If the air was blue, it's clear now

Ok that's all well and good, but DOES IT CLEAN THE AIR?
Those of you that know me are aware that I'm pretty much a bottom-line guy. I once read that the greatest philosophy a salesman can have is to, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Well I don't care about the sizzle.

The quest for a good steak
When I started my search, I had a few things in mind. I already have a DuraCraft Hepa filter system and two of those dinky PureAir plug-in filters. I wanted something huge and effective.

I'd been lured a bit by the Ionic Breeze commercials. I live in the north and we are pretty much closed-up in the winter with regard to fresh air. I wanted something that truly worked to get everything out of the air that my 2-year-old and I didn't want going down our windpipes.

So the research began...
I first learned, quickly, that ANYTHING that puts low-level ozone into the air is probably bad, unless it can be guaranteed to produce less than the FDA mandated .05 ppm of ozone. There are a million ways that different companies are trying to fool consumers on this. They won't call it "ionizing," they'll call it "charging," "oxygen saturation," or some other contrived name that masks it. The ions attach to particles in the air and make them "land" on a surface to get them out of your air. Of course, brush the surface and up they go again.

The bottom line is that any cleaner that just spits out ions into the air is not good; ions that produce ozone can cause irritation to throat and lungs, at LEAST. More research is needed.

The scientists already have a catchy slogan for ozone: "It's good up high, bad nearby."

So what are the choices for different types of air cleaners?
Ok this one gets sort of thick; you've got three major types of cleaners, but five types of cleaning processes, some with subcategories.

Types:
1. Tabletop Units
2. Room Units
3. Central Filtration Units (used with central air, etc.)

Cleaning Processes:
1. Mechanical Filters
1a. Flat Filters
1b. Pleated Filters
1c. High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filters (HEPA)
2. Electronic Air Cleaners
3. Hybrid Filters
4. Gas Phase Filters
5. Ozone Generators

The typical filter you will find in a home is a tabletop unit using a mechanical HEPA filter. This unit does use HEPA filters (three of them, and they're big--this isn't a tabletop unit, but a ROOM unit) but it also uses an ion brush (more about that later).

So what's so good about HEPA?
HEPA filters have to remove at least 99.97% of all particles measuring .3 microns or larger. That's good. There is also ULPA, or ultra-HEPA, which has to trap .3 microns or smaller (of the air that passes through, which I think means air that can carry particles .3 microns or larger is too dense or moving to fast to even pass through an ULPA filter). With the ionization process, the effective smallest particles removed are .1 microns at a rate of 99.97% for the BlueAir 501.

SO what does all this stuff mean?
Well I'm glad you asked. The BlueAir 501 is technically a ROOM UNIT with a HYBRID FILTRATION cleaning system. The ion brush system doesn't toss ions out into the air making an ozone layer in your home. Rather, it charges some of the particles as they enter the system so they will stick to the filters if they are small enough to pass through--this more commonly referred to as the electrostatic, not ionizing, process as the ions are contained within the unit almost exclusively.

Now, as stated, the FDA mandates that anything more than .05 ppm is out of limits for safe use. This unit was tested to output a maximum of .003 ppm, and listen to this; When the UL standardized test on ozone production was performed on this unit, ozone levels FELL SHARPLY when the unit was turned on, and ROSE after the unit was turned off. This means that the BlueAir 501 actually REMOVES AMBIENT OZONE far more significant than the trace amounts it produces.

Ok, now, onto the best part...
CADR stands for Clean Air Delivery Rate. It has it's own web site for crying out loud (www.cadr.org). The AHAM (Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers) tests air cleaners (among many other things) using a standard format;
1. Square feet of space it will clean
2. How much dust it'll remove
3. How much smoke it'll remove
4. How much pollen it'll remove

The BlueAir 501 was awarded the TOP SPOT for CADR in August of 2001 for ANY ROOM OR TABLETOP AIR CLEANING SYSTEM. When you think CADR, think, "Results."

The unit I almost bought...
I've long trusted Consumer Reports, and I still do. I found that they had given the Friedrich C90-A the top dog spot in a 2001 report. I was about one inch away from buying this unit for $450.00 when I found the AHAM and CADR sites and reports. Here is the comparison between the two (and as yet these two are the top of the top for room air cleaners). Remember, the higher the numbers, the better on CADR.

Friedrich C90-A
CADR
1. 465 Sq. ft
2. 325 (Dust)
3. 300 (Tobacco Smoke)
4. 370 (Pollen)
Runs basically silent, fairly lightweight, effective. This was a clear winner...until I saw the BlueAir 501...

BlueAir 501
CADR
1. 620 Sq. ft
2. 377 (Dust)
3. 388 (Tobacco Smoke)
4. 378 (Pollen)
Can run silently on lowest setting, pretty heavy at 38 lbs., but SUPER EFFECTIVE.

Apparently the BlueAir 501 had not been manufactured in time for the Consumer Reports study. Also, as I sat debating whether or not to spend the extra $50 bucks for the BlueAir over the Friedrich, I found it $50 bucks CHEAPER than the Friedrich doing a quick search on Ebay and it had free shipping (which I like with a 38 lb. unit). My decision was easy.

The BlueAir ships with the tested and standard HEPA filters, of which there are 3, and they last six months. The replacement filters are expensive, but in my opinion well worth it. You can currently find the sets of 3 filters (particle only) for around $60.00 or (SmokeStop carbon filters with equal particle effectiveness)$100.00. I could find them cheaper with some research, but those are popular prices. This unit is large, but it's also on four wheels and rolls easily across my kitchen floor. It also has the coolest looking BLUE power light; I like cool things like that ;)

Anyway, our air smells cleaner. We breath easier; no stuffy noses. This thing is good at removing smells; good and bad! I had some scented candles lit that normally make the house smell like cinnamon/apple for 12 hours or so after I blow them out; with this thing, all traces of the smell were gone in a half hour after I blew them out. Take that how you will.

Use these sites to research before you buy any air cleaner (The BlueAir 601 is about to hit the market, and its CADR is phenomenal).
http://www.lungusa.org/pub/cleaners/air_clean_toc.html
http://www.cadr.org/consumer/index.html
http://www.aham.org/consumerhome/home.cfm
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?FR=801.415
And here is a MUST READ review I just found from Allergy Buyer's club... (I'd actually used this site to help in my decision, but I hadn't read the full review) http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/blueair.html