Re: Can someone look up "Air purifiers" on Consumer Reports for me?

I was thinking of getting an air purifier like those "Ionic Breeze

> Quadra" you see advertised by the Sharper Image. But I want to make > sure I am getting a unit that has low power consumption, has filters > you can wash out, is quiet, and most of all, will last a long time.

I don't remember what group it was in, but I read a thread some months ago, with a lot of people who'd bought Ionic Breeze units, saying they were useless junk. I'm sure you can google it.

Reply to
jamie
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They are quiet. They do not use much power. They clean easily, and they are an expensive piece of junk. I sold mine for half what I paid for it, after using it for about 3 months. A total waste :-(

Reply to
Robert

Consumer Reports indicated in several test that they do use little electricity, they do remove contaminates and they do help. However they also concluded as have many others that they don't remove enough contaminates fast enough to be any real use. In addition they add ozone to the air which gives it that fresh rain smell and is also a harmful contaminate itself.

The only types of useful air cleaners tested were those employing a fan and media filter.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

Hi jamie

Sorry I missed your original post.

I don't place much faith in Consumer Reports, they have been totally wrong on most items I purchased based on their recommendations! Or they did NOT test or even talk about the many flaws of the products they were claiming as excellent best buys, etc.

How familiar are you with how air purifiers work and what the components of the various air purifiers do?

The most talked about ionic purifiers use negative ions. Some upscale ionic purifiers use both negative ion generation and pinpoint negative ion generation and some even use a radio type of negative ion generation.

But before you consider a stand alone ionic purifier over combination air purifiers that use filters, negative ionization AND Ozone generation, think about the purpose you are intending purchasing the air purifier for.

What negative ionization does is NOT the removal of dust and pollen from the home as most people think. Its primary purpose is to make dust and pollen HEAVY so that it falls downward out of the air and onto your furniture and floors where it can be manually removed. A very small percentage of airborne particles that pass through the unit can be attracted to the ionic plates on plate type ionizers, but most ionizers do not use plates, they use an antenna of sorts and some also have a needlepoint generator. Only the radio type negative ionization works throughout the house, all others work only in the room the ionizer is in.

Combination units that provide mechanical filtering, negative ionization and a small amount of Ozone are your best bet for removing airborne particles BEFORE they hit the floor and furniture and for removing odors. Some units can put out enough Ozone in the timed sterilize mode to kill or greatly inhibit mold and bacteria in an unoccupied room.

The Ionic Breeze is ONLY a single room ionizer. Quite expensive for what little it does. For roughly the same price, you can buy a several room combination unit that provides 3 or 4 or even 5 forms of filtration in a single unit that is very low in cost to operate.

The word Air Purifier itself can be applied to many products, including tropical foliage plants. Yes it is THAT Generic in usage!

TTUL Gary

Reply to
Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.

Most people who share this experience have chosen products based on the ratings without reading the entire story. The ratings are based on what CR considers average users. Few people are average users and you really need to look at how they rated the product and chose based on what features are important to you.

Spoken like a true salesman for the ionizer industry.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

Isn't he a gem?

Would you consider changing your signature if you intend posting to our cleaning group? It's SO annoying without the 'S' to the majority of our posters. TIA

Reply to
Mrs Bonk

I don't know if that was directed to me, but if so, sorry and I don't understand the "S". In any case I did not notice it was also going to alt.home.cleaning . I was reading and replying in alt.home.repair

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

What a gentleman! I DO hope you'll continue to post here Joseph . Posters such as Gary and yourself are so rare. TWO gentlemen in one day! I've taken the liberty in correcting your signature, I DO hope you don't mind.

Reply to
Mrs Bonk

Just noticed a post from dear, dear Phish so make that three!

"Mrs Bonk" wrote

Reply to
Mrs Bonk

I wasn't the original poster. The OP inquired about the Ionic Breeze. I replied that a number of people posted elsewhere that they were crap.

[snipped]

It is my limited understanding that ion generator air cleaners (those not attempting to draw the charged particles through collection plates) cause the charged particles to precipitate mainly on the walls and the breathing passages of the occupants -- not to fall onto floors and furniture. Perhaps you can explain why static-charged hair stands up, if the charge makes it "HEAVY".

Reply to
jamie

What happens is it tends to cause the particles to attach to each other and the now heavier and larger object will end to fall. Don't get me going on Browning motion. :-)

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

Hi Joseph

Consumer Reports OFTEN fails to test for user friendlyness or suitability for the use intended or longetivity of replacement components.

They rated one of the most expensive (to use) and shortest lived water filters ever made as being a best buy. A much lower cost unit performed better, lasted longer between filter changes and removed more contaminants. The lower cost unit was even much easier to change the cartridges when required.

A number of years ago I purchased a Shop-Vac brand vacuum to replace an old Hercules that was giving up the ghost. At that time Hercules was still available. Of the 6 different specific use vacuums they tested, Shop-Vac was at the top of the list and Hercules was 2nd to the bottom of the list for similar size and capacity vacuums.

