TallGuyJohninBKK

59 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

From the Smart Air online shop.

 

I think you have to be very wary with claims like change the HEPA filter every two years. Is this for Japan or Bangkok? As Bangkok is probably four times more polluted than Tokyo, it might need to be changed every 6 months.

I modeled what I think you're doing, and came out closer to 2400 baht per year just in filters. So over the period of two years, that's about the same cost as buying a modest new air purifier with new filter here. Heck, I paid 3,200 baht for my new Sharp with the HEPA filter included.

For modeling your approach, I went with the somewhat cheaper DIY 4-pack of filters, not the Canon 4-pack:

Then added in the international shipping cost charged by the vendor.

And that got me into the 2400 baht per year neighborhood.

But the curious part to me is, apart from the high relative cost of continual HEPA filter replacements, is both of their HEPA filter models are square 296 mm sizes, which is roughly 11.6 inches square. And yet you were talking earlier about using a 14 inch diameter fan. So the HEPA filters from them aren't covering the full front space of the fan?

9 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Can you do cash on delivery with Aliexpress?

Ha... don't think so. I believe I paid with a bank card.

33 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

I am also looking for an air quality sensor and the the Sndway model looks good.

 

Isn't the 3 models below all the SW-825, except the price vary between 1,677, 1,741 to 1,854 baht, or am I missing something?

 

It looks to me like those are all the same Sndway unit also. Just as is typical on Lazada, the same product being sold at different prices by different re-sellers.

I found the same thing on Aliexpress, the same product being re-sold by different vendors there. But in my case, Sndway has their own company store on Aliexpress, so I figured I'd buy directly from them, instead of going thru some 3rd party re-seller that I don't know.

Probably, not a big deal either way. But since I had the choice, I chose to deal direct with Sndway. I paid about $45 U.S. after a 1st time customer discount on Aliexpress, so that worked out to about 1400b including shipping.

9 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

In that case it definitely makes sense to change those pre-filters for a normal air purifier but for a DIY you can buy a pack of four HEPA filters to last a year and it works out at about 2000 baht including shipping. I could get the cost down by using a pre-filter and changing it every 3 months but I think I'm already getting good value for money.

Where are you buying your HEPA filters from?

BTW, just by comparison, the new Sharp unit I just bought says their typical paper-type HEPA filter is supposed to last for two years. And the back of the purifier has a built in pre-filter mesh (but not carbon), so I added my own carbon sheet to the back between the HEPA filter and the back cover/mesh filter. I'm hoping adding the carbon will mean I can get even longer than two years out of the Sharp HEPA.

Back when I used to run my Honeywell 50250 in the U.S., I was living in an apartment with typical U.S. cheap apartment carpeting that easily gave off fibers and such. Within a month, my carbon prefilter back then would be literally covered solid with a matte of carpet fibers, dust, hair, etc etc. (Roughly comparable to the typical outside air quality in BKK...) But, not a visible spec of any of that ever got thru to the HEPA filter inside. That's what the carbon prefilters are for.

2 minutes ago, riclag said:

to the USembassy. Does the embassy say come the next day or do I have to wait 2 weeks.

To get the income affidavit from the U.S. Embassy in BKK, you have to use their website's online appointments system to book and schedule your appointment. They have a calendar online that will show you what days and times are available, and then you pick what day/time suits you.

You can schedule pretty far in advance, IIRC.  But for the shorter term, depending on the time of year, sometimes you can get an appointment the next day or two, or sometimes the earliest available date may be 7-10 days out. I'm talking about Bangkok. I'm not sure about the similar setup in CM.

Once you get the income affidavit in hand, you can use it at Immigration immediately, assuming you have your other Immigration documents/forms in order.

5 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

I think the Ikea warranty policy on mattresses is confusing and it does not cover all mattresses. That said, my Ikea foam mattress is fine and has never needed a warranty claim.
 

 

When I was mattress shopping at IKEA last year, all the spring mattresses I looked at had that 20 or 25 year IKEA warranty.

