Air Purifiers?

[Techydude]

Since we're all healthy , why not get healthier. Are air purifiers good for the home, or are they all just bullshit? They seem expensive to me, but if it's good I guess it's a good investment... Anyone know for sure. I'm out on the bank on this 

[goodsamaritan]

We recently solved a problem with internal home air pollution.

Thought I should share it with you guys:

For the past few weeks, my wife and children had been having respiratory problems with coughs and colds.  Lately this week, they found it unacceptable to sleep in our home because of falling debris straight at the beds and the air was getting to be insufferable.   Was it caused by termites? Caused by deadly molds?  Remember the great typhoon Ondoy which submerged the entire house in mud in 2009? Maybe in between the wooden ceiling and the roof  still harbored old mud.  I called for Mang Ben.

http://www.myhealthblog.org/2011/02/16/home-pollution-with-fine-dust-particles-from-the-ceiling-co-ondoy-flooding-circa-2009/

[michaelwh]

Certain plants are excellent air cleaners. NASA did a study to determine which particular species of plants are best for removing certain toxins from the air:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air-filtering_plants

Some of these are exotic, but others are quite common and easily found. I bought a Gerbera Daisy about a month ago. But it doesn't like the cold temperature in my apartment. I usually keep plenty of windows open, even if it's -20 deg C outside. That's another way to get better-quality air.

Actually, it may not be obvious whether it's better to open all the windows, or close the windows and get lots of plants. It probably depends on the quality of air in your neighbourhood.

I think that before you invest in an air purifier, you should first remove all sources of toxins that are in your home, to the extent that is practically possible. To learn what is toxic, take a look at:

www.toxicnation.ca

www.hundredyearlie.com (I can't access this web site right now. Try google cache. It's for Randall Fitzgerald's book "Hundred Year Lie")

http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/

Warning: reading the above will probably make you depressed. You will learn that toxins are EVERYWHERE in your home. Clothes, coats, carpets, furniture, personal care products, computer equipment, plywood, paint, etc, etc. If you try to change everything at once, you will go crazy. Take it one step at a time. Getting some plants is a good first step.

I used to think that it was unnecessary to worry about toxins in everyday items, until I read the report on toxicnation.ca a few months ago. Now I'm gradually eliminating toxins from my home. It's a long process. I recently bought a mask from icanbreathe.com. (Recommended by Aajonus). I use it when bicycling in street traffic. Eventually, I'll research air purifiers, but it's quite far down on my to-do list.

[CHK91]

I try not to worry TOO much about airborne toxins when I'm away from home. I think the stress from worrying about it would give me more health problems than the toxins themselves since I tend to avoid many of them anyways. Stress and fear are debilitating, and I have a lot of personal experience with this.

I do have an air filter at home. It's nice I guess. At least I have clean air at the place where I spend most of my day in.

[raw-al]

Different plants make a huge difference in the household air quality especially in our northern climate where we have the windows and doors shut all winter.

Basil and in particular Holy Basil can be nice. Cinnamon is bad news for me. Generally after awhile I think that you build up an intolerance to any strong plant smells bit I think it is good to have different plants around.

I bought ion generators off Ebay in the past and they do a magnificent job of cleaning the air and apparently energize the air. Nor sure if that is completely true although it follows Yogic logic. (prana)

Not sure I would uses a filtering system. Sound like a constant cost item, buying filters.

Some people may have allergies, particularly with animal fur, but I would use an ionizer first. They are cheap and use only a small amount of electricity.

The way they work is that they negatively charge the air which causes any solid particles in the air to be attracted to each other which causes them to get heavy and fall to the floor. You are supposed to keep them away from walls as they will cause so much stuff to fall that they will dirty the walls.