Air Purifiers

I purchased an air purifier today from Canadian Tire.

The reason?

Lately my allergies have been bothering me more - possibly due to the fact that I was recently doing some woodworking and the sawdust is still in the air.

So instead of taking allergy pills constantly I have decided to buy an air purifier and see if that provides a permanent solution to my dust allergy problems.

The air purifier I purchased was a Honeywell HEPA Clean Air Purifier with Ionizer.

I took it home, removed all the plastic wrap - including the plastic wrap around the air filter, installed the air filter and then plugged it in and turned it on.

And voila!

Its a fan.

A $69.99 + tax fan.

Okay, technically it is a fan that cleans the air. I am not being fair by calling it just a fan. It does come with a lot of features.

#1. Three stages of air purification - Pre-Filter, for large air pollutants, which is hand washable; HEPA filter, which filters 99% of air pollutants; air ionizer... which presumably runs an electric current through the air and filters out even more air pollutants somehow.

#2. A Night Light - No seriously, a night light you can turn on and off. I guess it is so if the air purifier is on the floor you don't kick it.

#3. Different settings for the fan - I stuck mine on MAX. Why would anyone stick it on medium or low...?

#4. The HEPA filter is permanent and never needs to be replaced. It does however need to be vacuumed once in awhile. They are pretty clear also that you should never get the HEPA filter wet (because then it will turn into gremlins and run amok). No seriously, it will just ruin it if you get the HEPA filter wet.

#5. Reminder light to let you know when it is time to vacuum your HEPA filter. I am guessing it is on a timer because in the booklet that came with my air purifier they recommend cleaning it once per month.

And that is it.

So I shall run it non-stop for a week or two and see how much cleaner my air is. Honestly it has only been running 30 - 40 minutes already and already my air feels cleaner. But I want to wait a week or two before passing judgment on how well it is working.

I wonder if it also sucks out moisture from the air? Acting a bit like a dehumidifier? If so that would be awesome because I need a dehumidifier during the summer months. If it filters out contaminates in the air then in theory it should also filter out moisture which is stuck to contaminates.