Why and How to Choose an Indoor Air Purifier

I never gave any thought to my indoor air. I lived with a heavy smoker for 21 years and had a house full of pets (six dogs, six cats). My husband, the smoker, died, and I, a lifelong non-smoker, was not exposed to second hand smoke very much anymore. But nine months after my husband's death I was rushed to the emergency room with a pulmonary embolism and was told that being a second-hand smoker for so long was a major contributing factor. I was also told that it was a miracle that I survived this, as younger and healthier people dropped dead with less damage to their lungs than my emboli had caused my lungs. A local news crew interviewed me, as pulmonary embolism was a fashionable problem at the time, and I could be seen on the 5 PM and 10 PM news. I was advised to get rid of my animals as my lungs' capacity was quite diminished and I should be very protective of what goes in them from now on. That was when my education about indoor air quality and indoor air pollution began because there was no way I was going to let go of my animals.

Back home from the hospital on sick leave I began to search the internet. I learned things about indoor air pollution I wish I never knew. Just reading all this information made my lungs hurt. Our indoor air can be five to ten times more polluted than outdoor air - even in highly polluted large cities like Los Angeles. We spend 90% of our lives indoors, and because of energy costs build air tight homes and offices to keep the cold inside during summer and the heat inside during winter. In these air tight places, we breathe into our lungs our own dead skin cells we shed in their entirety every 28 days, the dust mites that eat them, their carcasses, feces, and body parts. Add to that dust, pollen, dander, smoke and mix in some mold and mildew. To complete this cocktail, envision the outgassing from our toxic building materials and our household cleaners and you have your typical home environment. And because I didn't have an air purifier, my lungs became the filter, filled with all this muck. The indoor air pollution didn't cause the pulmonary emboli, but my lungs were already compromised with all I was breathing in daily and nightly when the clots tore through them and scarred them and diminished their capacity forever. Since these are the only lungs I have and now compromised, and spare lungs are hard to come by, I better be extra protective of them from now on.

Because I decided to keep my animals, I selected to purchase an air purifier for my home. I had heard about the Ionic Breeze from the Sharper Image before, but haven't found someone who owned one that was extremely happy with it. Once I learned I needed one for every room in my home, I steered away from this product. I decided to search for someone who was an expert in this area to find a top of the line product, rather than most of the distributors who had tons of products to sell but weren't experts in any specific field. I also wanted a product that was made in the US and not China or Taiwan or Hong Kong. I found a company named EcoQuest International in Greeneville, TN that is a leading manufacturer of indoor air purifiers and manufactures them in Tennessee. They focus mainly on their air purification technology with only very few other products that all fall in line with clean and healthy indoor living. I decided to purchase the model called Breeze which was going to cover up to 2500sft, not just one room. It seemed different from most other air purifiers on the market in that is coveres an entire home, not just one room, and I was advised to place it up high, about six feet off the ground, and centrally located in my home on the level I spend most of my time on. It also didn't just remove particles from the air, but disinfected and freshened the air, without chemicals, filters, or covering up odors. It was said to actually remove the odors and toxins, not just add scents to the air, like the aerosols that are so popular (e.g. Lysol, Febreeze...) or plug-in oils.

When my purifier arrived I was still recovering from my pulmonary emboli. I was on sick leave at home and mostly resting in bed or on the couch. I walked around several times a day, inside and outside on the deck, but didn't have much energy and stamina. I was very excited about the purifier. It was November and getting cold outside. The doors and windows were mostly shut and with the animals in the house I had a smelly staleness going on. The first thing I noticed once the purifier was running for a while was the very distinct smell and feel of mountain fresh air that emanated from it. When I stood close to it I could take longer deeper breaths than before. Within 48 hours I was completely blown away - the enitire upper level of my home smelled clean and fresh. I could breathe like I hadn't in years. There was no more dust floating around in the air. The air was still and clean. When the dogs would shake, the cloud of dust, dander, and hair that usually grew bigger and bigger around them until it seemed to consume the entire area, moved only a few inches around them when it seemed mysteriously sucked to the ground and was gone. I was pleased and ecstatic. After those two days I noticed that my indoor space was completely clear, but there was tons of dust on my surfaces. This was the stuff that was floating in my indoor air before and now was forced out of the air. After we dusted and vacuumed and mopped the floors, we noticed much less dust on the surfaces than ever before. I purchased a second Breeze by EcoQuest for the downstairs where my son and daughter-in-law lived, both smokers. When I witnessed what this small purifier did with the smoke in the air and the icky smell lingering downstairs, I was even more impressed. After a few days, I couldn't even tell that I had smokers living downstairs. The purifier was that effective. We had kept the door at the top of the stairs closed since my pulmonary embolism to keep the smoke away from me, so I wasn't subjected to it upstairs anymore. But everytime I went downstairs for some reason (and which I had avoided lately), I smelled the terrible smell of cigarette smoke and ashes. Not anymore after we placed the Breeze downstairs.

