Navigating Air Purifiers

Thanks to the sale of some furniture as well as a monetary gift from some friends, we were able to purchase air filters.  This was a hard purchase for me because the best of the best are thousands of dollars, and the science behind some air filtering methods is controversial at best.  Also, just like water filters, many are restricted and unable to be purchased for shipment to California. We ended up with two - one that is in the main living area and one in the girls' bedroom.  These are doing a good job of keeping up with the toxins in the house as well as things like the wretched stench from outside in the evenings (oh! We have moved! Guess I should do that blog post next).  This has been one of the ways we know they are working! No smell in the house.

The amount of research I did was quite extensive, and absolutely exhausting, so I thought I might share a little to save someone some time.

Here are the basic filtration systems currently being used in air purifiers:

1. pre-filter. This is a plain filter that works to capture large particles before they hit the more important filters.  It extends the life of the other filters and is rather important.

2. HEPA filter.  HEPA filters are the most efficient for catching large particles such as dust, dander, and even some bacteria.  They work against mold, but there are studies showing that HEPA filters can also get mold within them and have issues so it is recommended that you remove the mold source before using the HEPA to clean it up.  Just a HEPA filter is not enough because it only removes airborne particles down to .3 microns.  Most household contaminants (VOC's) such as formaldehyde are smaller than this.

3.  activated carbon filter.  This is probably (in my opinion) the most important thing to look for in an air filter.  The efficiency and size of the activated carbon in the air purifier will determine what particles smaller than .3 microns are removed.  From what research I did, it appears that activated carbon filters are effective down to .1 microns.

Most of the super expensive filters stop here and use the first three filtering systems.  Just like with a water filter, the more activated carbon there is for the air to move over, the more effective it is.  These expensive filters are large boxes of activated carbon with HEPA filters.  Most of those filters cover one average sized room and cost around $1000. We obviously could not afford this, and I also wondered about the particles smaller than .1 microns that would be missed.  However, any additional filtration methods came with controversial reports regarding safety.

4.  UV Lamp (germicidal). This filter gets a bit tricky.  It kills micro-organisms like mold, germs, etc. and also has several variations whose safety are questionable.  In general, there are either UV lamps that kill germs with ultraviolet radiation, or those that generate ozone. Both have risk factors.  If the cover comes off of the ultraviolet radiation lamp you can receive dangerous exposure.  On the other hand, there is still much controversy over appropriate levels of ozone.  It is hard to find an air purifier that does not have one of these, so we chose one with the light instead of one that produces ozone into the air.

5.  Ionizer. This is one of the components that caused me the most stress when researching; I really did not like what I read.   An ionizer changes the charge of ions in the air so that particles which are normally airborne become heavy and fall to the ground.  Theoretically you then sweep or dust them up, or they become airborne again where they are then again made heavy and fall to the ground.  Many say ionizers are great, are not problematic  and have improved their air quality tremendously.  Ionizers produce ozone at varying levels. There are also some studies showing that those exposed to ionizers have particles in their lungs that are not normally found there.  This made me uncomfortable for the girls' bedrooms where they would be lying flat and breathing the filtered air.  For this reason I purposefully searched out filters that had extremely low (virtually no) ozone production, and was excited that the one we purchased for their bedroom has the option of turning the ionizer off.

6.  Electrostatic filter.  An electrostatically charged grid traps particles and is very effective.

7.  Photocatalytic Oxidation (TiO2) filter. This technology is used by NASA and the newest.  This filter is 99.99something-crazy% effective for cleaning the air of VOCs.  The potentially questionable part is how it does that.  This filter oxidizes the particles and destroys them.  Extensive tests have shown that what goes in does not come out and chemicals are indeed destroyed.  The problem is that there are not conclusive studies on what comes back out of the filter.  The chemicals are destroyed and changed into something else, but I could not find any studies saying that the new particles being inhaled were actually safe.  If formaldehyde is destroyed, what does it become?  There are no answers for that yet.

