Air Purifiers - Why Do People Buy Them?

rumblytangara on 26/04/2023 - 15:45
Last edited 26/04/2023 - 15:48

I've been in the country for less than six months. Previously where I lived, the air pollution was sometimes so bad that you couldn't make out skyscrapers a kilometer away. Friends would come down with asthma attacks after a day out, and they were not asthmatic.

So I move to Sydney and the air is, in comparison, just insanely clean. The only thing that gets me here is all the bloody pollen from the damn nature that I'm surrounded by.

But every time I check this forum, there's a post or a deal about air purifiers- why?

Far as I can tell, unless someone is living next to some illegal and unregulated coal burning power plant that's managed to fly under the radar (/s) or there are active bushfires nearby, the air here is crazy clean. I'm not just making this up, out of habit I ran particle counters for years, then after a couple months here realised there was no longer any point even turning them on. And if you've got a problem with pollen like I do, air purifiers do sweet FA unless you otherwise hermetically seal your house and don't go outside.

So why are people buying these $500 or more devices (which in themselves consist of nothing more than a fan and a cheap HEPA filter)? Is it something that came out of the bushfire seasons years past, or has there been some other source that's caused so many people to worry about air quality?

Don't get me wrong, I am not against them per se. I currently own four (use none) and have over the years rotated through at least a dozen, some DIY. But Australia is one of the cleanest countries on the planet, and this forum has constant mentions of purifiers.

Home & Garden Air Purifier

Comments

        • greatlamp on 28/04/2023 - 17:48
          +1

          Switch to a cortisone spray, like rhinocort or nasonex. Decongestants cause a rebound effect as the mucosal lining in your sinus quickly compensates for its effect - meaning you need the drug all the time.

          There is warning on the bottle not to use it continuously. Of course you are free to ignore advice

  • PopCounty on 28/04/2023 - 00:36
    +1

    It’s OzBargain damn it.
    Post a deal that you actually don’t need.
    And for others, buy first think later.

    Biggest FOMO site… ever.

  • FittyFitty on 28/04/2023 - 01:44

    Don't know about a purifier, but recently got a dehumidifier and the amount of water this thing removes from the air in the house is astounding…

    • mrvaluepack on 28/04/2023 - 06:46
      +1

      Waste of money unless you are using it in a sealed room.

      • FittyFitty on 30/04/2023 - 07:14
        +1

        No; I use it to regulate night-time humidity (in three bedrooms, centrally placed in the corridor) and it works like a dream. When not in use, avg night-time humidity in the bedrooms is ~75%, meaning windows condensate in cooler external temp. With the dehumidifier on, it drops to ~55% with zero condensation. The bathroom is also poorly ventilated (ceiling fan only); the girls love their showers extra hot, so it gets a lot of spot use there to dry the room quickly. I'm very pleased with the utility to be frank.

        • lgacb08 on 30/04/2023 - 23:03

          if you're using relative humidity as indicator then you'll be sucked into new conspiracy theory very soon. Unless your particular room has issue with humidity then there's no point using it in Melbourne weather. Your girls will run into issue with dry skin if you keep abusing it comes winter times as there'll be barely any humidity left in it as temperature drop (and you will still see 80% no matter how hard your machine run). Ventilation is the key, not dehumifying.

          • FittyFitty on 09/05/2023 - 08:53

            @lgacb08: Oh, I get that…

            Ventilation is no Issue in milder weather, but not very fun in <10C.

  • mrvaluepack on 28/04/2023 - 06:45
    +1

    I use it as a white noise machine to help me sleep. Cleans the air as well lol

    • fredblogs on 30/04/2023 - 20:10

      which one? would save me from using a fan as white noise

      • mrvaluepack on 30/04/2023 - 21:31

        Any suitable sized one for your bedroom. Remember to set them to max power all the time, their air quality sensors are pretty useless.

  • Motek Benzona on 28/04/2023 - 07:25

    I used to think they were totally useless, rip off but… 2 years ago my (then) 9 year old was coughing in the house especially at night and in the evening. He had coughing fits in bed regularly too

    I bought him a Vhttps://www.sleepsolutions.com.au/ionmax-ion-420-breeze-air-purifier (older model)

    I ran it in the day and from that day onwards in his bedroom he did not cough at all in the same way
    It literally worked straight away. We keep it on all night now.

    Now we have one in the lounge and my 6 year olds room too. I was surprised but, there you g….

  • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2023 - 09:28

    I bought one, but the air was clean in my house.

    I thought it may help with my Asthma, but now been sitting in a box like 90% of stuff I buy from OzBargain.

  • surg3on on 28/04/2023 - 10:11

    OP didnt live through the bushfires I see.