Over time, I noticed a few other things, too. I had no more lingering cooking odors that seemed to hang around forever and stick to the furniture. If something got burned, like toast or bacon or popcorn, I didn't smell it forever anymore. The smell was gone in no time. I had some home improvements done that involved lots of sanding and painting. I had neither dust hanging around in the air, nor lingering paint odors. The little black specks of mold that would show up around the tub and on the shower curtain didn't come back. I later learned that this technology actually kills black mold.

By now, the company has much improved their air purifiers. The Breeze is old news and phased out. I have replaced my Breezes with the latest and greates model, the Fresh Air by EcoQuest. After experiencing what a great appliance the Breeze was, I was completely blown away by the Fresh Air. It looks much better and works faster and quieter. Its fresh air scent and distribution is faster yet more subtle. Independent scientific studies are now available on how effective this technology is not just in purifying indoor air, but also disinfecting surfaces - from odors, smoke and particles to mold, bird flu and staph.

By now it should be pretty apparent why one would want to buy an air purifier. With our indoor air environments the fact is that if you don't have an air purifier you are the air purifier. Our lungs aren't equipped to deal with all this particulate and toxic matter. Breathing it in daily compromises our immune system and makes it harder to fight off other problems. Asthma, allergies, and respiratory problems are on the rise and almost everybody had heard or read the term 'sick building syndrome' by now.

How to select an air purifier is actually pretty easy, too - in my opinion! My two main criteria were that it is to bring the most relief to my lungs possible and that it be made in the US. Some other criteria important to me are no filters or other replacement parts to buy, long warranty (the Fresh Air comes with a 3 year factory warranty), simple to take care of, and no chemicals or scented oils. I already knew that filter technology doesn't work too well - you can't ever force all your indoor air through a filter, filters can only catch a certain size of particle, and filters clog. Filter systems also don't treat your air, let alone any surfaces. Another fact I was aware of was that ionization can be pretty important, especially when unbalanced. I knew that certain winds (like the chinook winds) deplete the outside air of negative ions which can cause depression, suicide, and being error and accident prone. Our furnaces deplete our indoor air of negative ions. So I was quite open to ionization when searching for the right air purifier. Another topic I was aware of and somewhat knowlegeable about is ozone. I know ozone gets a bad reputation here in the US, but being born and raised in Germany, I was aware of ozone's health and well-being benefits all my life. In Europe, ozone is used for disinfection in public pools and food distribution and processing and is also used very successfully to treat burn and cancer patients. So I wasn't scared of ozone in air purification. Ozone is just as important and life sustaining to us as water. Being at the bottom of the ocean might be a bit too much water, but a glass of water in the desert is a very good thing. The same is true for ozone! So once I read that the EcoQuest air purifiers balance the ions indoors and can only create very low levels of ozone that are already mostly used up by the other processes inside the purifier before any air leaves the machine, I was completely at ease and assured the machine would be perfectly safe and healthy for me. Having EcoQuest air purifiers in my home and car for five years now, I am healthier than ever. I have had no negative experience with my air purifiers and have heard of no one who had any health problems or injuries caused by them.

There are a few companies who manufacture or distribute air purifiers that seem similar to the EcoQuest purifiers. Shaklee, Oreck, and Edenpure come to mind. But researching a little deeper, EcoQuest has the only technology that is purely nature-inspired, electronically recreating what mother nature does outdoors to remediate pollution. EcoQuest is also the only space certified air purification technology and was in part developed together with NASA and is used inside space craft today.

Being an aerospace engineer and computer scientist, researching the technical details came natural to me. But the true proof showed up with the purifier in my home and the benefits I have reaped ever since! I now travel with a portable air purifier on air planes and in hotel rooms. I wouldn't be without an air purifier anymore. I have only had a cold once since I have my air purifiers, and no more sinus infections. I was on allergy medication before and had two to five sinus infections every fall and winter season. Being off the allergy medicine and sinus infection free for five years now alone is absolutely wonderful. Together with all the other benefits I am completely certain that I chose the right indoor air purifier!