Saturday, May 31, 2014

Oreck Hypo-Allergenic CELOC Filter Bags Type CC

  • 3 Layer, 630 Cubic Inch Capacity with Celoc Hypo-Allergenic Filtering System
  • Saniseal Automatic Closing Dust Seal to keep dust in the bag
  • AntiMicrobial protection
  • Easy to Install

The web page for this product describes these as ORECK Hypo-allergenic CELOC Type CC bags. On the right side of the page, Amazon offers more buying choices. I chose to order these from B&M Housewares. Their price was slightly higher, but they offered free shipping. When you look at the total cost, B&M was a little cheaper.

I received the bags today and they ARE NOT Oreck labeled bags. They are manufactured by someone called Envirocare Technologies and "designed to fit" Oreck vacuums. Needless to say this is NOT what I ordered, and I am pursuing a claim. I mean, c'mon, the picture on the web site even shows an Oreck labeled bag. This is quite misleading.

UPDATE (7/16/2012): I contacted B&M Housewares and they have informed me that they will ship me replacement "Oreck" bags. Once they arrive, and assuming they are the right product this time, I will upgrade my review to 4 stars. I can't give them 5 stars because they should have shipped the correct product in the first place.

UPDATE 2 (7/19/2012): The replacement bags arrived today. While they are Oreck labeled bags this time, they are not the Hypo-Allergenic CELOC bags as described and as are shown in the photo. These bags are a different color, and are labeled High Density Filter Bags. As a result, I am leaving my review at 2 stars, and doubt I would buy from these people again.

Maytag UKF8001P Pur Refrigerator Cyst Water Filter 2-Pack

This filter was a snap to install, and once I did my water pressure from the dispenser was back to normal. If you've

got a refrigerator that uses one of these filters and the water's been coming out slow then it's probably time for a new filter. One word of advice: use a big water pitcher for the first use of the dispenser after the filter change the pressure has to readjust and it will spit out a few huge blasts of water that will overwhelm your normal water glass. After the couple of big blasts though, you get constant good pressure, better than you remembered was even possible after the gradual slow down with your old filter.

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Friday, May 30, 2014

Miele Type U AirClean Bags & Filters

I have no complaints with the bags. The indicator slide on the front of the vacuum itself doesn't seem to do a real great job at telling me when the bag is full, but it's easy enough to open the front compartment and feel the bag to know if it's getting full or not.

In response to the other review on here that the vacuum isn't that great... I don't find any of the complaints valid except that it isn't great for throw rugs. It does my kitchen and entry way rugs fine since they have rubber backing to hold them in place a little, but my bathroom rugs are not easily cleaned with this. It is not difficult to carry though you just need to have it upright to lock it in place before lifting it so the head doesn't flop down. It's got a nice handle on the back that works just fine for carrying it up and down stairs and it isn't unusually heavy. I use the hand-held Turbobrush for vacuuming the stairs and think it does a good job. As far as the cord having to be totally undone to get it off the holder that is incorrect as well. The bottom hook is a swivel so you just turn it down and slide the whole cord off at once.

We bought this from a local shop after checking out several vacuums and it's exactly what we wanted. I'd highly recommend this vacuum we have kids, 6 cats and a dog and it does an awesome job at keeping up with our filthy floors!

S C Johnson Wax Glade Hawaibreez Refill 13729 Air Freshener

I use Johnson Wax Glade Wisp because they do not require electricity. However, refills are not available in local stores. I was satisfied with the price of the refills thouugh Amazon but when adding in shipping charges there is no savings. Therefore I received the product I wanted at a price I was satisifed with.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Stadler Form O-021 Oskar Humidifier Black

