Recent comments in /f/BuyItForLife

froodydude t1_j0vfbuo wrote

Reply to My father has developed asthma in his mid 50’s and I think an air purifier in his bedroom would be really good for him. Do you have any recommendations? by C_A_N_G

I would suggest the Honeywell HPA series. I have a Honeywell HPA 300 and it is an absolute beast. It got me through living in an apartment with a mold infestation so bad there were 73,000 spores per cubic meter in the HVAC return air box. For context, the level of spores per cubic meter outside at my location measured at 11,000 spores per cubic meter. That place was a nightmare, but the Honeywell got me through until I could break the lease. It is also very very quiet on the lowest setting, almost silent. You probably don't need one as big as the HPA 300, but the 200 is a really nice size. My sister uses it for her asthma and dust allergy management.

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Alternative_Arm_2583 t1_j0vbpzn wrote

Reply to Outdoor pet heater?? by [deleted]

I've used the outdoor K&H indoors for my dog for years. One just lasted about 8 years, I replaced it this year -- just to be safe -- and it seems exactly the same. It's the "lectrosoft outdoor heated bed". The one thing which perhaps contributes to it's longetivity is that it only heats up to doggy body temperature (103 or so?).... not sure what you are hoping for heatwise.

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Alternative_Arm_2583 t1_j0vaax8 wrote

Reply to comment by dblevs22 in My father has developed asthma in his mid 50’s and I think an air purifier in his bedroom would be really good for him. Do you have any recommendations? by C_A_N_G

My sharp plasmaclusters are about 20 years old, I disassemble them alot over the years to clean them and replace filters, I noticed that the actual way they are made is pretty identical to the winix i got for $69 (vs $300ish 15 years ago for one with the same air cleaning specs) !! And to get a new plasma dohicky b/c mine are dead of old age on the plasmaclusters made it a no brainer. I noted that the air quality sensors on the winix is better than the original sharps. very happy. I think I also got the 545 (has wifi i do not use). replacement filters are cheap. even the carbon front filters are cheap. it came with 4!

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waehrik t1_j0va9lh wrote

Reply to Outdoor pet heater?? by [deleted]

The electronics are simple so much of it will depend on how well it's taken care of physically and the environment it's used in. The heaters all use resistive wire, typically a nichrome alloy. These work like an ultra-low wattage incandescent light bulb - converting electricity to heat over a distance. Except instead of converting 75 watts over a fraction of an inch, the different wire choice converts ~50w over 1+ square feet.

That's all relevant because of how things can go wrong. If an electrical short is caused by moisture ingress, the heater's resistance drops and it will suddenly pull a lot more power and often melt. Extreme hot and cold cycling can stress the plastic case as can UV exposure if they're left exposed to the sun.

About the worst possible thing to do is leave one of the pads on the ground in an area with poor drainage. It will eventually fail. But if it's kept within an enclosure and off the ground any of them should lead a long life.

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pan567 t1_j0v8p5d wrote

Reply to My father has developed asthma in his mid 50’s and I think an air purifier in his bedroom would be really good for him. Do you have any recommendations? by C_A_N_G

Do you want a BIFL model?

Most units are not built with a housing or motor or even a cord that will last a lifetime. A few exist that are built in the US and Canada, but these units are generally at the upper pricing spectrum. Most of these units, unlike the imported models, are also designed to impact volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and they have higher operational costs as a consequence of this.

If you are looking for a good purifier for a smaller bedroom, the Winix 5500-2 and Coway 1512 are both hard to beat, as they are around $150 on sale, have a decent amount of airflow, have reasonable filter replacement costs, and are reasonable with respect to energy usage and noise. If the room is over 400 square feet, you would want either a larger unit than the 5500-2 or 1512 or to consider two units if the bedroom is exceptionally large (or a much larger single unit). These are not BIFL products, however, even though they are reasonably well made. They will work against particulate matter (PM) - they will not have much impact on VOCs.

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bonaroo t1_j0v18q4 wrote

Reply to My father has developed asthma in his mid 50’s and I think an air purifier in his bedroom would be really good for him. Do you have any recommendations? by C_A_N_G

I use a Honeywell HPA300 in my fairly large bedroom. You can buy fairly inexpensive filter replacement kits on amazon. They make smaller ones, but the fan pitch is a bit higher and I don't like that. The 300 is good. I use this 24/7 and a Eufy robovac everyday, and it does wonders for me.

*Editing - I read that ozone can make asthma symptoms worse, so you may want to avoid any air filters that use that.

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dgxcook t1_j0uyy1f wrote

Reply to My father has developed asthma in his mid 50’s and I think an air purifier in his bedroom would be really good for him. Do you have any recommendations? by C_A_N_G

Not BIFL but we have a Shark air purifier max and it is awesome. My wife has pet allergies and we have 4 cats and a large furry dog. We have the max in the living room and the smaller one in the bedroom. If the power goes out in the middle of the night and they aren’t on, we can tell a difference in the morning. With our super “dirty” air we still only change the filter once every 7/8 months.

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