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Ionic Air Purifier/Ionic Air Purifiers

Admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:54:07 +0000

In the very old days, fresh air had filled up the whole would everywhere. Nowadays, with the advancement in technology, it is ironic that we need to pay for fresh air. If you value fresh air, you must get an air purifier at home. Other than the normal type of air purifiers, you can find another popular type called ionic air purifier.

An ironic air purifier differs from the traditional one mainly for several ways. First, the air purifier circulates the air without motor, making it more silent. Also, there is no ozone as a by-product. The working principle for such air purifier is by the generation of electrons that are transformed to negative ions. The negative ions then come to charge the small particles and pollutants in the air. As the small particles and pollutants become negatively charged, they are attracted by the positively charged collector from the air purifier. The collects can be take out and wipe clean. Therefore, there is no need to replace filters like the traditional ones. In this sense, you can consider the operating cost for such air purifier is much lower than the traditional one. And it is more environmentally friendly!

Ionic Pro Air Purifier
There are mainly three models of air purifier offering by Ionic Pro.

Ionic Pro®
Ionic Pro® is a safe and easy to use air cleaner. It can trap the common airborne allergens like pollen, smoke, dust, pet dander and particles as small as 1 micron by the three collection blades. It is designed for room up to 500 square feet. This air purifier is more affordable than other models. The list price is aroun d $200 and you can it on Amazon at around $119 – $169.

Ionic Pro® Turbo
Actually, this model is very much like Ionic Pro®. But it can also destroy bacteria, germs, flu viruses and mold spores. It can also turn smog and zone into oxygen which further improve the indoor air quality. The list price is over $300 and you can get it on Amazon at around $180.

PurePro® Professional Air Purifier
This model is an industry standard air purifier. It is ideal for medium to large rooms. The air purifying power is even stronger that it can capture the particles at 0.01 micron which makes the air even fresher and healthier. The other big difference compared to the Ionic Pro® and Ionic Pro® Turbo is its table top design.

Ionic Breeze Air Purifier
Ionic breeze air purifiers by sharper Image are also popular. The Ionic Breeze is more compact and well designed compared to other brands. But there are no big difference compared to Ionic Pro. The cost of the ionic breeze is around $200. Or you can buy the even more recent modle LightAir IonFlow 50 Surface at around $400.

Integrated Dishwasher

Admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:40:28 +0000

Many of you like cooking, but most of you do not like washing dishes. Dishwashers are devices that help you wash your dishes and other utensils after a nice cooking. Without manual scrubbing, the dishwashers spray the water and detergent mixture onto the dishes to clean the oil and food debris.

Dishwashers need heat to work their best. Water at 135 to 145 degrees can better activate the detergent for a sanitary wash. Some of the dishwashers also have a sanitary rinse option which can help eliminate over 99% of the food soil bacteria (NSF certified) in the wash. You may also wish to have a delay wash unction which allows you to run the dishwasher at your own choice of time.

Fully integrated dishwasher
A fully integrated dishwasher is one that can be hidden completely in your kitchen. The control panel is attached on the kitchen door.

Bosch integrated dishwasher is a famous brand for dishwashers. It offers a range of fully integrated dishwashers or concealed controls dishwashers. They cost around $700 – $2,099. The higher price ones are usually more quietly operated, with more wash cycles and options, with more capacity, with less energy consumption and longer delay wash time. Users like the cleaning power of Bosch and they find their dishes and glassware are sparklingly cleaned. The fingerprint resistant stainless steel front is also great. The display is excellent and informative.

If you think Bosch is too expensive for you, you can try some mid-range ones, you may choose Whirlpool. It is also highly rated brands from users and gets excellent reliability ratings from the “consumer” magazine. It costs you around $700 – $900.

Semi integrated dishwasher
There is no big difference between an integrated and semi integrated dishwasher except the control panel will be visible.
Price for semi integrated dishwasher is generally lower than those of the integrated ones. For Bosch, it costs around $549 – $2,099. The major differences for Bosch semi integrated dishwashers are similar to those found in fully integrated dish washers. But with less difference is the capacity and energy saving feature.