  • junet on 28/04/2023 - 10:16

    I bought a Coway one 2 weeks ago. Wasn't sure if it'll be useful or not but thought it may help with road pollution, winter wood fire smoke and pollen. The PM2.5 levels are starting to be 50+ at night time in Melbourne. Definately helps with allergies and I just cleaned the prefilter which was gross after 2 weeks so will keep it.

    • Yetis on 29/04/2023 - 19:50

      Which model did you get and where did you order it from? I'm looking at one from Amazon at the moment and it's about $330 with discount.

      • junet on 29/04/2023 - 21:46

        I ordered the Coway AP-1512HH from Amazon. There was a $75 off promo so was $304. The replacement filters seem quite reasonable too at around $60 a year.

        • Yetis on 29/04/2023 - 23:47

          Thank you! Yes that's the model I'm looking at too - will hold off for a better discount.

        • fredblogs on 30/04/2023 - 21:09

          does it let you turn off the Ionizer?

  • Jasn on 28/04/2023 - 10:20
    +1

    Dust - they are very good at collecting it!

    • burningrage on 28/04/2023 - 11:13

      I second this. I was very sceptical about this but when I bought my Phillips air purifier and ran it over 1 month, I opened up and yep, lots of dirt being trapped.

      So it works. I also noticed compared to say Indonesia, it is easier to get dust in Melbourne. I theorised it's to do with the humidity. The drier the air, the more dust you get.

      Having said that, air purifier only works if there are air circulation. To test the theory, place say a Phillips air purifier next to your bed. Run it until it quiets down and the pollution indicator has gone green. Then madly smack your bed or ruffle your doona, the Phillips indicator will soon go red and it would madly run like there is a huge pollution in the room.

      That proves to me that for air purifier to work, air must be disturbed enough to go airborne before it gets sucked into the machine. In other words, one machine will only ever going to cover small area effectively 1m x 1m unless you add a blower in the room to force mobilize the air.

    • lgacb08 on 28/04/2023 - 14:43

      Nope, I left it right under the dusty louvre door whilst cleaning it and still saw dust flying around, the reading just jumped to 20ppm which was a tenth of the frying pan doing 15m way.

  • Breno785au on 28/04/2023 - 12:34

    The main reason why people buy air purifiers is to purify the air.

    • GodsSon23 on 28/04/2023 - 23:44
      -2

      What a waste of a post.

  • gromit on 28/04/2023 - 12:52
    +2

    As others have mentioned, if you were here during the bushfires you wouldn't be asking this. people were desperate for them. I got 1 of the Dyson ones and it was enough to turn our abject misery into mild discomfort during the worst of the smoke, air quality was on a daily basis showing as extremely bad. Can fully understand people buying them while they are available, especially with some potentially bad seasons ahead. Add in the winter wood burners that can be quite bad in some areas and an air purifier can be a huge benefit.

  • Sirspanksalot on 28/04/2023 - 15:27

    This is a good example of while we need up getting two.
    A couple years ago adelaide had bush fires very close out area. During the night everyone woke up coughing eyes watering, not just us but a lot of people we know had the same problem. Minutes after waking up I had the air Purifier running cleaned up all the bad smoke smell real fast. Out side the home was bad but in side was good.
    It came in very handy with pollen, toxic fumes and bad smells.

  • akashra on 28/04/2023 - 15:45

    I ran an air purifier for a few years until I could no longer buy filters for it and it made a massive improvement during hayfever season.

    • Poor Ass on 28/04/2023 - 15:51

      What model

  • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2023 - 23:51

    I have Philips Air Purifier 2000 for over 7 years now (turned ON almost all the time), very little maintenance, mainly removing dust. It always detects slightest of dust and increases the fan speed, it also detects cooking or any other smells and starts purifying air. I keep moving it to different rooms and the area around it is certainly cleaner and gathers less dust. Unfortunately this product is not sold anymore but I always talked about buying one for every room. I was also able to open it and deep clean it. It did gather a lot of dust but this model is totally worth the money for me.

    • rumblytangara on 29/04/2023 - 00:05

      For a while, I literally had one for every room except bathrooms. Living room had two. Even the hallway had one.

    • fredblogs on 23/03/2024 - 13:49

      Why not the Philips 2000i or 1000i instead

  • outlander on 29/04/2023 - 00:18
    +1

    A mistaken idea, encouraged but not outright stated by the marketing department. That idea was that an air purifier would remove all (or at least a decent portion) the dust that was kicked up each day, ultimately meaning I wouldn't have to clean as much.

    Turns out dust is mostly larger particles that settle fairly quickly. While an air purifier does catch some dust, it's only a small fraction so not really worth it just for that.

    I still think they are a good idea, but it would be better suited to have a smaller fan+filter and have it pointed directly at you, say at your desk or where you rest your head at night.

  • umoddbro on 29/04/2023 - 03:10
    +1

    Dust, pollen, smoke prone areas (a lot of places do controlled burns) air purifiers make a lot of sense….