There you have it.  More information on air purifiers than you have ever wanted to know.  We ended up with  two  filters that include a combination of the above systems and are proving to be very effective. If you are in the market for an air filter I recommend checking out Friends of Water who have already done the narrowing down of choices for you.  We purchased some great options there for very reasonable costs.

Packing and Purging

Within a week of finding our perfect rental, we received notification from the bank to get out.  We had been in an active short sale and not planning a foreclosure, so we *really* would rather not have an eviction on our credit as well.  The packing is in full force and so is the purging.  We are downsizing from over 2400 square feet to 802.  This means we have way too much furniture (and toys, and just plain ole stuff).

Barring other future surprises we also have 4 estimated large expenses that remain for our family needs.  We have decided that we will use our packing and purging abilities to try and raise some needed funds for that, since the funds are pretty restricted otherwise.

At this point in time we are saving for:

1- air purifier.   The rental house will have fresh paint, new floor, and new kitchen. The new kitchen is rather awesome since it will be free of anyone else's funk, including various forms of corn.  However, all of this will be very detrimental to Ellie's healing, and our overall health.  This need feels particularly urgent as we will be moving in a few short weeks.  We are going to be handling this in-home air quality issue in two ways.

I have been researching for weeks into the wee hours (what? so what's new? hey!) regarding air purifiers. What I found was that there is no fool proof, 100% effective system out there for cleaning the air in the home. The most interesting thing I found is that NASA has a BioHome that is maintained by plants.  They have done extensive studies and have found that the right, efficient household plants remove up to 87% of household toxins within 24 hours!  You need to have enough of them to do the job, and the recommendation is 15-18 plants, 6-8 inch in diameter at least for an 1800 square foot home.  Check out the list of recommended plants HERE.  Our first line of defense for our new home will be plants! We will be in 802 square feet, and my goal is 15 plants from this list.  My hope is that it will be cheaper to accomplish than purchasing the outrageously expensive, top of the line air purifiers.  Now I think I understand the tradition of bringing a plant as a housewarming gift.  Isn't that smart?

The second thing will be to purchase a lower cost, as efficient as we can find air filter for the main living area, as well as one for the girls' bedroom.  I believe I have two picked out, so overall we are looking at about $400 + plants.

2- lip tie surgery.  We have decided that the best fit for Ellie (and our second attempt at this surgery) will be with Dr. James Jesse in the Los Angeles area. We have found a local, fantastic functional orthodontist for Big Sis who will not need a repeat surgery after all (woot!). Our estimation is that we will need approximately $700 in funds to make this happen.  ($200 in gas, $150 for one night in a hotel w/kitchen, $350 for surgery)

3- natural organic mattresses.  Because of some fire retardant laws passed around 2007, conventional mattresses are one of the most toxic pieces of furniture in the home.  Mattresses out gas into the air polluting the entire house.  Since Ellie spends time sleeping in our bed, and we want a healthy environment for Big Sis, too, we are working to replace all three of our mattresses.  We have found an organic kid's twin mattress that will cost approximately $500, so we are working to save $500 x2 plus $1000 for a queen.  Total we need to save $2000.

4- a generator.  Due to black outs, brown outs, and living-in-the-country outs, we need something to power our Vitamix in the event of an outage or emergency.  Ellie still eats primarily from a bottle so without electricity to puree her food she would have no food.  I have no idea how much a generator like this would cost and have not had a chance to research it. Of course is she started chewing this might not be such a huge cause for panic. ($???)

Right now these costs seems incredibly out of reach, but God knows our needs and we know He will provide.  We are going to begin posting items from our home on craigslist and to our facebook friends to try and get things started.  Prayers would be appreciated for the sale of items we don't need in order to fund these things that we do.  We received word today that we will be able to be begin moving stuff into the garage of the rental next week!  Time to figure out how to move some chickens.