Having purchased no less than 7 different humidifiers over a two-year period (Hunter, Essick, Bionaire, 2 Holmes units, a GermGuardian and a Honeywell) and finding none of them to be satisfactory (noisy, hazy, stinky, clunky), I was wary at first about the performance claims and other positive reviews of the Stadler Oskar. However, I am pleased to say that my expectations were surpassed. It is quieter than most of the other humidifiers I have owned(evaporative or non-evaporative), and I found it both easy to maintain and effective at humidifying the small to medium-sized rooms in my apartment. The fill capacity is somewhat of a misnomer, but in a positive way-once the water begins to seep into the two membranes, I found that I could add even more water than the listed capacity. So once the unit is filled and running for a bit, it's not too difficult to maintain a certain level of humidity without shutting down the unit. I cannot say the same for many other humidifiers. Finally, the unit is styled such that a person who was not looking for a humidifier in the corner of your room would find it difficult to notice (I get alot of "what's that cool cube thing" comments from visitors). I wish the price had been a little lower, but it seems that you do get what you pay for with this product: a stylish, energy-efficient, simple and effective humidifier.

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Heaven Fresh HF 86 Personal Ionic Air Purifier

Works fine, but has a feature that wasn't mentioned in the description. It automatically turns off every 30 minutes. If you were intending to use this for allergies rather than an airplane trip, this is not desirable.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Honeywell Replacement Filter

If you think this is the real and genuine Honeywell filter #16960 then you are mistaken. It is an imitation product made by BestAir that is NOT equivalent to the name brand filter. It fits my air cleaner and there is some sort of black fine grained filter fabric on the front face as expected. However the back white filter is far inferior. Instead of having a tightly fit ribbed accordion type filter with a high surface area on the backside, there are only a fraction of the ribs and my guess is about 1/5 the surface area. The description says "Item model number 16960" which is the Honeywell number I thought I was getting. This is deceiving because it is not the BestAir model number. The actual model number listed by BestAir is D110. DO NOT buy this product expecting an equivalent product to the name brand item.

Blueair 403 Air Purification System

After reading reviews a number of places online, I decided to buy the Blueair products. In ended up sampling the 402, 501 and 601, and ultimately returned the 501 and 601 and replaced them with 402s.

The 402 is truly quiet. This was an important consideration for me; the reason I returned the 501 and 601 was because they were noisy. The 402 has four fan speed settings. The fastest is unpleasantly noisy; I would not want to be in the room while the unit is in this mode. The next fastest, though, is *much* quieter. We usually leave the units in this mode. Sometimes we use the next-to-slowest mode, for example when I'm watching a movie and sitting in a chair right next to the 402. The middle two speeds are sufficiently quiet that I never feel like I need to use the slowest speed. (The 501s and 601s are unbearably noisy at any but the slowest setting which is slower than the middle speeds of the 402. For 2/3 the price you can move more air, more quietly. Go figure.)

The only downside to the unit is size. It is about the same size as a tower PC. It's tall enough not to easily fit under furniture, and it's airflow pattern (in one of the skinny vertical sides, out the opposite side) means that the best placement is with one of the long sides against a wall. If wall space is at a premium, it can be hard to find a place to put it.

I haven't had the units long enough to replace the filters yet, but I have taken out the filters that came with them, and put them back in. It was very easy to do. After two months, only one filter is showing any visible dirt but the house is *much* less dusty.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

SCM2412-UM Humidifier

I bought it at jardenstore.com for $16 when it was on saleThe nightmare just began when I received it. I tried to test it overnight with full tank.

And I made sure no excess water in base (common issue for Sunbeam). I also set the humidistat to max.

The next morning the water was still the same level.

While the fan was running loud, louder than refrigerator or microwave or my ceiling fan, there was no mist emitting at all.

Next chapter: call customer service.

1. tried their published number in Instruction Leaflet 888-264-9669, nobody answered

2. called their Jarden company customer service and after lots of options, a human answered and asked me to call number in step 1

3. still nobody answered; and all 800# published online for humidifier are no-answer

4. sent an email through website and so far nobody answered

If you want to throw your money down the drain and feel like an idiot like me, buy Sunbeam, or any of Jarden's product.

Jarden is a shame, a sham, a disgusting criminal. (I'm refraining myself from using worse words publically)

9 Kenmore Upright 50688 and 50690

These bags are just as good as my original Kenmore bags. These may even be better because they have a little plastic flap that you can use to cover the hole when you take the bag off. I will keep buying these bags instead of the original (much higher priced) Kenmore bags.