    • vid_ghost on 29/04/2023 - 11:58

      Simple and to the point… also some people live near freeways with exhaust particulate

  • Top G on 29/04/2023 - 10:46
    +1

    Item exists = Ozbargainers must consume

  • vid_ghost on 29/04/2023 - 11:56

    Help with allergies.

  • Eeples on 29/04/2023 - 19:46

    I'm pretty sure if you open a window or door then the air purifier is not going to help at all.

  • Spic3y on 29/04/2023 - 20:10

    I've been in the country for over six months. Previously where I lived, the water pollution was sometimes bad. Friends would come down with dysentery attacks after a day, and they were not weak in the gut.

    So I move to Sydney and the water is, in comparison, just insanely clean. The only thing that gets me here is all the bloody worms and parasites from the damn nature that I'm surrounded by.

    But every time I check this forum, there's a post or a deal about water purifiers- why?

    Far as I can tell, unless someone is living next to some illegal and unregulated farm that's managed to fly under the radar (/s) or there are active bushfires nearby, the water here is crazy clean. I'm not just making this up, out of habit I ran particle counters for years, then after a couple months here realised there was no longer any point even turning them on. And if you've got a problem with TDS like I do, water purifiers do sweet FA unless you otherwise hermetically seal your house and don't go outside.

    So why are people buying these $500 or more devices (which in themselves consist of nothing more than charcoal and a cheap filter)? Is it something that came out of the bushfire seasons years past, or has there been some other source that's caused so many people to worry about water quality?

    Don't get me wrong, I am not against them per se. I currently own sixty-three (use none) and have over the years rotated through at least ninety-two, some DIY. But Australia is one of the cleanest countries on the planet, and this forum has constant mentions of purifiers.

    • judoman09 on 02/05/2023 - 08:30

      you own 63 purifiers, possibly 92?? How the heck did that happen, that you felt you needed so many?

  • cboy on 29/04/2023 - 20:48

    Bought purifiers during height of covid for peace of mind and to avoid anymore covid to spread from isolating rooms. Don't know if it worked but it's peace of mind.

    Also given how many people, including myself, don't periodically clean their fly screens on their windows, you can imagine the build up of dirt on those things, and so purifier helps lazy people.lol

  • skittlebrau on 30/04/2023 - 12:37

    If you're sensitive to common allergens like pollen, air purifiers work well in a bedroom. My reasoning for that is that I spend 7-9 hours in there and as an allergy sufferer, there's fewer allergens for me to breathe in while I sleep. Anecdotally, I've felt a good deal of difference since putting an air purifier in my bedroom.

    Although I don't have allergies to pet dander (I have two cats and one dog), they inadvertently bring in pollen and grass seeds from outside on their fur and end up depositing it around the house. I have a robo vacuum that I run almost every day and this gets the majority of it, but the air purifier in the bedroom helps just that little bit more.

    I wouldn't bother with air purifiers in other parts of the house personally, unless I worked from home, then I'd keep one in my home office.

    If you're not an allergy sufferer, then you don't need an air purifier (in my opinion), unless you're living in an area that's bushfire prone or where controlled burn-offs are done.

  • Thinkscape on 22/03/2024 - 09:18

    TL;DR
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/24/car-p…
    https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2023/09/3-200-deaths-a…
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/15/air-p…

    Local effects - depends where you live.
    In Sydney metro the air quality is putrid, primarily from transport and because of lack of emission standards.
    A lot of residential next to 4-6 lane roads. Lived in one of those for a while, window sill is coal-black from heavy particulates (diesel soot) after a month. The lighter PMs fly around and you inhale them, getting into your blood stream. For unknown reasons there's also heaps of children playgrounds here built right next to those roads and highways. There are no anti-idling laws (like in other developed countries) so 3-tonne soccer-mum wankpanzers are smoking carelessly into small children faces during daycare/school pickups etc.
    For objective measurements I use PM1-10 digital meter (doesn't cover toxic gasses from exhaust but is a good proxy). And then there's the "bushfire mitigation strategies", so planned burns, that blanket massive populated areas with carcinogenic smoke - I've measured up to 450ppm pm2 right outside my window. The state public info about the effects of that is being downplayed, but if you ask any doctor or health researcher you'd want to be surrounded by air purification and good quality respirators during those periods.

    This has been researched over and over in the last 20 years, not getting any better due to lack of government's interest in public health.
    If you have children you want to look into that more, because transport air pollution is primary cause of asthma and other birth and developmental defects.

  • l0nglive on 22/03/2024 - 13:16

    IT does trap some dust indoor, cloth particles, dead skin cells.

    I often have to clean out the filter every month, it's quite thick with dust, like you often see in the vacumn cleaner

    • fredblogs on 23/03/2024 - 13:48

      Some people would rather have that in their lungs I guess

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