How IKEA Thailand does or doesn't honor those warranties, obviously, is a separate question.

No, actually, the carbon prefilters are also intended to catch a lot of the larger particles and keep them off/out of your HEPA filter. Dust, animal hair, human hair, etc etc. all gets caught by the carbon -- if you have one installed.

I've been running my Honeywell 50250 for the past month daily with a original 10-year-old HEPA filter that's as white and pure looking as the day I bought the air purifier. Because, the air purifier has NEVER been used without the carbon prefilter that almost every purifier manufacturer tells you should always be used.

Just as one example, note the typical excerpt below from my Honeywell 50250's user's manual:

The carbon pre-filter sheets are cheap, I think my last replacement box cost me about $7 U.S.  The HEPA filters, regardless of the brand or model, are NOT cheap by comparison.

12 minutes ago, riclag said:

 Usa  embassy appointment for a income affidavit .How soon can I go after I make a appointment?When I arrive from the states I would like to have a idea of how many nights I must book for a hotel in BKK.

How soon can you go where after you book an appointment?

14 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

A HEPA filter might last 5 years in Japan but definitely not in Bangkok. You need to change them at least once every 6 months. Look what my DIY filter looked like after 6 months.

But (correct me if I'm wrong), you're using that without any kind of carbon prefilter???  The purpose of which is to keep a lot of that gunk off and away from the more expensive HEPA filter.

3 hours ago, kuma said:

One thing, my unit is tagged as a CAF C4A built by Thai Toshiba Electric Industries Co. Ltd. So like the global firm I used to work for here, Toshiba has a Thai operation, and I suspect they likely make the filters here to match the models they produce, tough the price of these filters seem way lower than I recall paying before (see below) so perhaps these are now aftermarket...

 

Toshiba Thailand does have an online store, it turns out, all in Thai language, and they do at least list various HEPA and pre-filters available for sale there.

https://www.toshibathailandshopping.com/category.html?p=1&cid=1

They also have a section with at least one air purifier on sale:

https://www.toshibathailandshopping.com/category.html?cid=10

When I was dealing with them, I was interested in their air purifier model CAF-G2 model, which is the one listed on their website as being on sale for 3590b, and the same unit is listed right now at HomePro for 5700b.

But when I asked my contact there about replacement filters for the CAF-G2, that's when she told me they had none in stock, so I passed and went with Sharp. That was about a month ago now, so things may have changed since then, or not.

Their website lists a couple filters for the G2 and similar models, but can't quite tell if they're showing a HEPA filter for the G2.

2 hours ago, kuma said:

The Amazon filter is a hefty price to be sure, but if I can recall correctly the last replacement was about THB5000, but they have a manufacturers life span of five years - so annualized not bad, but I also have to check back and confirm they PPM2.5 rated, if not  may just start over....

I can't tell exactly from the Amazon link you posted exactly what kind of filter they're talking about. There's no product description at all other than the title headline. The tiny photo doesn't look like a HEPA filter. The headline says "deodorizing dust collector," which makes it sound like a pre-filter. But then another part of the headline says "filter set," which makes it sound like possibly a HEPA plus a pre-filter. Honestly, no clue!!!

14 minutes ago, kuma said:

 

https://www.amazon.com/purifier-replacement-CAF-C4FS-deodorizing-collector/dp/B000WMMG30?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B000WMMG30

 

http://www.aircleanerthai.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=68&Itemid=43

 

WOW.!!!   The first one isn't Amazon Japan, but just regular Amazon U.S. via a third party seller, Amazing Japan.  But $125 for a dust filter, not even the HEPA filter???  That's crazy!!!

As for AirCleanerThai, yes, I've seen that site, but haven't had direct contact with them as yet. The one looming, unanswered question I have about their stocks is are they selling OEM manufacturer filters, or are they selling third-party no-name filters made by who knows who in Thailand.  I've seen that they have filters for a lot of models, just don't know, what quality of filters. But they're certainly worth pursuing on that point. With everything else going on, I just haven't had a chance to raise that issue with them.

