Hatari Air Purifier (HT-AP12) - fan speed for 24 hour running?

[edwardandtubs]

Good write-up. I see from the manual that it uses a Plantower laser sensor, which is good as that's the one that more expensive and better known brands use. I might buy one myself.

Edited March 22, 2018 by edwardandtubs

[ChidlomDweller]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

What have I been breathing all these years!!!

That was my reaction when I got a purifier about a year ago.  Once you have one, there's no going back.  Even when the air is back in the moderate range, why wouldn't you want to breathe super clean air instead? 

 

Your reading of inside vs. outside air confirms what I read elsewhere that there's not much difference.  That being the case, the standard advice of remaining indoors is quite ineffectual.  As an extra check, it would be interesting to compare the inside air without purifier to outside our on your balcony (as opposed to the Chula measurement station).  Probably a similar outcome, but that way you factor out calibration issues.

Edited March 22, 2018 by ChidlomDweller

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

50 minutes ago, ChidlomDweller said:

That was my reaction when I got a purifier about a year ago.  Once you have one, there's no going back.  Even when the air is back in the moderate range, why wouldn't you want to breathe super clean air instead? 

 

The difference almost makes me wanna say, not going to go outside. Just want to stay inside and enjoy fresh clean air!!!  Half joking, half not!

 

Quote

 

Your reading of inside vs. outside air confirms what I read elsewhere that there's not much difference.  That being the case, the standard advice of remaining indoors is quite ineffectual.  As an extra check, it would be interesting to compare the inside air without purifier to outside our on your balcony (as opposed to the Chula measurement station).  Probably a similar outcome, but that way you factor out calibration issues.

 

Couple things on that.

 

1. The Sndway PM2.5 sensor I got doesn't have any kind of calibration method or instructions. So I don't think that's required or involved in using that particular device.  But I have read with these kinds of sensors, that if they start acting up after some period of time, one remedy is to take a compressed air can and blow a few squirts into the sensor's air openings to clear out any accumulated dust, etc.

 

2. I got quite a surprise tonight when I moved my new PM2.5 sensor into the bedroom after being in the living room all day.  Wednesday night, before my sensor arrived in the mail Thurs afternoon, I ran my new Sharp air purifier on medium all night and up thru mid-morning today in the closed bedroom. But I had no sensor then to measure PM2.5 and the Sharp unit itself doesn't have any built-in sensor. So I had no way of knowing what the filtered air readings were from having run the Sharp unit.

 

Then tonight, at about 10:30 pm after having the 18 sq mt. bedroom closed up all day -- no windows open and no one coming in or out except a time or two -- I moved the PM2.5 sensor into the bedroom and set it up, expecting to get a similar 30 something reading like I got in the living room mid afternoon. But no, the initial reading in the bedroom was 8 mcg. I couldn't believe it, so I turned the unit off, waited a bit, and then turned it back on, and it still came back on bouncing between 8 and 10 mcg -- in a closed room that hadn't had any air purifier running for the prior 12 hours.

 

At that point, I turned on the Sharp air purifier on medium, and within 20 minutes, the sensor in the bedroom was then reading an even lower 4-5 mcg -- which was pretty consistent with the best filtered air reading I had gotten in the much larger living room throughout the afternoon and evening from the Honeywell air purifier.

 

So what I found surprising and remarkable about that was, after a night of having had the Sharp air purifier running in the bedroom and then shut off in the morning, with the bedroom left closed and unoccupied for the remainder of the day, that the PM2.5 reading 12 hours later was still only 8-10 mcg. Which kind of suggests at least in my building, I may not need to leave the purifier running all day and all night. Just turn it on long enough to bring the levels down, and then if there's not a lot of in and out activity, those filtered levels would seem to be able to hold for quite a while.

 

BTW, the comparative reading outside at 8 pm from the nearest Chula Hospital monitoring station was 42 mcg / 117 AQI, unhealthy for sensitive people. So it's not like the ambient outside air suddenly/ somehow got better moving later into the evening. In fact, it got worse into the evening...

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[edwardandtubs]

10 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The difference almost makes me wanna say, not going to go outside. Just want to stay inside and enjoy fresh clean air!!!  Half joking, half not!

 

 

Couple things on that.

