Indoor Air Cleaners

JATO_RaT · Nov 4, 2001

Perhaps its having a gravel driveway and poorly sealing windows that has contibuted the most to our home getting dusty fast. (Besides stirring things up with the tractor) Am considering a home air cleaner/filter but when I went to check them out on the web, I was inundated with products and models. Sharper Image Ion machine to HEPA filter machines. Any experience with these products, thanks, Rat...

Boondox · Nov 4, 2001

Consumer Reports did a pretty extensive review in the past year or so. I'd start there. We have two of them in our house. The first was a small unit I got to reduce sticker shock. Didn't make much of a dent in the dust, so I bought a second, much larger HEPA unit. It's kept the living room clean as can be.

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

RPM · Nov 4, 2001

Rat,

Not sure what kind of heat you have - but if it's forced air then a good place to start is with a really good furnace filter. It may also be worthwhile getting your ducts cleaned (the heating system I mean /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif).

Once you've done that you should take a look at the wind-tunnel or 'dual vortex' type vaccuum cleaners. You can get HEPA filters for most of these. They pull an amazing amount of dust out of a house.

If you've still got a problem with dust then I'd say start looking at the air-cleaners. Problem is that they're not much good for anything unless you are taking care of the above things.

Patrick

Bird · Nov 4, 2001

We're running a Hunter HEPAtech Model 30375 in the living room, and I have a little Hunter HEPAtech Model 30010 in here where my desk and computer are. I think they're probably worth the $139 I paid for them at Sam's Club, but it's a long ways from keeping dust from accumulating on everything./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

fractal · Nov 5, 2001

Do you have any special needs or are you just looking to control the amount of gunk you breathe?

I like electronic air cleaners. Quiet, cheap and low maintence. You remove the filters a couple of times a year (or every couple of years) and run them through the dish washer. Not much air restriction so they are a LOT quieter than mechanical filters.

The wife bought a hepa unit for the family room. I turn it on when I go into the family room. Every time. It is always turned off because even the quietest setting is loud. Mechanical air cleaners are that way. The specs say it does a better job than my electronic ... when it is on. You have to replace the hepa filter once a year and the 'prefilter' twice a year. They change models very often and it is now getting very difficult to find filters for this kenmore relabeled unit.

Yeah, the hepa is better on paper. It will block some stuff the electronic won't. Some people actually require the removal of the extra particulant matter. Most of us don't, and I prefer electronic. Both do an excelent job on dust and pollin and 99.9% of the stuff that bothers people. Hepa do even better if you don't mind the noise and the expense of replacing the filters.

Ion generators alone (like the sharper image model) do help convince particulant matter to leave suspension and fall to the ground, but they are no where near as good as electronic filters or hepa filters. They do have the advantage of being evel less expensive to operate and have even less maintence.

rf33 · Nov 5, 2001

In my last house, we had two of the electronic furnace type filters, and when they are working right, they are great. Very little restriction of the airflow as well as very clean air. I just cleaned them once or twice a year, and then put them back in place. The downside is that they are pretty expensive to purchase, and the parts are sky high. I needed new power supplies for both of them when I bought the house (6 years old at the time), and each one was $235. Not the cheapest solution, but certainly does keep the dust to a minimum. Also much nicer to have every room handled by one solution.

rf33

/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

JATO_RaT · Nov 5, 2001

RPM and the rest that responded, I read your comments and thank you. They were helpful. I am looking at a portable solution since this old mobile home is temporary and have little inccentive to replace windows or even touch the old furnace for fear it will crumple like much of the rest of this place. Its a 1969 model that was here when we bought the place. Its cozy but dusty. I tried the consumer report site but see that its a fee based setup and I'm just not that into it. Bird mentioned Hunter which makes some great ceiling fans and when I went to the website a few months ago and ordered the air cleaner brochure, they sent me a ceiling fan brochure of which would probably just hit me in the head since the ceiling height is about 7', besides I wasn't looking to blow the dust around anymore then necessary. I'm glad he mentioned Sams though, at least I know where I could go. Air duct cleaning has been done sorta by me already, although its only for the heater since this place uses a evaporative cooler that works pretty darn well and costs so much less to run then AC, but then its not very humid here and I can get away with it. Once it hits 105 though, it gets less then desireable. I'll keep investigating meanwhile, thanks, Rat...

Bird · Nov 5, 2001

Rat, the ones I bought at Sam's Club were supposedly a deal where you buy the big one and get the little one (in the same box) free. We've never had a problem with the big one, but the little one got very noisy after awhile (still in warranty), and I went to their web site, then called to ask where I could get it fixed and they promptly sent me a new replacement.

patrickg · Nov 6, 2001

Rat, If infiltration of outside air is the source of your dust problem then a potential solution is a high efficiency filter on a fan to place your home under gentle positive pressure. This will introduce well filtered air into the home and the inside being under a slight pressure will let air out where there are leaks rather than admiting unfiltered air or letting it in and then trying to filter the dirt out. Many vacuum cleaners suck up dirt, dust, and debris then grind it into very fine particles and spew it out through the bag into the room. Try this test: Thoroughly dust some horizontal surfaces in your living room. Vacuum "clean" the room. Run your finger over a previously dusted surface. If you have one of the typical vacuum cleaners there will be a clear indication of dust.

If you are running A/C, dehumidifiers, or central heat then the positive pressure method described above wastes conditioned air and filtering circulated aircan become a better choice. If you have central heat and A/C then a good electronic precipitation type filter would help keep the air that you are breathing clean but not do too much for your window sills as that is from infiltration not circulaltion.

If you don't have tightly sealing double or triple glazed energy efficient windows A N D you live where there are significant heating and or cooling loads (don't know what part of NoCal) and you aren't opening the windows for significant periods of time you might tape them up or persue some other sealing strategy. Do the math, high efficiency windows might have a reasonable payback period if you are using significant electricity for A/C or heating.

I prefer keeping the dirt outside rather than letting it in and then trying to filter it out but that is not always the most cost effective strategy in every situation, but it wins a fair number of comparisons.

Patrick