2 minutes ago, kuma said:

 

It will be really surprising if Toshiba stiffs their customers like that - think of the death spiral it creates. We are both consumers of those type of products, and if it turns out they are not supplying filters, well then I will write them off going forward - post it here and that will steer away many others for sure -- and I would write them off for other appliances I am in need of, in he past I purchased a lot of Toshiba appliances on the basis of quality and price - that would all go out the window as well....

 

I agree entirely. Please do post what you find with Numchai and/or elsewhere. You're not the only one with Toshiba air purifiers around here.  When I talked to Toshiba's service center, they specifically told me, at least for Bangkok, that they were the only source for their OEM post-sale filters. Whether that's true or not, who knows. I just know, I couldn't find any anywhere else around BKK.

Personally, I'm annoyed with the whole business model here of retailers selling air purifiers but typically not stocking any of the filters for them. That seems to be the norm even at places like Central, HomePro, etc. Even Lazada is pretty dire when it comes to availability of filters for the most common purifiers sold here.  For me as a customer, if the manufacturer isn't making it clear and easy for me to obtain replacement filters, then I'm going to shy away from buying their products.

1 minute ago, kuma said:

Hey thanks for the info. I will look at that monitoring unit.

On the Toshiba's - I did replace the filters some years back (Toshiba rated themas five years) and at the time I was able to order them at Numchai (I am in Pattaya area, came here in large part for cleaner air) and they were able to get them in a week.

Next month I will try to order again and will see what happens. When I bought these units (tenish years ago) I did a lot of research at the time and they were highly rated. If it turns out they have discontinued filters so soon for units that still function well, then that will be a real blow to their brand - so interesting to see what happens. I will update here once I order.

Thanks for the monitor info.

Lately, here in BKK, everyplace I looked that sold Toshiba air purifiers did NOT carry any replacement filters. So finally I ended up talking directly to the main Toshiba service center in BKK, and found an English speak lady there who handles their filters. When I told her what Toshiba model I was thinking of buying, she checked and answered that they were out stock for replacement filters for the purifier model that Toshiba is selling right now at pretty much every retailer around. When I asked how soon they'd have replacement filters in stock, she couldn't answer clearly.

So that was my experience with Toshiba and replacement filters for a current purifier model of theirs. Be very curious to see how you fare with replacements for a 10 year old model.

BTW, I was looking at Numchai's website when I was shopping for my purifier, and they seemed to have decent prices, and free delivery in their area -- but not to BKK, alas.

The other sensor that folks here have reported using and buying is this one from Xiaomi:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Xiaomi-PM2-5-Detector-Sensor-Air-Quality-Monitoring-High-precision-Laser-Sensor-OLED-Screen-Using/32763181451.html

18 minutes ago, kuma said:

I noticed you talking earlier about your indoor AQI monitor. Did you buy that in Bkk or order online? I would like to get one to see how my indoor AQI is - I have two Toshiba CAF C4A filter units, now about ten years old so wondering how they are doing keeping things clear.

I bought mine online via Aliexpress, and it took about 11 days from order to delivery here. Unit seems to work well, very easy to read, very quick to respond. I'm pleased and satisfied with my purchase.

And it's kind of startling to come home, see the readings in the 30s or 40s micrograms of PM2.5, turn on either of my air purifiers in the living room or bedroom, and within 30-60 minutes, the readings are down into the single digits.

Sorry, just to be clear, most of the sensor-only units I've seen display their output in micrograms of PM2.5 -- not the AQI numbers, which are entirely different scale. There are some, both sensors and air purifiers with built-in sensors, that give you both micrograms of PM2.5 AND an AQI readings.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Air-Quality-Monitor-Mini-Laser-PM2-5-Monitor-Wall-mounted-Inovafitness-PM2-5-Detector-Gas-monitor/32826759103.html

PS - I looked at the Toshiba units before I bought a Sharp purifier, but the situation here with replacement filters for Toshiba units seemed pretty dire. Have you gone looking to find any replacement filters for your Toshiba's any time lately?

