Air Purification Devices

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Now that the toxic air season is upon us, I was curious what people use for air purification.

Ionizers? filteration? those water refresher things I see for sale? plants?

where is a good place to buy such devices?

[Norman d'Plume]

Face mask - 24 hours per day!

[markuk]

Now that the toxic air season is upon us, I was curious what people use for air purification.

Ionizers? filteration? those water refresher things I see for sale? plants?

where is a good place to buy such devices?

i have never used anything- is there a noticable difference?

[sabaijai]

I suppose running air-con helps, assuming the filters are clean. I don't use it myself, not at home at least.

As usual the Internet has lots of conflicting info about ionisers, ozone generators, electrostatic filters, etc. Read this before you invest too much:

Do Ozone Generators Work?

[lopburi3]

Other than remove yourself using a good filter on your air conditioner can help to some extent. The 3M brand Filtrete is sold in hardware and Lotus type stores. Costs about 200-300 baht but is usable for a few months and will also help keep the dirt out of the air conditioner.

There are power filters sold in hardware type places and perhaps Lotus for those rooms without air conditioner or to add to the filtration. Just be sure you can buy extra filters for whatever model you purchase. Getting parts in Thailand can be a real pain.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

From personal experience Ionizers work really well. Back in the day I would grow some marijuana in the states for personal use and the distinctive smell is your worst enemy. A good ionizer would knock the smell out faster than the filters. In truth I used a homemade carbon filter for exhaust air which often left the area too quickly to be affected by the ionizer. The combination made it smell free. My point here is that if an Ionizer can knock such a strong smell out of the air quickly then its doing something worthwhile and it it does it for a lot less energy and noise and without expensive filters.

Anyone know where in CM to buy them. decent quality and decent prices?

[lopburi3]

Ion type units (good ones) indeed do work but make a real mess out of any room you use them in as the dust has to go somewhere and most of it attaches to wall/lamps and everything else in the room. If you have ceramic tile walls it might be good but otherwise I would so with active fan filters of some kind - be it HEPA or electrostatic types.

[sylviex]

It's time to change the air-con filters. They used to be available at Tops/Kad Suan Kaew, but not - it seems - any longer.

Any suggestions for stores where they can be found ? Best types/brands ?

Thanks.

[sylviex]

It's time to change the air-con filters. They used to be available at Tops/Kad Suan Kaew, but not - it seems - any longer.

Any suggestions for stores where they can be found ? Best types/brands ?

Thanks.

Nobody knows where air-con filters might be found ?

[meadish_sweetball]

Hardware dealers like Niyom Panich and Siam TV ought to have some filters in stock, maybe Home Pro as well, or even Carrefour.

Just guessing though.

[Rasseru]

I am aware that the previous post on this thread was made just over a year ago, but by subject matter it is a good place for me to give this report.

I decided this year to try to find an air purification device that would let me breathe clean air in my home during the annual period of poor air quality in Chiangmai.

I started by doing some research on air purifiers. My research was not even close to exhaustive, but I'm comfortable it was enough to let me make some reasonably well-educated decisions. I am not going to run through all of that here, but I thought it might be useful to some if I reported briefly the outcome, with enough information for others to follow up if they wish.

I bought a free-standing room air purifier by a Swiss company called IQ Air, in part because their products were rated quite highly by Consumer Reports in the United States.

Finding a place to buy one in Thailand was not hard. I simply found IQ Air's website (iqair dot com) and sent an inquiry to them through a spot they provide for finding out the nearest dealer to where one is located. I recommend that anyone interested do the same.

The next day I received an email from IQ Air telling me about their sole Thai importer/dealer, located in Bangkok. I also received, the same day, both an email and a telephone call from that same dealer. They were competent and helpful throughout the process, emailing me information about the different models they carry and so on. I picked the one I wanted, deposited the purchase price in their bank account last Thursday and received the device today, mailed to me, as arranged, for pick up at my local post office.

The dealer also carries replacement filters. Although they last more than a year when used daily (and I'll be using the device for only a couple months of the year, so the filters will last that much longer), I decided to go ahead and order a couple of replacement filters now.

Happy breathing.

[earlofwindermere]

Based on your research, what is the cost for a typical (and good) air purifier? The only ones that I have seen are the Amway ones that my neighbour keeps showing me. She tells me that they're 40 000 baht retail but she can give me a "discount."

[Rasseru]

Based on your research, what is the cost for a typical (and good) air purifier? The only ones that I have seen are the Amway ones that my neighbour keeps showing me. She tells me that they're 40 000 baht retail but she can give me a "discount."

I focused first and foremost on finding a good air purifier. When I found one that I thought was very good, and then found that I could get it here, I bought it. I don't know much about what others cost. The IQ Air model I bought, the HealthPro 150, was about 42 500 baht. I have also seen an air purifier for sale at Power Buy for 30 some thousand baht, but although it was advertised as great, I couldn't find any back up for its claims to greatness.

[ChiangMaiFun]

I think Ionisers are excellent - I have trawled round the shops but never found one that didnt also have a fan - I dont need the fan part just the Ioniser. Of course there is a small internal fan but the ones I found had the huge fans which could not be disabled. I will get one back in Blightly and bring it here - if someone imported some I think they would sell well...

[Rasseru]

I think Ionisers are excellent . . .

At an early stage of my research I came across some information about ionisers that caused me to decide that a good filtration system would be much better for me. I cannot recall now what the problem with ionisers was (and am not going to go back now to try to figure out again what it was), but I would recommend that anyone considering getting an air purification system of some kind look closely at ionisation, as an approach, before deciding what kind of system to buy.

[Ulysses G.]

Ionizers are supposed to recreate the feeling of being close to a waterfall or running water and make you happier. Many expats would not enjoy this feeling, especially with Songkran coming up so soon.

[Rasseru]

Ionizers are supposed to recreate the feeling of being close to a waterfall or running water and make you happier. Many expats would not enjoy this feeling, especially with Songkran coming up so soon.

Mmmmmm . . . no . . . . no, that was definitely not the reason I had . . .

[ThaiPauly]

Based on your research, what is the cost for a typical (and good) air purifier? The only ones that I have seen are the Amway ones that my neighbour keeps showing me. She tells me that they're 40 000 baht retail but she can give me a "discount."

She is not wrong about the price, its about what we paid ...and they really work very well.

[sleepyjohn]

Sorry even after searching for air filters in the forum I missed this thread and posted nearby asking for sources of high quality 4 inch deep HEPA filter cartridges in Thailand (pref CM).

I presume this is what's used for regular replacements in the good air purifiers mentioned here.

Can anyone help with sources/prices/sizes?

cheers

Edited March 31, 2009 by sleepyjohn

[Rasseru]

Hello sleepyjohn. I saw your PM to me before your post on this thread, and answered you directly.