Lets talk air purifiers

[volk06]

There is so much dust in our apartment that it is driving me crazy. I also think it is part of the reason, "I now have allergies" and have a harder time breathing. When sitting I can just see the dust floating in the air. I cant stand a dirty apartment, so its not like its because its dirty. I vacuum 2 times a week and the dust just keeps coming back. Looking at a whirlpool whispaire, as $300 is the max I want to spend on one. I want one that can do a decent amount of sq. footage. This one can do 500sq ft 4.8x an hour with a CADR of 315.

http://www.amazon.com/Whirlpool-Whispure-Purifier-Cleaner-AP51030K/dp/B00440EKRG

Anyone have one of these or can recommend one?

 

[PandaBear]

First do you know where is the dust from? Is it your dryer lint? or outside air? or you just have too much fabrics inside the apt?

If you are only filtering dust, I'd pick the one with cheapest filter (preferably washable) and clean it often. That'll get rid of most of the big ones. HEPA is nice but they do get expensive to replace. If you open your windows all the time I don't see a point of using HEPA.

A common trick is to buy a lot of aquarium carbon filter and put them in a cloth bag, and stuff them inside any cavity of the air filter. This is cheaper and likely has bigger capacity than the up scale carbon filter model air filter.

 

[tdpark]

Go to home depot and get the honeywell one; i have been using them for years for my kids and they work great and easy to find replacement filters.

 

[larryinnewyork]

volk06,

If you heat with Forced Air, check:
1) That the duct work is clean
(professional cleaning may be needed)
2) Furnace filter is clean
3) Maybe get your wall 2 wall carpet professionaly cleaned

To remove existing & future dust, try using:
1) Swiffer Dusters - great for everything 'but' the floor
2) Swiffer Sweepers - great for the floor
Because I want no dust in my house, I will now only
use those Swiffers. They are worth the price.

Larry

 

[volk06]

The apartment we live in. No washer or dryer. I replaced the furnace filter with a filtrete 1200 allergen reducing filter. Natural gas furnace. Cant open the windows often due to the girlfriends allergies. It cant be from the fabrics too much, most of our furniture is leather. I will not spend money on getting the duct work or carpet professionally cleaned, as that's just a waste in an apartment that I do not own. I already use swifters to dust with and have a hepa vacuum.

 

[Texan4Life]

I have a dusty house (live in the country, dogs and cats).

The best air purifier I have found is a homemade one.. use a 20 inch box fan (20 bucks) and then zip tie a 20x20 AC/furnace filter to the back. get the good high quality filters.

under 50 bucks total and it lasts a long time, quite, ect. freakin awesome. if it breaks or gets squeeky/noisy I no longer feel bad about tossing it and getting a new one.

purpose made purifiers are flippin expensive.

 

[JHZR2]

I like Texan's idea, its very sensible and you can get some deep-pleated filters, like 3 or 4" deep and use them for better holding capacity and lower pressure drop.

Maybe it does not look as pretty, but it sure seems highly functional.

Id put the filter on the suction side and go to town.

I personally believe that all the forced air systems and unwillingness to be exposed (plus heavy medication) causes us to be allergic. I think that controlled exposure, particularly through secondary exposure to possible allergens like via honey, etc. helps.

We had a few Venta air washers, which blow the air through a wheel with water and surfactant. They pulled a lot of grey material out of the air when we had a cat.

I havent bothered using them recently though.

 

[surfstar]

I've got a Hunter and it runs nice and quiet for years. I think I just vacuum the filters and have never payed the $$ to replace the HEPAs.
overstock, ebay, amazon, etc - get an older / discontinued model and they should be less than $100 for a decent one.
I have one thats oversized for the room - filter will last longer and I run the fan on the slowest/quietest setting.

 

[VicVinegar]

I believe that Whirlpool is the Consumer Reports top rated model. If it isn't anymore, it was at one point.

Because of that, I had looked for one a couple years back when I was shopping, but they were hard to find. The only one on Amazon was from a third-party seller, so I passed and bought a Hunter "Permalife" for about the same price. I was going to link to it, but it appears to not be offered anymore. Basically I looked for well rated models from CR (seemed to be the only place that actually tests these things) and then searched the internet to see if I could actually get filters. Apparently for some models, finding a new filter after a year can be like hunting for treasure. That Whirlpool has been around for a while, so I'd hope there would be a few ways to score the filters.

