Air purifier for my office

Do they even work?

[jecasc]

Since I spend most of the day in my office with two computers running and dispersing dust through their vents and printer toner in the air I am thinking of buying some sort of air purifier or air filtering device.

However I am a little sceptical if those filters even work and what I should buy. Does anybody have any experience he can share? I have seen some air purifying devices work with ionizing the air, others come with filters and others have both. Is ionized air really better or is this just a rip-off?

[bcolflesh]

Proven, time-tested air purifiers = plants.

[jecasc]

Plants! How come I did not think of that. And perhaps I could also open the window once or twice a day!

No, honestly. Plants are always good however they only produce oxygen but do not filter the dust out of the air. And since the computers are running all day the dust never settles but constantly floats through the room.

[herb]

Take a look at Friedrich Electronic Air Cleaner. They were ranked "best buy" by Consumer Reports.
Bought one to try it and ended up going back for more of them for our smokers offices.
Pre-Filter, Ionizing, and Carbon Filter on exit.

Bought the last one about 5-6 years ago. The cost then was about $350.00 US

Add a .com to friedrich.

[edited by: herb at 12:08 am (utc) on Dec. 1, 2006]

[cabowabo]

I prefer the air-purifier. I kill plants.

Cabo

[greenleaves]

I kill plants.

What are you, a vegetarian?

[blend27]

two and half years ago i bought 4 Ionic Breeze GP Series. I've seen other makes but nothing comes close. Last year one of them just gave up on doing the right thing. Brought the thing back to Sharper Image Store and exchanged it at no charge. They are a bit pricey though, but, what you pay is what you get

[peterdaly]

The ionic kind are really great. I've got two.

One is the compact Sharper Image one. It's in our bedroom, and we can tell when it's been off for a couple days. It doesn't turn itself back on after power outages, so there are times we go a couple days before we realize it's off. The filter based ones may be just as effective, I don't know, but there something to be said for silence.

The second is a semi-commercial unit I bought off ebay for about $350 after our finished basement flooded. We asked a commercial cleaner what they would do for the $1500 they wanted to take care of it. Putting a commercial ionic filter was the only thing we couldn't do ourself...so I bought a fairly heavy duty one, saved a few bucks, and ended up with a nice filter in the end. This can be turned up so strong that it's not safe to breate...so it has a timer that can be set. When running at full tilt, it can actually _kill_ mold in the room, in addition to removing nasty smells.

An filter based air filter can't eliminate odors, but only clean air gong through it. Ionic ones, especially a strong unit can actually stop the source of odors. If you have any odor problems, ionic is the way to go. Also, silence is very nice.

[jecasc]

Thanks for the suggestions. So I went to town early in the morning and bought a purifying device. Since I could not decide if to go for a filter or ionizer I bough one that has it all. HEPA filter, active coal filter and ionizer.

Has been running for 1 1/2 hour so far and the air in here is much better. Only the ionizer worries me a little bit. The air feels quite charged and I am beginning to get a tingling sensation on the skin. I am not quite certain if this is normal but it sure does not feel bad.

[rj87uk]

Do people in the UK use these?

[cabowabo]

What are you, a vegetarian?

Far from it, but regardless of what plants I put in my office, they die. Maybe it is all the swearing. :-)

Cabo

[plumsauce]

for our smokers offices

where's this? gotta move!

man, when i started out i had a clean ashtray on the desk every morning and an actual secretary.