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Monday, May 26, 2014

Essick Air H12-300 3-Speed Evaporative Console Humidifier

The only negative is that the installation instructions are a little cryptic and the fan makes some noise at highest speed.

At low speed, it's silent. Appearance is great and performance is great too (so far!).

Whirlpool Whispure 510 Air Purifier

My boyfriend has minor asthma and I live in a small NYC apartment with 3 cats. The cat hair would affect him when he came over to visit he could not sleep over because in the middle of the night he could no longer breathe properly. I first bought a Sharper Image Ionic Breeze. It did collect some airborne particles but did not help with the cat hair and was not effective enough to help my boyfriend. I have since sold it. I then bought the Whispure 510 and it works wonderfully. I keep it on 24/7. The noise is similar to white noise on low / intermediate for sleeping not a problem for me or any guests that I have had visit. My boyfriend noticed a difference within about 30 minutes of turning it on. There is also less dust around the place. I highly recommend it.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Hunter 30057 11-ft x 14-ft Hepa Tech Room Air Purifier

I have owned this air purifier for about 5 years and it's still going strong, it's also not any louder than it was the day I bought it. The noise it produces is similar to a fan on a low setting, kind of a white noise so to speak. The filters are reasonably priced if you find them on sale-they are currently on sale for 29.99 (reg 39.99) & I replace them every 6 months. The carbon pre filter is much cheaper when bought from your local home improvement store, they sell sheets of carbon that you can cut to fit.

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Honeywell PopUp1625 media filter

  • Reduces the installation time of replacement
  • Fiberglass-free filtration
  • Quick, easy maintenance
  • Higher efficiency air filtration with larger area
  • Six sizes available for Honeywell and various MACs

I could not find these filters at Lowe's or Home Depot or any other hardware store. Does anyone know how to tell when to change these filters? How grey do they have to be?

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Saturday, May 24, 2014

3M Filtrete Eureka / Sanitaire F&G Micro Allergen Vacuum Bag

These are, hands down, the best belts and bags on the market. I've found that the after market belts stretch out quickly and the after market bags break and make a huge mess inside your cloth bag. I own a small cleaning company and change my vacuum belts and bags weekly. These belts and bags hold up the best!

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Honeywell Permanent HEPA Tower Air Purifier

My wife loves her cats (multiple), and her dogs (also multiple); she mostly tolerates the kids and me. This winter my allergies were reaching critical mass. My wife gave me this Air Purifier for our room, as a Christmas present, and it has been amazing. One side note, the device puts out a good deal of white noise, personally, I like that, as it helps me sleep, others might find it annoying. My next step is to get them for every other room.

I highly recommend this product.

Update...

This unit worked fine for about a year, then it just died.

While it was worth the cost for the service it did provide, I was a bit disappointed in the durability.

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Friday, May 23, 2014

P12B ZoneAire Series 11,500 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

I picked this up last year in 2010 to supplement my condo's central AC because it was in the process of going out. (Leaking evaporator core). Let me just say this thing works great, easily cooled the den that it is in and just about cooled the whole rest of my condo (about 900 square feet) with ease. I don't understand the other reviews concerning reliability issues because this thing ran all last summer just about all day and night without a hitch. I just cleaned the air filter and now using it again! One other thing I would like to mention is that the window attachment is very easy to install and is very inconspicuous from the outside for those of us that don't want anything unsightly hanging out their windows. The unit also rolls from room to room very easily if needed. Thank you Friedrich for making an excellent 2 hose unit and keep up the good work. If I ever need another one of these this will be the one.

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S8Q-PA Sterilight ultraviolet UV water purifier

I live upstate and depend on well water. After shocking our system twice, we still had bacteria in the water. I finally broke down and installed this unit and it worked! It passed the water lab tests and have been very happy with this unit. No more bacteria! Keep in mind you need to replace the UV bulb every year which can run about $70. Also a good idea to install a water filter between the well and the UV system to keep the bulb clean and free of debris.