 

1. The Sndway PM2.5 sensor I got doesn't have any kind of calibration method or instructions. So I don't think that's required or involved in using that particular device.  But I have read with these kinds of sensors, that if they start acting up after some period of time, one remedy is to take a compressed air can and blow a few squirts into the sensor's air openings to clear out any accumulated dust, etc.

 

2. I got quite a surprise tonight when I moved my new PM2.5 sensor into the bedroom after being in the living room all day.  Wednesday night, before my sensor arrived in the mail Thurs afternoon, I ran my new Sharp air purifier on medium all night and up thru mid-morning today in the closed bedroom. But I had no sensor then to measure PM2.5 and the Sharp unit itself doesn't have any built-in sensor. So I had no way of knowing what the filtered air readings were from having run the Sharp unit.

 

Then tonight, at about 10:30 pm after having the 18 sq mt. bedroom closed up all day -- no windows open and no one coming in or out except a time or two -- I moved the PM2.5 sensor into the bedroom and set it up, expecting to get a similar 30 something reading like I got in the living room mid afternoon. But no, the initial reading in the bedroom was 8 mcg. I couldn't believe it, so I turned the unit off, waited a bit, and then turned it back on, and it still came back on bouncing between 8 and 10 mcg -- in a closed room that hadn't had any air purifier running for the prior 12 hours.

 

At that point, I turned on the Sharp air purifier on medium, and within 20 minutes, the sensor in the bedroom was then reading an even lower 4-5 mcg -- which was pretty consistent with the best filtered air reading I had gotten in the much larger living room throughout the afternoon and evening from the Honeywell air purifier.

 

So what I found surprising and remarkable about that was, after a night of having had the Sharp air purifier running in the bedroom and then shut off in the morning, with the bedroom left closed and unoccupied for the remainder of the day, that the PM2.5 reading 12 hours later was still only 8-10 mcg. Which kind of suggests at least in my building, I may not need to leave the purifier running all day and all night. Just turn it on long enough to bring the levels down, and then if there's not a lot of in and out activity, those filtered levels would seem to be able to hold for quite a while.

 

BTW, the comparative reading outside at 8 pm from the nearest Chula Hospital monitoring station was 42 mcg / 117 AQI, unhealthy for sensitive people. So it's not like the ambient outside air suddenly/ somehow got better moving later into the evening. In fact, it got worse into the evening...

 

 

 

I think you need to do more testing. In a normal room half the air will be replaced by outside air every hour so I don't think the low reading had anything to do with you running the air purifier in the morning. The more likely explanation is that the clean air from the living room was finding its way into your bedroom.

[ChidlomDweller]

Does your window have a very tight seal?  

 

I remember seeing this Smartair graph where the PM2.5 shoots up in a half hour or so after switching the purifier off, but it would depend on the building of course.

 

Another thing is how isolated your bedroom is from your living room.  In my condo, even with the doors closed, if I run the air conditioning in one, it cools the air in the other room significantly as well.  

[ChidlomDweller]

1 minute ago, edwardandtubs said:

The more likely explanation is that the clean air from the living room was finding its way into your bedroom.

Yep, same as I was thinking.  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Dunno...

 

The living room and bedroom are separated by heavy concrete walls and a single solid wood door with pretty good seal all around, except for a small open area at the bottom.

 

If filtered air was flowing through the closed doorway from the bedroom (after having the purifier on all night) into the living room, I wouldn't have gotten a 32 mcg reading in the living room mid afternoon when I first turned on my sensor.  So I'm not sure why there'd be any likelihood of a reverse air flow going in the opposite direction into the bedroom.

 

But, I guess one way to see is to measure the air in my living room tomorrow morning after having had the living room air purifier off since 10:30 pm tonight -- and all the doors and windows closed in the living room. (Although, there are more windows and doors to the outside in the living room, so probably a greater likelihood of outside air infiltration into the living room compared to the bedroom.

 

Either way, I'll measure the living room in the morning and report back.

Edited March 22, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

28 minutes ago, ChidlomDweller said:

 

I remember seeing this Smartair graph where the PM2.5 shoots up in a half hour or so after switching the purifier off, but it would depend on the building of course.

