Is it worth buying an air purifier/cleaner for home?

How many of you use a air purifier/cleaner at your home? I was thinking of getting one. Some people say they work good or are they just a waste of money. Any recommendations or thoughts?

I used to have one... didn't notice much of a difference and the thing was a PITA to clean.

Originally Posted by TP71

How many of you use a air purifier/cleaner at your home? I was thinking of getting one. Some people say they work good or are they just a waste of money. Any recommendations or thoughts?

Get it if you have trouble breathing. And make sure the filters don't cost and arm and a leg.

The ex had one in our bedroom when we lived together. I never noticed a difference aside from the fact that it will increase your electric bill. I often was tempted to unplug it and see if she would even notice. Aka the placebo affect.

Originally Posted by Eliott's-BMW

Get it if you have trouble breathing. And make sure the filters don't cost and arm and a leg.

I've seen some of them you can put the filter in the dishwasher. It's more for my wife and daughter with their bad allergies. I had a couple of people tell me that it makes the room overall just smell better.

Originally Posted by TP71

I've seen some of them you can put the filter in the dishwasher. It's more for my wife and daughter with their bad allergies. I had a couple of people tell me that it makes the room overall just smell better.

Yes is true, my aunt had one big one for the whole apartment during allergy season and it did smell like more fresh and easier to breathe.

I think is the ion ones that don't really work...

I have really bad allergies and used to run one in my dorm in college. In addition to eliminating the odor of "freshman feet" that dorms usually have, the air in my room was a lot clearer and fresher overall than my neighbors and I didn't get stuffed up like I did before.

Running a nicer air filter in your home air system will cut down on dust a great deal (no floating dust in the air when the sun hits the light). Not sure how much of a benefit you would see by running a stand alone purifier in addition to that.


My parents have one of the fancy in-line whole house filters that we clean every year or so. The grime that comes out of that thing is really gross and with 3 cats and severe allergies that my parents have it made a huge improvement.

I have an upright one from sharper image we bought about 6 years ago. when its due to clean i can definitely tell, it takes the smell of dog away from the house completely. And to clean it just means wiping it off, no filters

I bought one for a house whose previous owners kept cats inside. I couldn't breathe for a week until I got it.

I have seen them range anywhere from $100 - $450. I think $450 is a bit much though.

This is all you need.

http://www.discountfilters.com/3m-fi...FelFMgodS20Aew_nr_

I had the air ducks in my home cleaned out. Then I use 3M hepa Filters. Clean the house weekly (dust and vacuum) I rarely use my air purifier. If the room smells of smoke from outside then I use it. A year ago there was a huge fire in the next state and you could smell it 60 miles away.. that's the last time I used it.

Originally Posted by jsantoli

I have an upright one from sharper image we bought about 6 years ago. when its due to clean i can definitely tell, it takes the smell of dog away from the house completely. And to clean it just means wiping it off, no filters

I have this same one. Just cleaned it today actually. Works great, it's disgusting seeing what crap it collects. It's like black, nasty crap. Nobody in my house smokes or anything I have no idea where this nasty stuff comes from.

they will work in a room if you keep the door closed. A hose is too vast for a small air cleaner, here is too much volume it the hose to make a diffrence.

In a dorm it will, but a house not so much

http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HHT-...s=air+purifier

I was just looking at these the other day. Does anybody have this one or something similar? Does anybody know if this would filter weed smoke in my room?

Originally Posted by jsantoli

I have an upright one from sharper image we bought about 6 years ago. when its due to clean i can definitely tell, it takes the smell of dog away from the house completely. And to clean it just means wiping it off, no filters

hopefully you're not referring to the ionic breeze. I had one of those and I believe they were all recalled due to teh unhealthy amount of ozone they released

I have an upright air filter that works fairly well. It collected alot of dust and if I blow smoke into it it would blow out clean air.

I think I spent around 150$ on it, and need to buy a new one(I destroyed the old one on purpose). Also upgrade your home air filters to the best you can justify.

Originally Posted by TP71

How many of you use a air purifier/cleaner at your home? I was thinking of getting one. Some people say they work good or are they just a waste of money. Any recommendations or thoughts?

They certainly make a difference. The amount of dust/contaminants it pulls in and captures is pretty shocking when you go to clean/replace the filter(s). Make sure to buy a HEPA filter. Those ionic breeze ones are pure garbage and do nothing.

I have this one in the master bedroom:

Winix PlasmaWave 5300




And the following in the living room:

Rabbit Air BioGS

Originally Posted by WerksM3

I have this same one. Just cleaned it today actually. Works great, it's disgusting seeing what crap it collects. It's like black, nasty crap. Nobody in my house smokes or anything I have no idea where this nasty stuff comes from.