Shop-Vac all models are wrought with serious engineering design problems! Not one mention in the Consumer Reports writeup on Shop-Vac said they were top heavy and tipped over continually. Not one mention in the Consumer Reports writeup on Shop-Vac said the wands assembled backwards and were very likely to easily clog because of it. Not one mention in the Consumer Reports write up on Shop-Vac said you had to change out the filters in order to use them for wet pickup. And not one write up said they blow water all over the place when near full.

Hercules on the other hand had greater power, low center of gravity, pickup hose and wands that almost could not clog and it could handle debris over 8 inches in length, Shop-Vac is limited to less than 4 inches. Hercules wet/dry did not require different filters for dry or wet pickup, although the dry only machine is the best buy and most useful. A separate water drum may be used with all Hercules vacs and on some models this separate drum is conveniently stored inside the vac with very little loss in waste storage capacity of the unit. Hercules even made a special recleanable filter for use in picking up filter clogging materials such as drywall dust, soot or other fine powders. By placing this wonderful vac at second to the bottom in the list of special purpose vacs, it caused Hercules to go out of business, and they had a FAR SUPERIOR product than Shop-Vac who got the top rating by Consumer Reports.

Sorry, I don't sell them, I only use them. But to be honest, after using them for many years I did attempt at selling my favorite brand for a few months. A salesman I'm not, but I'm GREAT at complaining about the flaws I have found in the various models I have used over the years.

Here is some food for thought! You know those new Wisp air fresheners that just came out? I was given three of them to test awhile back. I placed one in my garage office, set on it's lowest setting. I had to take it out, it was too strong. I moved it into our bathroom and even set on it's highest setting, you cannot smell anything at all from it. WHY? We have a whole house 5 function Air Purifier in our home. It works so well it completely removes all odors, even the ones you want to keep in the house, hi hi.... In my garage office I only have a 1 function small ionizer. Ionizers do not remove odors. But my office is dust free!

TTUL Gary

Reply to
Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.

Hi Jamie

Sorry about that, I pulled your name from the top of the first question I saw ahead of a response. Every once in awhile, I will get the original Post a couple of days after I see several responses (threads) applied to it.

But I agree, the Ionic Breeze is a way overpriced piece of JUNK!

I have used them for years and find that (especially with an asthmatic step-daughter, that they do make a major difference in the air quality and dropping the airborne particles out of it. I have only used one that worked like the Ionic Breeze and it was useless. All the rest I have used did have filters and fans and the one in my step-daughters room had HEPA filtration as well as pinpoint negative ionization. She could breath better in her room than in any other room of the house, before we got the 5 function whole house unit. We never had problems with dust on the walls, but when first placed in use, dust is on everything, very heavily for a few weeks. Which means it must not be in the air any more.

If I understand Static Electricity correctly, it is Positive Charged not Negative. Else you wouldn't get shocked by touching something grounded. When you rub a sweater or shuffle your feet across a wool rug and touch a metal object, you feel a shock when you discharge yourself of the positive charge.

TTUL Gary

Reply to
Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.

Are you sure that was "Consumer Reports" and not "Consumer Research: magazine. How long ago was this report. That does not sound like Consumer Reports.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

Air molecules pick up negative charges, which dust picks up from the air. The charged dust particles repel each other. The charged air molecules repel the charged dust. The charged dust particles get repelled from the air to surfaces, most of which drain well enough to be at ground potential.

I had an adjustable generator with no plates or filters. It worked great. It would knock cigarette smoke out of the air quickly. If a sunbeam showed dust in the air, I'd turn on the generator and the air would clear fast. Most of the dust would end up on the surfaces closest to the generator. It's easier to wipe dust from a surface than try to clean it from the air.

Once I had to remove rock wool from the interior of a wall. That generator did a great job knocking the dust down.

Depending on the humidity, what was underfoot, how near you were to the generator, and how high it was set, you could pick up a charge faster than it drained. Then you'd get shocks. That's why it was adjustable.

Reply to
Lloyd Randall

Hi Joseph

I think you got me this time, I really don't know, but it WAS the thicker published booklet not a magazine I was referring to.

Now, as to whether or not it was Consumer Reports or Consumer Research, I don't really remember, I thought it was the Consumer Reports booklet, but I could be wrong. It has been a lot of years since I have bought one after getting burned so many times from going by their data. I think the last one I ever purchased was around 1982-84.

TTUL Gary

"Joseph Meehan" verbositized:

Reply to
Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.

I don't recall Consumer Research doing a booklet. So I will guess you are right about that.

Since you looking up the information in the booklet, that could have been the problem. The information in the booklets are edited down and don't contain all the information in the full report. I always recommend reading the whole report from Consumer Reports for just such a reason. It is easy to get the wrong idea from just looking at the ratings. You can easily find something rated highly based on issues that don't apply to you.

As for the rest, I don't think I can easily look back to 1982 to find the original report.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

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