 

I asked that very question earlier in this thread, and ThaiJames answered, saying he suspected 1-2 hours if the pollution outside was bad. Of course, right now in BKK, it's so-so, but no really bad outside.

 

Quote

28 minutes ago, ChidlomDweller said:

Another thing is how isolated your bedroom is from your living room.  In my condo, even with the doors closed, if I run the air conditioning in one, it cools the air in the other room significantly as well.  

 

 

In my home, I can run the air con in the living room all day and night, and if the door to the bedroom is closed, the bedroom won't get any cooling at all. It's an older building with heavy, thick walls.

 

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[baywatch82]

My Hatari air purifier has a common "sparkling" problem. Thinking of taking it back to Homepro. Anyone had the same problem ? I see on internet it is quite common problem. I am worried it will burn my house some day.

[ChidlomDweller]

In my building it's the rather wide gaps around the connecting door, and I suspect also the aircon system.  Either way, nice to see it confirmed that this stuff really is effective.

[ChidlomDweller]

9 minutes ago, baywatch82 said:

My Hatari air purifier has a common "sparkling" problem. Thinking of taking it back to Homepro. Anyone had the same problem ? I see on internet it is quite common problem. I am worried it will burn my house some day.

That would be bad.  PM2.5 off the charts!

 

But seriously, I'd get that looked at ASAP.  Could be sparks flying from a bad insulation somewhere.

Edited March 23, 2018 by ChidlomDweller

[ExpatOilWorker]

16 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

WOW!!!

 

Got out my Honeywell 50250, set it up in my living room, and turned it on Medium at 5:15 pm, with my PM2.5 sensor showing about 32 micrograms indoors. The Honeywell unit is rated for rooms up to 390 sq. ft., and my living room/kitchen is about 430 sq. ft. with lots of not very tightly sealed windows (old Thai style window frames).

 

After 35 mins at 5:40 pm, the reading was down to 10 mcg.

After 45 mins at 6 pm, the reading was down to 5 mcg.

At 1 hour, it was still at 5 mcg, but had bounced down to 4 periodically.

 

32 mcg vs 5 mcg in less than a hour. That's a big difference.

 

Yikes!  What have I been breathing all these years!!!

 

 

Since you have a reliable sensor, could you do another test, but only running the aircon in the cooling mode (Honeywell filter off).

If possible with a similar 32 mg/m3 PM2.5 starting point. It would be interesting to see how effective the wet coils of the aircon acts as a scrubber filter.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

A bit of a morning update since last night:

 

It certainly appears that my bedroom is much more air insulated that my living room, which has significantly more windows, doors, a refrigerator, etc.

 

Last night, in my bedroom with everything closed up and the air con running, I used the Sharp purifier to get the PM2.5 levels down to 1 to 2 mcg as of midnight. Then, I turned off the purifier, kept the air con running and monitored the subsequent sensor readings:

1 am -- 2-3 mcg

2 am -- 5 mcg

3 am -- 4-5 mcg

4 am -- 5 mcg

10:30 am -- 15 mcg

So, in my book, that's pretty good and suggests I don't need to be continuously running the Sharp unit in the bedroom.

 

But then it came time to move the sensor in the living room, where I had turned off the Honeywell air purifier around midnight and left everything closed and empty, with the sensor's last reading there around 5 mcg.

 

Brought sensor into the living room this morning, and almost immediately once I walked out of the bedroom and into the living room, the sensor jumped to and stayed right around 45 mcg. 45!!!

 

So I thought, what the heck's going on? So I then checked my local Chula Hospital BKK outdoor monitoring station, where the latest reading as of 9 am shows an AQI of 142, which translates into 52 mcg, which is the very high end of unhealthy for sensitive group. And a reading about 7 mcg higher than the morning ambient air reading in my living room after a night of no filtration.

 

 

Bottom line: my bedroom does appear to be quite resistant to outside air infiltration, and maintained its good / low mcg readings for many hours after my bedroom air purifier was shut off, even up to 10 hours later.  But the living room, not so much, with the indoor readings after an overnight of no filtration almost as bad as the outdoor air, basically, as if, I hadn't been using a purifier at all.

 

Needless to say, the Honeywell purifier is back on in the living room now, and after running about a half hour on medium, the sensor reading in the living room is back down to 14 mcg.

