Crane EE-8072 Germ Defense Electrostatic Air Purifier

We just got this unit a few days ago took me all of 2 minutes to read the instructions and crank it up. I placed it in our large bedroom (about 280sf) and hit the turbo button (great feature that in essence makes the unit run at a super high speed for 20 minutes to quickly process the room's air) and left. My wife opened the door to the room about a half hour later and said "wow it feels so fresh in here". We both smelled the difference. it's really what you don't smell nothing seems to be in the air. No dust, odors, nothing.

It runs quite except on the high speed and turbo you can certainly here it running at these speeds but it's a nice white noise. It's solid and compact. I love that I will never have to buy a filter for this and it tells me when it needs cleaning.

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High Quality 2PK Humidifier Filter Water Panel Pad Designed

The item was very reasonably priced. I was. A little concerned that it might not fit or work as well as OEM version but it fit like a glove and is working flawlessly. Given how much lime builds up on this filter I will be replacing it more frequently now.

Honeywell #V400 1.5GAL Mist Impeller

During the winter, the air in our home is VERY dry so I was not turned off by reviews of this humidifier producing too much moisture. Boy was I wrong! After 3 consecutive days of overnight use, the carpet was drenched AND there was this odd white dust on everything within a 2-3 foot radius of the humidifier! I've used it on and off for the last few months and the results were ALWAYS the same....wet carpet and white dust. Needless to say, I am in the process of looking into humidiers that don't drench carpet or produce white dust.

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IQAir® New Edition GC MultiGas Air Purifier

I'm in my second year of dealing with my neighbor's unbelievably bitter, nasty fireplace smoke. He's down on his luck and burns wood in an old stove. Things are so bad, I may buy him a new furnace but he hasn't paid his mortgage and I don't feel like giving the bank a new central heating system.

What you need know about this unit. I assume you know anything under $350-400 is worthless. Oreck, Sharper Image, Seen On TV, Ronco, Popeil etc. are of no value whatsoever. Honeywell units with charcoal have the right idea but at that price, you don't get enough charcoal to last for more than a few weeks. I started my odyssey with a AustinAir which is pretty good for the money but the wood smoke killed the 2-year filter in 6 weeks. (Note that AA now has a HealthMate Plus that has potassium permanganate and should do a better job with smoke). Long story short, I finally forked over the money for the IQAir and haven't looked back. This year, I'm getting a second unit while I wait for the bank to foreclose on my neighbor. There really isn't anything bad to say about the IQ Multi-Gas but in my experience, it puts out a sort of "sweet" smell. Almost like vanilla. I'm not crazy about it but it's not a problem. It might be, if you have extreme sensitivity, though. One other thing; although the IQAir costs a ton and as with all good units, the filters are $300, the IQ filters seem to really last. I'm starting my second winter on the original cylinders so it may turn out to be cheaper than the Austin Air in the long run.

One other thing that may or may not be of interest. The IQ units disperse the "cleaned" air in a 360 pattern. So, wherever you position the unit, some of the output will be directed at you. At the highest speeds this can be a little drafty but not that much, since the air dispersed in all directions. In contrast, the Austin Air collects incoming air from all directions but disperses through a single opening on one side. Wisely, they've angled the slats so the air goes up and won't blow on you if you're in bed but still the Austin is more of a directional blower than the IQ Air.

Eureka ReadyForce Bagged Canister Vacuum

I have been looking at canister vacs for a long time. I bought one, hated it (the floor attachment kept falling off, the filter kept clogging), and ended up returning it. I am pleasantly surprised by this little machine...the suction is great, it's not too loud, doesn't clog, and it's lightweight. Plus the price is right!! I was looking into getting a miele until I found this. I use this at my vacation home (a 60 year old ranch home that produces a LOT of dust) where all the floors are hardwood or tile and I have an area rug. The vac works fairly well on the area rug, too. The handle feels much more solid than the previous machine I had and doesn't fall apart. And I actually prefer the bag to the bagless version I previously had. It is so much easier to change the bag than pull out a canister and have dust flying everywhere. I highly recommend this for someone who has a lot of hardwood floors and wants to get up ALL the dust on the floors, in the corners, under the sofas!!!

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Febreze Noticeables Refill

I love my Febreze Noticeable but have to say the worse scent I have smelled is the "Meadows and Rain". I bought it because it was on sale. Other scents I LOVE. The Meadows and Rain I would not keep now if it was given to me for free. It smells terrible! I plugged it in less than 24 hours ago and noticed an unpleasant smell. I thought it was my trash and got the trash out and still noticed the smell. All day I smelled something like a dirty diaper pail. I then walked around and realized it was the Meadows and Rain. It is not a good scent at all. I see why it was on sale and will stick to buying the others.