Portable dishwasher/ Integrated Slimline Dishwasher
Portable or slimline dishwashers are those dishwashers that can move around your house, probably you kitchen only. It is a good design to those who do not have spare cabinet space. There are around 18 inches in width, which can be around 6 inches smaller than common ones. They are generally easy to operate. You just have to connect kitchen sink faucet with a hose stored in a compartment directly. It cost you around $300 – $700.
Haier is a brand from China which offers cheaper portable dishwasher compared to other international brands at around $200 – $300. The rating for such brand is not bad.

Air Purifier

Admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:37:38 +0000

Though with the advancement in technologies, there is no big improvement for air quality. In fact, the air quality keeps on deteriorating every day. Pollutants, particles, allergens, smokes, etc are filling up the sky and our fresh air.

Air purifiers can help remove the pollutants in the air, therefore are especially beneficial to those who are suffering from asthma or respiratory allergies. Ideal to put in bedroom to improve quality of sleep .

Particles removal method

To choose the best air purifier, the method that the machine used for removing particles is essential. For example we can have HEPA air purifiers or ionic air purifier.

Mechanical filters are used to physically trap the small particles. One of the Common types of such filters is HEPA (high efficiency particulate absorbing) air purifiers are filter-based air purifiers which can remove up to 99.97% of 0.3 – 0.01 micrometers particles (known as the large particles), but are less effective to capture the smaller particles.

HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning) and MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) filters are designated to capture large particles also, but they are even less effective than the HEPA, at around only 75% capture rate.

ULPA (Ultra Low Penetration Air can remove also 99.97% of dust, pollen and other airborne particles, and is the best for removing smaller particles.

Activated carbon filters are best for volatile chemicals. It effects by transforming the from gaseous stage to the solid stage. It is often used together with the HEPA.

Electrostatic is also sort of filter-based, but the filter is actually a statically charged collection plate to capture the particles instead of just physically.

Ironic ones are using a negatively charged collector (generated by magnets) to attract the positively charged particles and pollutants.

Air Purifier Reviews

IQAir

IQAir is a Swiss brand with over 40 years for air purifying products. Most of its models are achieving over 99% of removal of 0.3 micrometer particles. IQAir HealthPro offers the basic IQAir HealthPro 150 and the advanced IQAir HealthPro 250. Basically, there is no big difference between IQAir Pro 150 and 250, except Pro 250 has 2.5 times higher capability to remove gaseous pollutants than Pro 150. The two models can clean around 900-1,000 square feet areas. Main features include mold spore control, pet dander control, pollen control, indoor air pollutant control and house dust mite allergen control.

IQAir purifiers are with many positive feedbacks from users. Many of the users are having severe allergies or asthma and they bought IQAir as their final try. Many of them are saying that IQAir really works and they are worth to buy. The brand was chosen to be the only brand that was powerful enough to be used during the SARS outbreak by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority.

The two models cost around $799-$899. Some users think though the IQAir is with good quality, but they are expensive especially when you have to replace the pre-filters 4 times a year ($50/filter).

Honeywell

It offers around 10 models of purifiers. It has three different product lines including Enviracaire Purifiers, Quietcare Purifiers and SilentComfort Purifier. Unlike the rectangular shapf that IQAir has, Honeywell models are with more round and modern shape.

Honeywell purifiers are designed to clean smaller around 225 – 400 square feet. Most of the models are using HEPA filters with certain models in conjunction with the activated carbon pre-filter. Around 99% – 99.7% of airborne can be captured.

Users are rating Honeywell purifiers high. Users comments Honeywell that it cleans the air effectively and helps alleviate their allergies. They are very satisfied for the quietness when the purifier is operating. Users think the price for Honeywell is also low. But many of the users are saying the sizes of the purifiers are big and wide.

For a Honeywell model, it costs you from $70 to $200 depends on your choice of model.

Some other popular brands are Alen A350 Air Purifier and Hunter Air Purifier.