 

Edited March 23, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Since you have a reliable sensor, could you do another test, but only running the aircon in the cooling mode (Honeywell filter off).

If possible with a similar 32 mg/m3 PM2.5 starting point. It would be interesting to see how effective the wet coils of the aircon acts as a scrubber filter.

 

I've got an old floor standing AC in the living room, and even though I have Filtrete sheets installed over its own filters that are at shoe level, I don't think its making much difference in the air quality of the room. The 32 mcg reading I got yesterday in the living room once my sensor arrived in the mail, and I turned it on, was AFTER the air con in my living room had been running for several hours since noon or so.

 

I got 45 mcg this morning about 10:30 am after having both the air con and air purifier in the living room shut off over night. But the outside air is considerably worse right now compared to what it was at midnight last night.

 

I think a better test of what you're asking about would be to try that test in my bedroom, where I have a wall, near ceiling mounted modern Mitsubishi air con with modern screen filters and Filtrete sheets installed over them. I'll give that a test in the bedroom (nothing vs air con alone with just Filtrete sheets) and see what happens.

 

[sfokevin]

^^^ I would be looking for places of air infiltration in the living room... door jams and ceiling pots lights in the ceiling are the usual suspects... I would also roccomend you get a timer to turn the air purifier on and hour before you ge5 up... (many air purifiers are electronic and can’t use a wall socket timer - That’s why I switched the Xaiomi... ) or just leave the air purifier on all night on a low setting - It should use too much electricity on that setting...

 

Btw... Diaso sells rolls of self adhesive foam weather stripping cheaply...

Edited March 23, 2018 by sfokevin

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Still trying to get a feel for how the Sharp unit in the bedroom performs in a room that's pretty well matched to its rated size/output.

 

After leaving the purifier off thru the night and until about 10:30 am this morning, I found a bedroom reading of 15 mcg.

 

Turned the Sharp unit on, and let it run in the bedroom for an hour on medium, which brought the sensor reading down to 10 mcg, and it seemed to pretty much be staying there even beyond an hour.

 

So at that point, I turned up the Sharp unit to have its fan on maximum, and let it run for another hour plus in the closed bedroom, which brought the sensor levels down to 5 - 6 mcg, where they appear to be staying now at two hours runtime in that mode. Nothing below very brief drops to 4 mcg.

 

Last night around midnight, the Sharp unit got my bedroom down to 1 - 2 mcg while running on medium fan. But the outside air was better than, about 120 AQI or less. Midday today, the outside air is around AQI 134 or about 49 mcg. And the bedrooms seems to be staying at 5 - 6 mcg with the Sharp unit on high.

 

For me, the indoor target goal is to stay below 12 or so mcg, which is the top limit of the "Good" air quality category that has a maximum AQI level of 50.

 

Guess I still need to find out what my Sharp purifier is going to be able to do in the bedroom when the outside air gets into the red/unhealthy category of AQI 151+ or 55 mcg and above  -- though the outdoor numbers got close to that terrain earlier today when they peaked around 9 am at 142 AQI / 52 mcg before dropping some later into the day.

 

So I'm expecting based on what I've seen thus far, that the Sharp unit on high fan should be able to keep my bedroom below the 12 mcg level (meaning maintain "good" air quality -- even if/when the outdoor air levels get well into the red / unhealthy terrain.

 

Edited March 23, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[llp]

 

got a new pm2.5 sensor that also uses the higher quality planttower laser sensor

http://aqicn.org/sensor/pms5003-7003/

its the PMS 5003 version (known as M5), which can register count of each PM size, an upgrade the M3 version which I see some sensors use.  M7 is the newest/best.

 

Verdict: Hatari air filter is close to a true filter and can  register low single digits PM levels.  Assume you have a good seal in the room, Hatari unit can bring the levels down to that level.  If you don't have a good seal it will be a fight of how good your seal is very size of room and filter fan speed.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

32 minutes ago, llp said:

 

got a new pm2.5 sensor that also uses the higher quality planttower laser sensor

 

 

You wanna post a link for where you purchased that model from?

 

Also from the photo, are you positioning that sensor right at the air outlets of your air purifier? That's what it looks like.