The iconic beeze type "filters" have the MAJOR drawback of electronically charging the dust particles that are not trapped. These particles then stick to you walls and everything else.
Thus, while you air is cleaner, you house is dirtier. There are many reports of people walls looking similar to that of a smoker who smokes in their home.


http://www.latimes.com/features/heal...,6472148.story

By Chris Woolston Special to The Times

April 21, 2008
The product: Dust, cigarette smoke, pollen and pet dander: With so many irritants floating around our homes and work places, clean air is a hot commodity. Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars on furnace filters and air cleaners each year. Though some consumers are simply trying to bring a little extra freshness into their lives, many others hope that their investment will help relieve their asthma or allergies.

If you've ever shopped for an air cleaner -- or if you've ever idly flipped through a SkyMall catalog -- you've undoubtedly seen ads for ionic air purifiers, devices that take an unusual approach to clearing the air. Instead of relying on fans to move air through filters, the machines release a steady stream of negatively charged ions that electrify the bits of dust, dander or other flotsam. The airborne particles pick up the negative charge and become strongly attracted to positively charged collection plates inside the machine. (In many cases, they also become attracted to other charged surfaces such as walls, table tops and TV screens.)

Except for a few models that use fans to help suck in the charged particles, most ionic air purifiers work silently. And, as ads are quick to point out, the devices generally don't have any motors or moving parts, and there are no filters to replace.

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There's another thing that separates ionic air purifiers from other technologies: To varying degrees, all ionic air purifiers release ozone, a potential pollutant. A 2006 study by researchers at UC Davis found that one popular brand, the Ionic Breeze Quadra, released about 2.2 milligrams of ozone per hour, or about as much as a constantly running photocopier. (Ionic purifiers shouldn't be confused with ozone generators that are marketed as "air cleaners." By design, these devices can release 50 to 200 milligrams of ozone per hour.)

Ionic purifiers are sold at drugstores, at department stores and via the Internet. The well-known and heavily advertised Ionic Breeze line is one of the cornerstone products of the Sharper Image, the high-end gadget store. One current offering, the Ionic Breeze GP, stands more than 2 feet tall and as an added feature comes equipped with a UV light to help kill airborne germs. If you buy one for $400, the second costs $200. The Sharper Image also sells a 13-inch unit for $150. You can buy a 28-inch Ionic Pro Turbo Air Purifier from Wal-Mart for $180. An online company called Heaven Fresh sells the table-top XJ-2000 ionic air purifier for about $50.

The claims: According to the Sharper Image website, the Ionic Breeze is "proven effective at reducing airborne allergens and irritants -- with no fan, no motor and no noise." The Heaven Fresh website says that its purifiers can provide relief from "asthma, bronchitis, hay fever and other respiratory diseases." Heaven Fresh also claims that the ozone emitted by its machines helps clean the air. According to the site, "ozone is one of the purest and most powerful oxidants and germicides known."

The bottom line: Ionic air purifiers have undeniable appeal, but there's a problem: They don't really improve air quality, says Dr. James Sublett, a clinical professor at the University of Louisville; a fellow at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; and co-chair of the 2007 ACAAI Healthy Indoor Environment conference. "We [allergists and immunologists] generally don't recommend them," he says. "This is a windmill that I've been tilting at for a number of years."

According to Sublett, the devices don't effectively remove dust, dander and other irritants from a room. Without fans, he explains, they can't collect airborne particles from more than a few feet away. And when even small amounts of dust enter the device, the plates inside quickly lose much of their power to attract more particles. Meanwhile, the charged particles that stick to walls or TV screens haven't left the room and can always billow up again to cause trouble.

The ozone released from the devices is another deal-breaking shortcoming, Sublett says. "Ozone is a pollutant and an irritant. Even small amounts are too much." People who use several units at a time are especially likely to get an ozone overload, he says. One of Sublett's patients noticed a great improvement in her breathing when she turned off the six ionic purifiers in her home.

The California Air Resources Board recently banned all devices that create an ozone concentration of more than 50 parts per billion, starting in 2009. Under normal conditions, ionic purifiers (as opposed to ozone generators) would fall below that threshold, says Jeffery Siegel, an assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at the University of Texas at Austin who has studied the devices in laboratories as well as his own bedroom. Still, he says, the new standard is misleading because even products that release small amounts of ozone could easily reach that concentration in small, poorly ventilated spaces.

Sublett says people with asthma or allergies should consider installing high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in their heating or cooling systems. The ultra-fine mesh on these filters traps all sorts of irritants that would otherwise circulate through the home.

Is there a consumer product you'd like the Healthy Skeptic to examine? E-mail the details to health@latimes.com.

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