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BestAir ES12 Kenmore 14911

This replacement set of filters fits my emerson and essex console humidifier and does a great job of filtering the air. However, it does not wick up much water as the pure paper ones so it defeats the purpose of having a humidifier. Since I replaced these with the stock paper only filter/wicks, I get over twice as much water into the air in 24 hours. I would not recommend these if you want humidity in the air from the humidifier. Look for the accordion paper ones.

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DeLonghi DD45P 45-Pint Energy Star Dehumidifier

This DeLonghi DD45P Dehumidifier is so far advanced over other dehumidifiers I have owned over the past 15 to 20 years, it is like a newly invented appliance for 2010.

It's the pump stupid! Why haven't all dehumidifiers been designed with automatic pumps from the get-go? Did appliance designers think that a homeowner would gladly trade a dry basement for the chore of emptying a bucket of water every day?

The initial set-up was relatively easy after I read the instructions twice. The controls are understandable and fairly intuitive.

This is a smart dehumidifier compared to the older manual dumbbells I have owned. The display reads your room temperature. The unit can be set on auto, to run until it brings the humidity level in percent numbers down to a level you decide. It can be set to run for a selected time period or just run continuously at one of its two different speeds, high and not quite as high. It has delayed start and delayed stop if desired. If you choose to not pump the condensate to a nearby drain or out the window, don't turn on the pump, and it will fill its built-in bucket instead. All this and energy star rated to boot.

The pump works well. The supplied condensate hose, which is 3/8" OD clear vinyl, runs up a corner wall in my basement about 8ft, then about 8ft more along the ceiling of my adjoining laundry room, and 4ft down into a laundry tub. I did have to add 8ft more hose to make the distance, but the pump handles it all very nicely. I bought this model for the pump and I consider this purchase as one of my better moves. It has been running 24/7 for about 6 weeks, and I just forget its there. My fingers are crossed.

The only negative features (in my opinion) are that the hose for the pump comes out the front of the unit near the base and the tiny wheels don't lift the unit high enough up off the floor to run the condensate hose under the unit towards the back so its not so visible.

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Hoover WindTunnel 3 Upright Vacuum

I'm on my second Hoover as of two days ago... first one is still operational after 20 years... but I wanted some upgrades. My greatest desire..? I wanted to be released from the vac bag. But even though that has been accomplished... I'm(we're) still not free from some vac maintenance chores... and the occasional filter purchase. One step forward, two steps back maybe?

First, some perspective. A bagless vacuum is nothing more than a

glorified and highly stylized shop vac. All this crap about "wind tunnel and "cyclonic technology" and other such buzz word descriptors accompanied by dubious conceptual design claims, is just a bunch of advertising hooey meant to distract any buyer from a problem that is NOT preventable in any vacuum.. eventual loss of suction. If this isn't true you wouldn't find elaborate instructions with every model imploring you to clean filters frequently and to empty the dust cup often. If they don't get cleaned in the prescribed manner... loss of suction occurs... or complete plug-ups. So much for the "no loss of suction" claim. Most models have either mechanical or electric flow indicators that tell you exactly what isn't supposed to happen, is happening: loss of suction. So, with this in mind... it becomes a quest to find that vac that has enough obstacles built-in to the vac canister that will delay the loss of suction for as long as possible. That's the reason why the canister(most) is so jacked-up with multiple tubes, fins, screens and irregular shapes... to catch or divert the misc vacuumed up garbage away from the foam filter, and eventually the hepa filter. Things that a certain percentage of dust always manages to evade on its trip to the first filter. Shop vacs are bagless and will plug up sooner or later and so will house bagless vacs.. depending on what it is you're sucking up. They're designed on the same principles. If you can get past the claimed "no loss of suction" baloney... you can make a more informed decision.

Observations on my purchase. I forked over 153 smackers for the Hoover "Windtunnel 3 Pro Whole House" vac. This came after reading a couple of hundred reviews on Amazon of all the leading bagless vacs out there... and on what my vac needs really are. I'm not a compulsive vacuumer... just occasionally... and I have a small two bedroom house. After vacuuming almost the whole house for the first time this is what I noticed: I emptied the dust cup twice, so what? Just means there was plenty to get up... and there was. I don't think it picks anymore than my old bagged Hoover. How do I know? Because with the bagged I would occasionally run out of the bags... and I would reuse the old one... by unfolding one end of it, shaking it out, folding it back up and then stapling. Works well. I saw that same nastiness come out of the bag that comes out of the dust cup.