Edited March 23, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[llp]

The sensor is on the top of the unit which has a small intake fan, so I positioned the sensor perpendicular, so it can draw in clean air but not effected directly by the airflow. If I rotate the unit so the sensor is upright, the reading will be a couple digits higher.  If I have the unit upside with the sensor directly under the Hatari outlet, I'll get ~1 digit lower reading.

 

The other unit that a previous poster posted has plant tower laser sensor as well so it should be just as accurate.

 

Its from taobao so you would need a shipping forwarder to obtain it as they don't ship worldwide, the url is on the device picture, https://wclh.taobao.com/  there are some resellers on aliexpress that buy from taobao and resell for higher price, and might sell both the M3 and M5 model, and ship to Thailand.  

 

The model I have has PM+formaldehyde +CO2+VOC +humidity +temperature + export data logging USB

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

For those with air purifiers and sensors...  I was getting tired, and muddled, with constantly having to try and remember how different PM2.5 microgram readings on my sensor translated into Good / Moderate / Unhealthy for Sensitive / Unhealthy for All, etc. readings on the AQI scale.

 

So last night, I doctored one of the AQI charts to include the corresponding PM2.5 microgram readings, hopefully making it a little easier to interpret the sensors' microgram readings.

 

 

 

 

[hobz]

I got this one delivered today.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/-i116781007-s121289054.html?spm=a2o4m.order_details.list_image.1.1a6b61081tAQ3Y&urlFlag=true&mp=1

 

To my suprise it contains a PM2.5 detector!

Also to my suprise the air quality in my house was already good!

Below 50 PM2.5 .. Bedroom had only around 20! 

 

So ofcourse now I'm happy and disappointed at the same time.. Maybe I didn't need this air purifier after all... oh well... can't hurt!

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

58 minutes ago, hobz said:

I got this one delivered today.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/-i116781007-s121289054.html?spm=a2o4m.order_details.list_image.1.1a6b61081tAQ3Y&urlFlag=true&mp=1

 

To my suprise it contains a PM2.5 detector!

Also to my suprise the air quality in my house was already good!

Below 50 PM2.5 .. Bedroom had only around 20! 

 

So ofcourse now I'm happy and disappointed at the same time.. Maybe I didn't need this air purifier after all... oh well... can't hurt!

 

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but neither 50 nor 20 micrograms of PM2.5 is considered "good".  See the color coded chart I posted above with the PM2.5 levels in micrograms added into the AQI chart.

 

20 micrograms is midway into the moderate/yellow air quality level. 50 micrograms or close to it is at the high end of the orange unhealthy for sensitive persons category. 56 and above gets you into the Unhealthy for All / red category.

 

Ideally, you'd want your indoor air to be in the green/good category at 12 micrograms or less -- which is equal to 50 or less on the AQI scale.

 

Edited March 24, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[hobz]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but neither 50 nor 20 micrograms of PM2.5 is considered "good".  See the color coded chart I posted above with the PM2.5 levels in micrograms added into the AQI chart.

 

20 micrograms is midway into the moderate/yellow air quality level. 50 micrograms or close to it is at the high end of the orange unhealthy for sensitive persons category.

 

Ideally, you'd want your indoor air to be in the green/good category at 12 micrograms or less.

 

Ok, cool!

 

It's been running for a couple of hours now and the indicator says PM2.5 is at 5 now! 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, hobz said:

Ok, cool!

 

It's been running for a couple of hours now and the indicator says PM2.5 is at 5 now! 

 

 

5 micrograms is SWEET!!!   Keep it there!

 

I've never heard or seen of the Gruenluft brand of air purifiers before. But I did notice one thing -- I went thru the entire Lazada catalog last night of air purifier accessories, and Gruenluft thru the retailer on Lazada you bought from was pretty much the only one that also sold the corresponding replacement HEPA and charcoal filters on Lazada.

 

Other air purifier brands that are sold on Lazada including the big name ones like Sharp and Toshiba and others -- virtually no replacement filters for those units available via Lazada. So kudos to the Siriwan company on Lazada for both selling the air purifier AND the replacement filters to go with it.

 

 

[hobz]

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

5 micrograms is SWEET!!!   Keep it there!