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Thursday, May 22, 2014

Koldfront PAC1401W Ultracool 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

I love this a/c unit for my bedroom works like a charm and reasonably quiet if you keep all the filters cleaned. My only question is who designed the exhaust hose set up? It is absolutley ridiculous. I've gone through about $20 of duck tape just trying to keep the stupid exhaust hose in the plastic piece. Why the engineers took a lunch break on this part of the unit is just beyond me. I finally just superglued the darn pieces together. Otherwise, great machine but for the money they really dropped the ball on the exhaust hose set up.

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Crane Ee-8065 Crane Germ Defense Humidifier

Please note that I recently joined the Vine program but this review is based on my own private purchase (i.e., I paid for it!)

With winter approaching I wanted to get additional humidifiers to help with making household air less dry. I have an old Holmes (an older version of the current Holmes HM1865-U model) that puts out a lot of moisture and has a humidistat. I recently bought a much more expensive humidifier from Brookstone but I found it did not put out nearly as much water compared to the Holmes and the expensive model was not much quieter.

After way too much research online and checking out models at local stores I decided on the Crane Ee-8065. I considered the digital version but for the price difference I did not see the additional value.

The manual version has a small footprint and sleek form-factor. It is incredibly quiet and the mist output can be adjusted. The warm mist does not seem too warm (compared to steam misters) and I mostly run it in the cool mist setting. I am not sure the warm mist would be that great at helping with a cold or illness compared to a true steam mister. That said, my main purpose was to find a quiet humidifier I could run at night. The Crane Ee-8065 has proven itself to be exactly what I need. In fact, I am going to buy a couple more to put in other parts of our house.

The only negative thus far is it is a bit awkward to hold while refilling the reservoir but this might have more to do with me becoming more used to it. The reservoir could be larger too, but then again that would mean the unit itself would have to be larger and I kind of like the smaller size of the unit itself; I can accept the trade-off between size of unit and how often I have to refill the reservoir.

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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

BestAir H85-6 Holmes HWF-62 Replacement Wick Filter

This filter was supposed to be like a "HEPA" filter for a cool mist humidifier. Despite sanitizing my entire humidifier before using this filter, the filter molded over with fuzzy green and black mold within 6 weeks. The regular filter that came with my humidifier was made to last 8 weeks, and it never molded.

This is not as advertised.

However, I do like the metal mesh instead of a plastic mesh, because it's easier for me to recycle, now that I've had to throw out the filter.

I will not buy this again.

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Rowenta DW4060 Auto Steam Iron 1700W

We've "suffered" with a Black and Decker iron for a few years. While it worked it just wasn't doing a great job and for the longest time, we didn't want to invest in a new iron if it wasn't broken. Well, it finally broke so we tried the Rowenta DW4060 and, wow, it is like night and day.

The iron is a joy to use. Not only does it heat up quickly, it also steams very well. I can actually iron without starch with this iron. The narrow tip is excellent for getting around buttons and tight areas. There are a lot of settings but we mainly use it on the higher settings and it has done a great job each time. Auto Shutoff works as normal and iron is rather lightweight.

This Iron has been excellent and I've not picked up a can of starch since having it. I can highly recommend this iron.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Emerson HDC-12 Replacement Moistair Wicking Humidifier Filter

I have an Emerson console-type humidifier that is allegedly capable of putting 13 gallons of water into the air in a 24-hour period. It came with filters from the factory that seem to stand up to this claim. The factory filters are pleated paper, not these fibrous, spongy type that are commonly described as "OEM" replacements.

These honeycomb, fibrous filters work well for a couple of days and then start to lose their ability to draw water up into themselves. Within two weeks they are hard as a rock and no longer wick. This is my second season with these things. I go through an entire case of them (8 sets of 4) in 3 months. The original-style filters, while more expensive, would last me almost 2 months and put much more water into the air (10 gallons a day on the 'medium' fan setting).

It is now difficult to find the pleated, accordian type filters but they are the only ones that work. My advice is to try to find the originals.

Winix FresHome Model P150 True HEPA Air Cleaner

Here is a little comparison review of the Winix p150. Compared to winix 5500 and Honeywell 50250.

The p150 is smaller than 5500 and not as well built but it is also a hundred bucks less. Nice and quiet.

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