Next, the dust cup empties easily, hinged bottom opens up. But even after emptying and tapping on the dust cup canister to loosen all that didn't release right away... there was still plenty of fine dust stuck to the innards of that windtunnel canister. All the canister obstacles did their job; dust was either captured or stuck to them, and you can't shake it out. This fine dust sticks because of the moisture in it and that static electrical charge on the surface of the objects in the canister and the interior walls of the canister itself. The book recommends washing out the canister... I just took it outside of the garage and blew it out with an air hose. Faster and easier. And a bunch of that really fine dust went flyin'.

Next: I inspected the second to the last line of defense; the foam filter at the top of the canister. I was impressed, because only minimal dust reached that filter... I know this because I blew it out with air as well. The instructions say to wash this and let it air dry for 48hrs... ridiculous and boring. Use air.

Next: I inspected the Hepa filter... the last defense before the exhaust exits the vacuum. I detected no dust. Most impressive. And because no dust exits the vacuum... you don't get the vacuum cleaner stink in the room air... something I always get from the way less filtered bagged Hoover.

Overall observations: Here are the things that I dig; the bare floor agitator shut off, both when you set the vac to upright position and the foot button that shuts it off. The cleaning accessories, they all worked well... the stretchy hose, which was quite adequate... the headlight, the sturdy wheels that also have a soft surface for hard surface traction, the easy release of the cyclonic canister and dust cup... the most excellent suction and the overall sturdiness of the unit. And, the auto cord rewind is a kick and a hoot, but this feature really doesn't get you out of anything; you're either bending over to wind the cord up(no auto rewind) or bending over to pull the cord out(auto rewind). By comparison, this unit is supposedly on the heavy side, but I didn't notice... as long as the surface height adjustment is in the right place... it glided over everything I've got. It's been my experience in life that the heavier something is, usually means it's made of more durable materials and in copious quantities... something to keep in mind even when it comes to vacuums. Another bonus is that it's only half as noisy as the old Hoover. Best of all, no vacuum stink in the room air when you're done. Just so you know... I'm big on good design and construction... when I went to look at the vacs I checked out all the leading machines and passed many by because of shabby design and obvious weaknesses. This unit passed all my pickiness. As far as complaints go... for what I paid and how it performs and how well it's made... I have none. A year or two from now... I might have something to offer up here... I'll let you know. In the mean time... Hoover and I will leave the light on for yah. ;-)

Replacement Air Purifier Carbon Pre-Filter 4 Pack Whirlpool Whispure AP510

The filters are much thicker than expected and are a generic brand. They did not fit in the air purifier properly due to the thickness. Once I got a filter to fit in I turned on the purifier and 20 minutes later my room had a terrible smell in it from the filter material. I do not recommend this item.

Generic Dyson DC-07/DC-14 Replacement HEPA Filter

Not OEM, and does not come with rubber seal required for proper fit. I had to scrape off the old one and glue to the new filter, not what I expected.

14x24x1-MERV 12 A/C Furnace Air Filters by Nordic Pure

I have an odd furnace filter size and my son has many allergies so I have to do a lot of research to find the right filter at the right price. These fit the bill (unlike the very expensive 3M Filtrete Ultra Allergen filters)promising a higher MERV rating at a better price. Two things bothered me when they arrived. They are loose in the box with no protective, sealed overwrap odd for something so allergy-intensive. Plus, I ordered the 14x24x1 and they're imprinted ''14x25x1'' which is crossed out with marker, and my size is hand-written on another side. They do fit, however. Short of doing an environmental air flow test, I have to assume the promised MERV rating is correct, hence my lukewarm review.

Miele Type F/J/M AirClean FilterBags

I've already reviewed the Miele vacuum cleaner itself, along with the Turbo brush, so I'm a fan of the pricy-but-worth-it-if-you-can-afford-it sucker. If you're reading this, you're probably one too, so I'm not gonna talk about the vacuum cleaner on a net page selling the bags. I'm just going to relate information on the box about what Miele vacuums this goes with, on the theory that's the main question you have. It's not entertaining, but perhaps it's useful:

S241 S256 i

S290 S291

S300 i S399

S500 S578

S700 S758

S4000 S4999

The box comes with 5 bags (they;re strong, I've discovered), 1 dust compartment filter, and one "super air clean filter." Miele uses a HEPA filter, known for its allegy protection. Long-lasting, worth it.

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Honeywell Replacement Filter

This Replacement filter works perfectly on my Honeywell HCM-6000. I found that the filter will last longer if you flip it every other water fill up. This will not allow any one side to stay in the water too long and turn sour.

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Metro Vacuum MS-4C 115-Volt DataVac PC Desktop Electronics Cleaner

Worst accessory ever! DON'T BUY IT. It doesn't have power to blow or vacuum a smallest piece of styrofoam or paper. It'just doesn't work, it looks nice, but is utterly loud and gets clogged in a second, I mean if you somehow manage to scratch some dust of your equipment.

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BestAir A35W Aprilaire 35 Paper Wickl Waterpad

This BestAir pad solved a problem that was making me an unhappy Aprilaire user.

My Aprilaire system could not keep up with my home's humidity needs, but it sure did run through the hot water. With this pad, there's much more moisture transfer to the air supply. Now instead of most of the hot water going down the drain, it goes into the air (where I want it to go).

I won't even buy the standard water pad anymore. This BestAir version is the only one I will buy. In fact, if somebody gave me a stack of standard pads I would throw those away and still buy this one. The savings in hot water cost alone would justify that. With the BestAir, I get the increased comfort I am really after.

I have verified the huge performance increase by using humidity meters. Of course, the numbers vary with the amount of heating required. But here's an example of a sort of side by side test I ran in 2010. The outside temperature was consistently around zero degrees for several days (with the forecast, I saw this coming so decided to run tests).

I have a Trane heat pump system, with variable speed blower to provide a constant (but minimal) flow of air when heat or AC isn't running. This constant flow means my Aprilaire is always running also (I removed Aprilaire's original controls, which essentially render the system pointless, and installed my own system and yes I am an engineer with a significant controls background).

With the standard pad, the humidity dropped to 37%. That is well below the recommended minimum. Even the morning warmup furnace blast, which gives you the best humidification with this system, couldn't nudge it much past 40.

I changed to the BestAir before going to bed, noting a humidity of 38%. I got up just before the furnace kicked on and the humidity was at 41%. After the initial warmup blast, the humidity was 45%. It dropped back to 42% under normal low demand.

Then I reversed the situation by installing the standard pad, and the previous condition resumed. I already knew how the standard pad ran from previous, pre-test conditions of the previous couple of years. And that's what I got upon going back to it. So then I reversed again, and again got the better results with the BestAir. Even over several days, these results were consistent.

Then it warmed up outside, and the humidity hit 47%. I put the old pad back in, and the humidity slowly dropped to 39%. Changed pads, and it went up again.

I use supplemental humidifiers to get the humidity up to 48% to 52% (50% is recommended), but can stay above the low-H danger zone using just the Aprilaire but only if it has this BestAir pad installed.

If you have an Aprilaire system, this BestAir pad is the only one you should be using.

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Hoover U5453-900 WindTunnel Supreme Upright Vacuum Cleaner

This is a great vaccum in terms of sucking power. It picks up dirt well and really perks up our tired old carpet.When I first got the vaccum, I treated the "dirt finder lights" feature as sheer gimmick. But I've come to like it. The hose on this unit is extremely flexible and extends to several feet. With the extension attachments, I can leave the vaccum on the bottom of the stairs and reach up to 5 or 6 steps up.

A couple of minor things I don't like about this unit: You connect an attachment to the hose by pushing it on--no actual mechanism that snaps or clicks in place to keep the attachment on the hose. So very frequently I have to re-attach the attachment as it falls off during the vaccuming. Also, to use the hose, one plugs it out of the "seat" (vaccumed dust gets sucked up through the "seat" tube into the hose and then into the bag). But one has to push the "seat cover" tight so that dust does not get blown out of the "seat" itself during vaccuming. For all the allergy prevention measures Hoover put into this vaccum, somehow Hoover didn't bother to find a better way to ensure that vaccumed dust gets into the bag.

These may be standard features with all Hoover uprights, and other people may not find them as inconvenient. All in all, though, this vaccum does suck, really well.

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RPS #HW500 Extended Life Wick Filter

I haven't used it yet, so I will wait to update the review once I do. However, the item just arrived and it looks nothing like the picture! There is no box at all! The filter arrived without any wrapper at all, just placed inside a envelope. I have no idea if it is new or if it was used, no instructions, no name even. Nothing. The seller has a picture up of a box which is not what you will get.

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Bissell Style 8 & 14 Lift-Off Bagless HEPA Filter

Just got this in today and am pleased it looks identical to the original filter that came in our vacuum right down to the labeling on the actual filter. I cannot tell any difference. I just installed it (our vacuum is relatively new so this is the first time replacing the filter). It was a tight fit, but I like that. For the price and getting to order it online and not have to drive anywhere I'm sold. This is for my Bissell Powergroom® Pet Vacuum (4104W).Bissell Power Groom Pet Hair Vacuum 4104W

Redi Shade Z00C2801400 Simple Fit Made to Width Custom Cordless Honeycomb

Easy to put up, nice light filtering shade . It was just what I wanted. I had to look at another web site to figure out what measurements to use to order.

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