 

I've never heard or seen of the Gruenluft brand of air purifiers before. But I did notice one thing -- I went thru the entire Lazada catalog last night of air purifier accessories, and Gruenluft thru the retailer on Lazada you bought from was pretty much the only one that also sold the corresponding replacement HEPA and charcoal filters on Lazada.

 

Other air purifier brands that are sold on Lazada including the big name ones like Sharp and Toshiba and others -- virtually no replacement filters for those units available via Lazada. So kudos to the Siriwan company on Lazada for both selling the air purifier AND the replacement filters to go with it.

 

 

Yes, They do have the replacement filters on lazada...  But I'm still worried that if the seller on lazada stops selling the filters I have not been able to find them anywhere else!! So I already ordered one set of extra filters and I will keep stocking more if I see that this machine is working out.

 

I had to remove the filters and remove the plastic wrappers before putting them in place and starting the machine.  So I can already tell that It would be pretty easy to fit a random HEPA filter in there... Just need something that can be cut to the right dimensions.. It's square and there's no weird hinges or stuff... so should be pretty easy if I cant find the real ones... 

 

Another thing about gruenlift.. It's german engineering manufactured in China ... You can tell it's german engineering... It's very fool proof... Good manual,,, impossible to start without opening the box and remove the plastic of the filters as the power cord was tucked inside there... smart way to prevent idiots from just opening the box and plugging it in while the filters are wrapped in plastic inside and destroying the fan... 

 

so far i'm impressed.. it also has indicators for each filter when they need replacement...not sure how the hell that can work.. but ok... :D

Edited March 24, 2018 by hobz

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yep, that's what I thought of too when I saw them on Lazada... What happens to you in Thailand if you buy from that Thai company, and then poof, they disappear one day, as is not uncommon with small Thai retailers. Would be interested to know if filters for that particular machine can be had elsewhere for import to Thailand.

 

BTW, it's normal for the HEPA filters to come sealed in plastic, as it protects them from getting dirty/dusty before they reach you. You always need to remove the plastic seal/wrapper before inserting them for use in the air purifier.

 

As for cutting another brand air filter, I'm not sure that really is going to work with a HEPA filter. Because, it's critical to keep a solid seal around the exterior of the filter where it adjoins the frame of the air purifier unit. And once you start cutting into a different HEPA filter to resize it, I think the cut edge is going to tend to lose its air seal capability. Then the air simply starts bypassing the filter and going straight out the unit's blower...at least...to some extent.

 

If I had to go that route for some reason, I'd probably look for a slightly smaller HEPA filter that I could keep physically intact, and then look to use something else to seal the extra space between the filter and the frame of the air purifier.

 

PS - What's the recommended replacement cycle for the Gruenluft HEPA filters?  For the charcoal pre-filters in general, they usually have a 3 month recommendation.

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[hobz]

25 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Yep, that's what I thought of too when I saw them on Lazada... What happens to you in Thailand if you buy from that Thai company, and then poof, they disappear one day, as is not uncommon with small Thai retailers. Would be interested to know if filters for that particular machine can be had elsewhere for import to Thailand.

 

BTW, it's normal for the HEPA filters to come sealed in plastic, as it protects them from getting dirty/dusty before they reach you. You always need to remove the plastic seal/wrapper before inserting them for use in the air purifier.

 

As for cutting another brand air filter, I'm not sure that really is going to work with a HEPA filter. Because, it's critical to keep a solid seal around the exterior of the filter where it adjoins the frame of the air purifier unit. And once you start cutting into a different HEPA filter to resize it, I think the cut edge is going to tend to lose its air seal capability. Then the air simply starts bypassing the filter and going straight out the unit's blower...at least...to some extent.

 

If I had to go that route for some reason, I'd probably look for a slightly smaller HEPA filter that I could keep physically intact, and then look to use something else to seal the extra space between the filter and the frame of the air purifier.

 

PS - What's the recommended replacement cycle for the Gruenluft HEPA filters?  For the charcoal pre-filters in general, they usually have a 3 month recommendation.

 

 

 

 

Ok, makes sense about not cutting HEPA and super smart to buy a smaller one and sealing the sides with some foam perhaps.

 

Cycles for filters, they recommend:

 

- cleaning the pre-filter every month. (it doesn't need to be replaced.)