Like surfstar, I just vacuum the main filter (that is actually what Hunter says to do), and then there is a pre-filter I replace, but I found some online and bought a bunch at one point. The Hunter can be a little noisy IMO for our bedroom though, and I've considered buying the Whirlpool and move the Hunter elsewhere. It did seem to help with air quality though. I used to wake up and hack something up every morning, and I don't anymore. Mission accomplished in that respect.

FYI, Costco sells that Whirlpool as well on their website. Same price, but if you thought it was too loud or something, it'd be easy to take back if you had a store nearby.

 

[Smokescreen]

I have seen rudimentary tests on YT on the boxfan idea and they show they are quite effective.

 

[SuperDave456]

Also, What type of vacuum do you have?

The "Tornado" type vacuums are terrible for dust. They tell you that you don't have to change their filters, but the fine print tells you that you really need to change the filter every 6 months.

I would suggest a vacuum with a disposable bag and that you change it at least once a quarter. Shop around and try to find the bags made for people with allergies. They catch more dust/dirt.

Also, try vacuuming every day for one week and see if that makes it better or worse. Your current vacuum may be at fault.

 

[wander2039]

We have 3 Holmes air purifiers. One that takes 3 "B" size filters and 2 smaller ones. Have less than $75 in all of them. The amount of dust and cat hair those catch is amazing. Still have alot of dust though the joys of living 1.5 miles from a rail yard. I'd try the cheaper models the filter and prefilter unless you want to electrostatic which is some $$$.

 

[sleddriver]

Quote:
I will not spend money on getting the duct work or carpet professionally cleaned, as that's just a waste in an apartment that I do not own.
OK. But that might just be the source of your problem. Your ductwork and return air 'box' needs to be sealed. Remove the air filter and peer into the return air plenum. See any studs? Is it sheetrock? See any holes? What about spider webs?

Air blowing through leaky ducts will pull dust & insulation from the attic/crawlspace/walls/between floors into the airstream and into your apartment due to the venturi effect.

Look under your sinks where the plumbing exits the walls. See any holes? Seal them with caulk or foam-in-a-can. Pull the dishwasher out and look for holes/bugs/etc. and seal any you find. Caulk is cheap so don't be cheap with it.

Depending on your lease, it may be well worth your while, and your girlfriends, to pay someone to clean the AC evaporator coil and the blower cage and look for large leaks. If you have a vertical unit in a closet, you're lucky as it's easier to access then one above the ceiling.

No air filter you buy is going to 'clean' the air in your apartment. That's a myth. All it does is keep your furnace/AC/blower clean, not your lungs.

 

[jkhawaii]

I find it funny when people have air purifiers on with the windows open (In Hawaii having the windows open is almost all the time) so, they are trying to filter the entire worlds air lol

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Texan4Life
I have a dusty house (live in the country, dogs and cats).

The best air purifier I have found is a homemade one.. use a 20 inch box fan (20 bucks) and then zip tie a 20x20 AC/furnace filter to the back. get the good high quality filters.

under 50 bucks total and it lasts a long time, quite, ect. freakin awesome. if it breaks or gets squeeky/noisy I no longer feel bad about tossing it and getting a new one.

purpose made purifiers are flippin expensive.



I have a 20" box fan and I take the motor apart and oil the bearings once a year. It will not die.
It came out of the box squeaking and the bearings were barely moist. I soak them with ATF and reassemble. That fan will outlast me. Had it for 15 yrs at least.

 

[SpeedyG75VW]

If you want the most absolute cleanest air, the IQAir units are the best in the world. Made in Switzerland. They filter down to 0.003 microns with 99.5% efficiency. HEPAs filter only down to 0.3 microns so the IQAir units filters 100x better. You'll being paying for it though because these units are around $900.00 on Amazon. But the filters last 5 years.

 

[sleddriver]

No. "If you want the most absolute cleanest air" you go buy a paint respirator with a charcoal filter and wear it.

Don't laugh. . . . it works.

 

[bmwjohn]

I have used the home made one for years - use the better 3-m if possible on furnace and fan - 2500? rating, seal fan with duct tape, not wire ties, keep on low all the time, use 2 if necessary, get fan for $15? at menards or wal-mart, sometimes on close out, fan filters often on sale at menards, target, meijers, the wal mart 3-m seem to be an intermediate grade so you can't quite compare, see consumers report rating on 3-m 2500 as furnace filter, change every 2-3 months, don't cheap out on filters!