That's good to hear. I noticed after the poster mentioned Dunpillo above that their website seems to talk about 8-10 year warranties on their mattresses. When we shopped last year at places like HomePro and Robinson's, most of the better mattresses there seemed to have 10 year warranties.

IKEA mattresses, if memory serves, come with a 20 or 25 year warranty.

But at the end of the day, of course, what matters just as much as the term of the warranty is how the company behind it actually honors the warranty, or does the typical Thai business thing of doing everything possible to avoid honoring their post-sale commitments.

Last time we bought, I actually was going to buy an IKEA mattress in Bangna, but the model we wanted was out of stock at that time for at least a month, so we ended up buying elsewhere. But it would be interesting to hear any experiences people have had with IKEA Thailand in terms of honoring their warranties or being difficult to deal with.

On 3/23/2018 at 10:12 PM, Riojasue said:

We recently bought a Dunlopillow Mattress called Grace from Homepro and it’s honestly the best mattress we’ve ever had, including a ludicrously expensive one from John Lewis in the UK. Delivery was free and I think the 6ft version was about 25,000. Hubby has a horrendous degenerating back condition and he’s sleeping like a baby for the first time in years.

 

The potential issue isn't what the mattress is like now or the year after you bought it. The issue is what the spring mattress is like 3 years or 5 years or more after you buy it. I'm talking in general about spring mattresses sold here, not specifically about Dunlopillow.

Even a lot of the foreign brand name mattresses here are made locally by locals of local materials. Take that for what it's worth. There are real actual imported mattresses here, but I think they're exceptionally expensive as you might expect.

38 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

yep.  Good sales tax in Oregon, not state tax across the line in Washington.  Kind of like the Massachusetts and New Hampshire border.

I believe it was Kiplinger's that had these recaps lately in terms of states, overall taxes and median home prices:

1 hour ago, utalkin2me said:

I personally bet bet if the air was in the very bad unhealthy range for a couple of weeks, it would become homogeneous inside and out in many homes, especially with cross flow. But, we usually just have the really bad stuff for a day or two? 

I've tested this in my home in BKK. And generally speaking, at least in terms of PM2.5, the unfiltered air inside is a little better that the unfiltered air outside. But as the pollution levels go up outside, they also go up inside correspondingly. And it doesn't take long for those changes to be reflected inside.

For me, the bottom line is -- when the pollution gets bad outside, staying inside makes it a bit better, but hardly good or healthy.

One other difference, though, is when you're inside, presumably, you're not physically exerting as much and thus not getting the junk deep into your lungs. Whereas when you're outside, not only is there more junk, but you're likely breathing it in deeper and worsening the impact.

So in that sense, staying inside and not exerting yourself during times of high pollution makes sense. But staying inside and breathing purified air during times of high pollution outside makes even more sense.

All this talk about HEPA filters makes me think about a quick story that's worth telling, and probably will make any purifier owner here want to cry.

I've mentioned a couple times that I have here a Honeywell 50250 "beast" air purifier from the U.S. What I didn't mention, I don't think, is that I bought it new more than 10 years ago, and it had been used a few years in the U.S. and then virtually not at all during its time in Thailand, until just recently.

When Honeywell brought out the 50250 model, one variant of it (the one I have) came with what Honeywell called a LIFETIME HEPA filter that supposedly never needed to be replaced. Just use the carbon prefilter and change those as needed, and then hand vacuum the exterior of the HEPA filter periodically, and it's supposed to be good for the life of the machine.

So, this past month, when I got into the air pollution issue here, I got out the old 50250 model with its original purchase HEPA filter still installed, changed the old carbon prefilters to brand new ones, and fired it up. And low and behold, the unit that's designed to cover 300 sf. ft. is cleaning just about that same area in my living room and kitchen, and the 10+ year old HEPA filter is knocking down the PM2.5 levels to single digits usually within a half hour of the time I turn it on.

