Sharper Image air cleaners

[Jack]

If I remember correctly, Consumer Reports blew the lid off of some of their bunk reguarding the air cleaner... and SI sued them...

[dean]

oxygen is the element name. It is also the allotropic name for O2, whereas ozone is the allotropic name for O3. So it is correct to convert ozone into oxygen, one one sense of the word.

[Duane Bozarth]

To the contrary, the mixture of gases in air is pretty well fixed. What else is suspended in the air isn't air, they are various contaiminants. That they are present in various amounts and in various concentrations is certainly indubitable. That no filtering system is perfect is also true. But to say removing contaminants doesn't improve air purity isn't correct, either.

[MrC1]

SI sued CR and CR won based on the real data found. CR determined that the SI unit did almost ZERO to filter the air. They also found that it actually CREATED ozone and possibly so much so that it could become unhealthy in your house after a period of time. This may explain why SI decided to add that little extra "feature" claiming to remove ozone.

What a joke!

[PipeDown]

I've always felt these were way over priced. I might try one at $60 but not at the outragous price they charge. HEPA filters with fans I think do the best job but with the obvious downside of noise and replacement filters.

I friend got one of the SI cleaners to help with mold contamination and it didn't help even a little (she ended up in the hospital with pneumonia)

Keeping good filters in the A/C or heating ducts is also very effective

[Joseph Meehan]

I just finished watching one of the Sharper Image air cleaner ads on TV. I just thought I would share a few observations.

The claim cleaner, fresher smelling air.

True? Sure it is true.

The air will be cleaner even if they remove only 0.00015% of the pollution in the air. How much cleaner is not stated. They do not even claim that is will be significantly cleaner. Independent test I have seen indicate that it has far too little capacity to make a dent in a normal size room.

Fresher smelling it will be. We all tend to associate that "after the thunder storm" smell with a fresh clean smell. What they don't say is that truly clean air has no smell. What we are smelling is the O³ (Ozone) just as after a thunder storm.

Now get this. The next thing they talk about is their new catalytic action filter that reduces Ozone (and smog) Ozone is harmful to humans and nearly all life. The part they don't bother talking about is that O³ is coming from their own air cleaner! That's right they are telling us they are "reducing" the contamination with their new device. OK tell me why I should be happy that I can buy an air cleaner that will produce less pollution in my home than the same air cleaner the sold last year? Why do I want an air cleaner that pollutes the air in my home??? Why don't they tell me how much it lets through??

As PT said .... one is born every minute and Sharper Image is living off them.

[Stretch]

And Sharper Image had to pay Consumer Report's 1/2 Million dollar legal bill!

Stretch

[David Martel]

Joseph,

I know nothing about the "ozone" controversy. I feel that many folks believe that air is a mixture of gasses with a known composition but this is not true. Air is that stuff we breath. Air contains gas, dirt, pet dander, pollen, virii, bacteria, et c. The composition of air varies depending on many factors. You can have air where most of the particles of a certain size have been removed. But this does not make the air purer. There isn't pure air. This purity thing is a marketing tool.

Dave M.

[Joseph Meehan]

Yea, and Consumer Reports won.

[Joseph Meehan]

I also liked their line about it changing O³ and "smog" into pure oxygen. O³ is pure oxygen. Who knows what smog is.

[Duane Bozarth]

Yep..."air" is the mixutre of gases, the particulate crap ain't...

Yes, N, and O, w/ small amounts of others. I don't have my Handbook of Chemistry and Physics at hand for precise numbers, but you got the idea above...

Comes from being a ChE minor, I suppose... :)

[dean]

According to

1. A colorless, odorless, tasteless, gaseous mixture, mainly nitrogen (approximately 78 percent) and oxygen (approximately 21 percent) with lesser amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, neon, helium, and other gases.
2. This mixture with varying amounts of moisture and particulate matter, enveloping the earth; the atmosphere.

So it does appear that, from definition 2, David M is correct. However, according to definition 1, Duane is correct.

So you are both correct! Peace!

[David Martel]

Duane,

Are you starting with a definition of air and then insisting that everything else are contaminants? Air is a mixture of all sorts of stuff. The composition of air varies. You can strain out particles but I don't see that you 've made the air purer, you've just changed the mix.

Dave M.

[Brandon Moses]

I guess my cousin did a project on Sharper Image air cleaners. Apparently the devices do what they claim in terms of purifying the air. However, because the units lack a fan or any means of circulating air, the devices actually only purify the air located within a limited range of the device. Something like a 2 foot radius, but I am not for certain.

Brandon Moses moses388 AT hotmail DOT com

[MrC1]

Which leads us to a new question...

Why is there air?

[Dr. Hardcrab]

Plus they clean your wallet out pretty good.......

[Joseph Meehan]

It originally was created to give politicians something to make hot.

[MrC1]

Actually I was thinking about an old Bill Cosby line, but that works too.

Cosby's answer? To blow up volleyballs and basketballs.

[Joseph Meehan]

I remember that one.

[Dr. Hardcrab]

LOL

You beat me to it!!!

First album I ever owned ("Why Is There Air?"). Picture of Cosby holding a vollyball on the cover: