had mold spores in a shithole I was living in after college. Got insanely ill with a nasty nasty cough that was debillitating... long story short, bought a small HEPA from Walmart, cranked it to high, and the cough went away in less than a week. Not to mention I got the hell out of there because it could have caused permanent damage if I stayed much longer. So yeah, I'm a big advocate of HEPA's in the house, especially old ones with pets and old furnaces that have never been cleaned.

 

[Squisher]

 

[machomocha]

filtering the entire house is to difficult. the easiest way to protect yourself from pollutants is to filter a limited amount of air around your direct area. Wear a suit similar to what astronauts use and attach a filter to it. Problem solved! You're welcome!

 

[Mixolydian]

<-- always an idiot in the bunch....

There's quite a few in this thread.

 

[foghorn67]

It gets inside. I don't care how tight you think your house is sealed up. When you can barely see the sun on a clear day it's pretty bad (that pic was taken at 11AM on a clear day-well, clear except for the smoke).

Oh, and good luck finding one once the fires break out and the air quality turns to shit. The local stores sell out of them within hours.

This. And it completely wrecks my sinuses.
I got an air purifier as a gift, and I am glad I did. Also great for removing odors on the pronto.

 

[Juddog]

I have used purifiers throughout the years. Does it work? Yes it does, but as to how much that benefits you will be another story. I had a friend with bad allergies that spend hundreds of bucks on one, didn't seem to make much of a difference for him. For me, it helps a lot with allergies, so I guess it depends on what you're allergic to in the air.

I have tried ionizers, HEPA filtered units, and combination units. The ionizers weren't very effective, but they were good to use in a room that requires quiet, and their main downside is that the dust, etc. that normally stays floating in the air lands on everything, so the room requires more frequent dusting.

The HEPA units are louder but way more effective. When you take out the filter for the first time and see how much crap is in there, it demonstrates how well it works. You can especially tell the difference if you have a fireplace and have to deal with smokey smells through the house.

There are combo units as well, which is what I use at home now to control the allergies I get from my cats.

 

[Hacp]

I lived in a moldy room once, made me cough like hell. Bought a Honeywell filter for 100 bucks and I stopped coughing. Only get it if there is something wrong with your house.

 

[Deleted member 4644]

After using three 150 sq ft purifiers in my very large office (2000 sq ft suite), I can say that these things really work.

They have only been plugged in for an hour, but the air smells more fresh and quite wonderful.

Can't say I can *breath* "better" but it smells better.

 

[wirednuts]

For thousands of years, people also had much worse health and lower life expectancies. Pretty stupid reasoning.

we also now have airtight homes since the 80's onward... so really we ARE living in conditions never before seen by humans on a grand scale.

i did a research paper on indoor air quality of inside air. on average, its at LEAST 10x worse then outside air. in some cases up to 100x worse. any filtering you can do isnt going to hurt, even if thats vacuuming twice as much. just use a good hepa vac and that alone can help air quality.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

People are nutcase germophobes. They go to extremes to create as sterile of an environment as possible. The results: their kids wind up with asthma & other problems as a result.

Idiots.

It is important to exercise your immune system.

 

[Dessert Tears]

I have a Honeywell 50250-S, currently at $130, its all-time low.

• [thread=2240875]Anyone here own a decent air purifier? Looking for recommendations.[/thread]
• [thread=2258151]Need to get out dust from our living room.[/thread]

 

[Red Squirrel]

One cheaper way to purify air is to just build a big air box with an inlet and outlet and furnace filter insert. Look at the hardware store to see what is the most common hepa/equivalant filter size and build it to fit that. While some will fit directly in your furnace often they restrict air flow too much on their own. Make it so there's an array of like 3 of em to maximize air flow. Then make your return pass through it. Still keep the furnace filter as it acts as an air restrictor (that the furnace is designed for) if the array is actually letting too much air through.

The mention of forest fires is a good one, probably a good idea to at least have a filter system that is ready to rock and roll in the event of forest fire smoke. It happened here this summer, it was the most eerie thing ever. The fire was far but the wind just happened to be the right direction for a day. Did not last long enough to be a big issue though but they had advisories to close windows and at work they had to shut all the air intakes at all of the central offices so the equipment does not fill with soot.

Pics from "Timmins 9" fire we got in May. It was put out by end of summer. Was a pretty big one.











Pics don't really justify how thick the smoke was though.

Found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX3h7mHewcg Much better pics.

 

[Crono]

EDIT

 

[Bateluer]

Everything I've read has the ionic air filters are borderline scams.

I did have a Holmes branded HEPA filter unit when I lived in an apartment. It used 3 HEPA filters, roughly 8"x10" in size, with a carbon filter over top each. I think it was rated for a 500 sq foot of space. It pulled so much dust and crud from the air that the filters that were supposed to last 6 months, made it to a month before they had a good centimeter of shit caked on them.

Don't know if it had any specific health benefits, but it was damned expensive to replace the filters regularly. Didn't move it over to my house, too small to be effective.

 

[Skel]

The woman of the house suffers from bad allergies and we also have two cats and a dog. That creates a lot of dust and dander in the air. I have always scrubbed the house down at least once a week, a habit I picked up when I was single and enjoyed having women over. Even scrubbing the house I still had crap floating in the air that I could see when I used a strong flashlight at night. I put HEPA purifiers in every room and it made a huge difference to the woman. A couple of months ago I broke down and installed a air filter system in my AC (http://www.lennox.com/products/indoor-air-quality-systems/PureAir/) which has a MERV 16 filter which is hospital grade. A bit over kill in this place, but I can say it's helped with the woman's allergies and I'm not seeing the amount of dust I used to. I also don't see much of anything with the flashlight. I still run the other Air purifiers as well as it's not hurting anything. To each their own, but it worked out well in my home. I've had people stay with me and noticed their own allergies not bothering them as much.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

my home office is like 12'x14' and gets a lot of dust/dander/etc probably due to poor house design (negative air from the blower/water heater closet in it). had one of those big honeywell 50250 hepas and it was way too loud and didnt do a great job.

did one of those box fans and commercial 2 inch 20x20x2 designed for commercial hepa filters and its much quieter and keeps the dust/dander down a lot better. very ugly even but its strategically stuck under a desk so all you see is the front fan part.

if you ever do those box fan DIY boxes dont use standard home furnace filters.

 

[Scarpozzi]

If you have central air/heat, I'd start by changing your air filter there more frequently and maybe put in one with a finer particle screen.

I've got a few 3m Filtrete Air Purifiers that I paid $40 each for:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/3M-Ultra-Q...rifier/7080165

If nothing else, they make a good sleeping sound and definitely catch dust on the filter. I've got hardwood floor and keep them vaccummed weekly. That and getting rid of my dog has helped dust/allergies the most.

 

[T9D]

I have a hepa filter I use in the corner of my room. It's a lifetime one. I only have to clean it maybe once every 6 months.

HUGE difference for my allergies. As long as I'm in the room I have no allergies. And even if I leave it takes time for my allergies to build up so it helps a lot no matter what and even when I leave and go outside.

You need to make sure you have the least amount of air leaks possible in the house or room though. Otherwise you are just replenishing the pollen and junk to fast with air movement bringing it in again.

 

[surfsatwerk]

That and getting rid of my dog has helped dust/allergies the most.

You dumped your dog because of a case of the sniffles?