When I think about the lifetime HEPA filter I've got for my Honeywell, and then consider in comparison the fact that most of the air purifier manufacturers here don't even make replacement filters readily available, much less include LIFETIME HEPA filters when they sell the purifier units, it's certainly enough to make me want to cry!  If only here you could buy it once and then pretty much forget it...

2 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

You guys are doing the DIY thing all wrong. You're looking at a weak fan and a crap HEPA filter. You need a strong fan and a decent HEPA filter. Ignore all the other gimmicks like activated charcoal. You need to be sure that you're getting a very high quality HEPA filter. The fan that I posted earlier works really well with the smart air filters.

I think you posted about this fan in the separate Bangkok Air Pollution thread, 14 inch size fan? So that's going to need at least a 36 x 36 cm filter to cover the fan front face...

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/mira-14-m-144-i166044-s153628.html

The Mira fan says it has 1250 rpm.

The Hatari fan I mentioned above, with a smaller 8 inch fan blade, has specs that say it goes up to 1754 rpm. And it has an absolutely flat front surface grill.

Unfortunately, in looking thru Hatari's online catalog of fans, they don't seem to have a single other cyclone style model. The 8 inch variety looks to be their only fan of that style.

https://www.hatari.co.th/en/products/portable/822

I think it's worth at least trying the 8 inch model and seeing what results.

BTW, it looks like the DIY HEPA filters that the SmartAirFilters site is using for their two DIY purifiers are square 11.65 x 11.65 inches (296 x 296 mm), and come with an attached pre-filter. So they're not just running the HEPA filters naked.

https://smartairfilters.com/cn/en/product/cannon-purifier-hepa-filter/

1 hour ago, edwardandtubs said:

You guys are doing the DIY thing all wrong. You're looking at a weak fan and a crap HEPA filter. You need a strong fan and a decent HEPA filter. Ignore all the other gimmicks like activated charcoal. You need to be sure that you're getting a very high quality HEPA filter. The fan that I posted earlier works really well with the smart air filters.

As I just mentioned above, at least here where I live in BKK, if I put up a solo HEPA filter with no prefilter to handle air being sucked into my home from outside, the HEPA filter would get clogged up with gunk in no time. Same thing already happens to the window fan blades of the style SFOKevin posted above. If I run them even sporadically for a week, by the end of the week, they're all coated with wads of black gunk. I'd be ruining an expensive HEPA filter in no time, and for no good reason when a less expensive carbon prefilter would catch the majority of that gunk and keep the HEPA filter clean and functioning.

33 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

On a similar view of the DIY... I want to design a system that draws air from the outside of the house thru a hepa filter to give the house a positive inside air pressure so all the air gaps that I have on the numerous sliding doors (All new but with no rubber seal to speak of) and the gaps I know I have in the dozens of pots lights in the ceiling thruout the house... I’m thinking of using a standard exhaust fan from HomePro that would be installed in a wood box that also has a filter in it that could be mounted on a hole in an outside wall sucking air from the outside in thru the filter...

 

https://www.homepro.co.th/product/1008018

 

 

Funny you should mention that. I've got two of those installed at either end of my main living area (front and back), both reversible in and out flow. Long before I got into the air pollution thing, I was hoping to use them for ventilation and to save on air con. But in both cases, whether blowing in or out, the Toshiba model I have seems to let some mosquitoes inside, which I want to avoid, because of the way the units are designed.

However, LATELY, I've been thinking in the same vein about trying a Filtrete sheet on a firm prefilter plastic kind of thing, or even a HEPA filter box, to both filter the air AND keep the mozzies out. But I know if I put up a HEPA filter alone, HEPA filters being invariably expensive, that it's going to get clogged with gunk within a week. And I'm not shelling out 700-800 baht a week for new HEPA filters. So I'd pretty much have to combine the HEPA with a carbon prefilter sheet to take the majority of the airborne gunk.

I've been toying with that notion, alongside the fan notion. In either project, the HEPA filter and carbon prefilter I'd be using probably could be used either way.

BTW, the fan diameter of those wall/window fans is even smaller than the Hatari cyclone fan I mentioned above.