Friday, August 29, 2014

Sanyo ABC-VW24 Air Washer Air Purification System

Product update 1/5/13 Sanyo has discontinued this air filtration system but Panasonic bought them and has a replacement filter for it that FrankieBoy was kind enough to post links to in the Comment section of this review. He has been kind enough to post a link on page 6 of the comments here. The filter is model #6161580870. Hopefully Amazon will begin to carry this soon because the price is pretty steep and Amazon always seems to do better. I've been vacuuming my filter with a good strong vacuum cleaner and that seems to work so far but a replacement will be needed in the future. I love the air cleaner and want to continue using it. A big Thank You to FrankieBoy, for researching and posting the link here!

The thing I like best about the Sanyo Air Washer Purification System (besides that it does a great job of purifying the air) is that it has a nice sleek look to it and doesn't detract from the room decor. It has a handle built into the top, making it easy to carry (15.9 lbs.) and it's pretty quiet as air purifiers go. It has a 4-stage HEPA filter removes 99.97% of airborne particles and allergens. The other thing I really like is that the filters can be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner and are supposed to last for about 4 years. (You'd want to use a HEPA vacuum cleaner or you'd defeat the purpose.) I called customer service to ask about the price of replacement filters and they told me the suggested retail price is $69. That's pretty much in line with other filters I've researched. The customer service people were very helpful in answering questions about the unit which I count as a big plus.

I don't know if the electrolyzed water technology is just a gimmick or not, but the unit does a good job of cleaning the air and removing odors from any room that I place it in. There are several articles on the internet about electrolyzed water technology and electrolyzed water being used to sanitize water and possibly use it to kill bacteria in a number of applications including using it as a non-toxic way to clean fruits and vegetables in the food industry. It would make sense that it could be useful to kill bacteria and viruses in the air. With pets and all their dander, not to mention all the pollen and dust in the air this time of year, it gets a real workout around here. I hope that we find that we have fewer colds in the winter.

Just a few details that I didn't include in the video: I measured the watts that the unit takes at the low, medium and high speeds with a P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor device. At low speed it uses 4 8 watts (the higher number when it's emitting the electrolyzed water. You'll see that in the video.), on medium 13 17 watts, on high 57 63 watts, and if you use the "power" setting, 63 65 watts. This compares favorably with other air cleaners that I've used in the past or use now and it seems to work more quickly at removing odors.

BTW, another reviewer had mentioned that the "Device contains a chemical known to the state of Caifornia to cause cancer, birth defects, etc." Living in California I'm used to seeing these warnings on just about every piece of electrical equipment I buy due to the "Prop 65" laws here. Nonetheless, when I called Sanyo, I asked about this warning and what part of the unit had the chemical. As I expected it is the lead in the electrical cord connection, the same as my computer. When handling electrical cords it's always a good idea to wash your hands afterward.

I hope the video is useful. It's difficult to tell from a small photo what the unit looks like and I wanted you to have a better idea of how it worked and what it sounds like.

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