- replace charcoal filter every 3 months

- replace activated carbon filter every 6 months

- replace HEPA filter every 6 months

 

And I also noticed that the filter replacement lights are actually just timers based on this.. when you replace the filters you need to reset the timers... so nothing advanced there :D

 

ps. I noticed 3 potential problems so far with the machine.

 

1. When unplugging the machine and pluggin it back in again it doesn't automatically start. This means that if there is a short outage that is super common in Thailand it will turn off the machine. And then you need to push the button or the remote to turn it back on.

 

2. It starts with the ionizer turned on by default. Not sure if this is a problem..? 

 

3. The remote is completely dead. Someone on lazada says to replace the battery. I will go to 7/11 later and buy a new battery and report back.

 

 

This is with air con running at full speed in the same room.

Edited March 24, 2018 by hobz
attached image

[hobz]

And here's when girlfriends mom just burned some spices in the kitchen when cooking spicy thai food...

 

Everyone in the house is coughing... now... the machine can't clean it out fast enough.... it's been showing pm 2.5 over 300 for a while now...

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, hobz said:

Everyone in the house is coughing... now... the machine can't clean it out fast enough.... it's been showing pm 2.5 over 300 for a while now...

 

Your last photo, there's no LCD display at all on the machine where it should show micrograms of PM2.5..

 

Did your girlfriend's mom blow the machine off the scale???

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, hobz said:

 

Ok, makes sense about not cutting HEPA and super smart to buy a smaller one and sealing the sides with some foam perhaps.

 

Whatever you use, you want it to enable an air tight seal, or as close as possible to it, between the edge of the filter and the frame of the unit.

 

3 hours ago, hobz said:

Cycles for filters, they recommend:

 

- cleaning the pre-filter every month. (it doesn't need to be replaced.)

- replace charcoal filter every 3 months

- replace activated carbon filter every 6 months

- replace HEPA filter every 6 months

 

And I also noticed that the filter replacement lights are actually just timers based on this.. when you replace the filters you need to reset the timers... so nothing advanced there :D

I think everyone should take the filter replacement schedules as just a guideline, particularly regarding the HEPA filters.

 

On the one hand, you don't want to run the filters past their good life cycle. But with PM2.5, if your HEPA filter is clogged up, your sensor is going to show you're not getting the levels down. And so that would be one clear indication.

 

On the other hand, just an example, I was reading the instructions for one purifier the other day that said the recommended life cycle for its filters was based on usage that assumed running it 24 hours a day and in a house where someone was smoking 5 cigarettes per day. Well, at least in my house, no one smokes, and at most we only run either the living room or bedroom filter say 12 hours a day. So we're not getting nearly the demand on our units that perhaps manufacturers assume we might.

 

Carbon pre-filters, though, I think are a little bit different, in that the deodorizing properties of the carbon tend to break down with time. So I've read that even if you're not using a purifier too much, it's still good to put in new carbon pre-filters every 3 months or so.

 

3 hours ago, hobz said:

 

ps. I noticed 3 potential problems so far with the machine.

 

1. When unplugging the machine and pluggin it back in again it doesn't automatically start. This means that if there is a short outage that is super common in Thailand it will turn off the machine. And then you need to push the button or the remote to turn it back on.

 

2. It starts with the ionizer turned on by default. Not sure if this is a problem..? 

 

3. The remote is completely dead. Someone on lazada says to replace the battery. I will go to 7/11 later and buy a new battery and report back. This is with air con running at full speed in the same room.

 

I've read about the auto-on feature in the event of a power cut in other models too, and was a bit mystified why that's a feature that a manufacturer would be bragging about.

 

I only see two scenarios in that case:  1. I'm home, and I turn the purifier back on when the power comes back on, or 2. I'm not home, and I'm not running the purifier anyway when I'm out of the house. So I can't quite figure out, what's the big appeal of that feature.

 

About the ionizer, the one issue you have to be careful about is the potential for the machine to create ozone when operating in that mode. Ozone is a gas that will irritate and cause other problems for one's respiratory system in high enough levels. I think the recommended limit is 0.05 ppm of ozone. The ionizing feature on my Sharp unit claims it produces 0.01 ppm of ozone when the ionizer is running. But in my case, the ionizer only comes on when I switch it on. And I've yet to switch it on. (Meaning, it's off by default on my Sharp machine).