Hi there,
Looking at a mag. I came across an ad for Bionaire…the BAP 1500 air purifier…anyone has one or can tell me about it…do these things work…I’m a designer and work in a room with my Apple Macs etc etc…I also have two cats running plus my kids…and i have a window out to a road which is not that busy but sometimes I get the fumes come in and it bugs me…so…would this be a great product for me to buy?
By the way, **respect **for poster who has the missing son…as a father of two I’d rather have nails hammered into my eyeballs than be in his situation…
I have a big one (I don’t recall the model number). When I was living in my brother’s basement with my 2 cats (yes ladies, I was a real catch… 2 cats and living in the basement) I used the air purifier to help shelter my very allergic niece from the cats’ catness.
It seemed to work pretty well since she only had symptoms if she actually touched the cats or spent lots of time in a room with them.
Now that I am in my own apartment, I find that the unit I use reduces the amount of dust and cat hair found in the place.
I also use a smaller model right next to the cat litter box which sucks in the dust created by litter and reduces the scent of the, um, used litter.
Quackery. Consumer Reports tested these things a few years back and concluded they are a gimmick playing/marketing on people’s fears. The exception was they worked well at removing smoke from a room, but not polutants. If you’re on this forum, its assumed you’re not a smoker. They also sighted some sources for industrial sized units that worked well, but were usually cost prohibitted from anything except hospitals.
I use one in my basement to reduce mildew and dog smells. It works pretty well, but I don’t store my bikes, wheels, or tires anywhere in the same area. It seemed to “age” any rubber components at an unnaturally rapid rate.
Quackery. Consumer Reports tested these things a few years back and concluded they are a gimmick playing/marketing on people’s fears. The exception was they worked well at removing smoke from a room, but not polutants. If you’re on this forum, its assumed you’re not a smoker. They also sighted some sources for industrial sized units that worked well, but were usually cost prohibitted from anything except hospitals.
I read consumer reports before I bought my air purifiers. CR led me to not purchase the units that use reverse electronically charged ions or whatever (like that one that Sharper Image sells that is so popular).
The Bionaire units I bought all got high ratings from CR. The key is having a HEPA filter.
Consumer Reports rates the Bionaire fairly low, best rating is the Friedrich C-90B, which also is the best at smoke removal, but pricy at $500. FWIW…
Other high-rated ones are Whirlpool, Honeywell, Vornado.
Those Europeans are odd about smoking… just spent a week in Germany, I smoked for a week basically, even the non-smoking hotel room had a smoker’s room below it… pah.
Spain, funnily enough…a country I would say are the biggest smokers in Europe if not the world…is a joy to go eat out in now…no-smoking in all restaurants unless stated at the door…and even then they have sections for smokers…
Next year there’s an EU Directive coming into force banning smoking from public places etc…Gibraltar, long time best friend of Phillip Morris et al will thankfully follow suit…BRING IT ON…