Air purifiers added to central airflow throughout your home

[CarolKing]

Has anyone decided to spend extra money to include an air purifier added to the air flow throughout your home? Something to cut down on any smells from medicating. We have air purifiers in our home and I use an oil defuser. Plus we have ceiling fans. I find that incense can cause soot in the air. I am very attentive to any smells and the Mister lets me know if he notices anything.

Years ago my husband used cannabis but not any longer. He has periodic drug test for his job. He has a very good sense of smell. The whole reason that i decided to vaporize was to be healthier and cut down on smell. Smoking weed just stinks too much. The smell in my nose was too horrible afterwards to deal with. I love I don't have the smell of smoke in my clothes or hair. My lungs are healthier for it.

Curious if there are folks out there that actually want to use cannabis wherever they want in their own homes? I know most folks live in illegal cannabis recreational states and need to be careful if you live with neighbors close by. We have a lot of medical patients on the forum too.

The cost of air purifiers come in a wide range of prices. The cheaper models really don't do any good. The couple though that I bought were $400 a piece and they work wonderful. I saw something online that you add to your central airflow and it was around $1000. Has anybody used anything like that? Seems inexpensive considering what we spend on vaporizers and bud.

Airpura R600 Plus Whole House Air Purifier. Airpura R600 Plus Whole House Air Purifier.

 

[JCat]

Looks kinda' small to handle the whole house ... our main duct is a large rectangular duct that then subdivides into smaller ducts that come off the main.

The size of the duct on that unit appears to be way to small to handle the required volume of air for even a small house.

(I could definitely be wrong though! --haven't read the specs yet ...)

Edit: (just read the specs )

Might be somewhat effective ... it diverts part of your airflow purifies and returns it ... not a lot of it mind you at 560cfm. Also, not sure if 560cfm would even reach most of the house ... just not enough air flow to push through the larger ducts and then down through the smaller ducts and out into the house to be recirculated by the return vents. Likely most of the filtering would be in the closest room to the furnace or two when it's not on ...

So ... long winded way of saying that I think when the furnace is active it's filtering too small a percentage of your air to be effective and when your furnace is off it's too weak to get air throughout the house so is again not effective.

This is just a theory though as I don't have one and haven't spoken to anyone that does. I do know quite a bit about air flow though and the physics of it travelling through ducts (was crazy obsessed with dust collection for a while when I was doing a lot of woodworking ... built a homemade dust collector and ducted my entire shop to achieve efficient dust collection ...)

 

[Squiby]

Curious if there are folks out there that actually want to use cannabis wherever they want in their own homes?

I vape all over the place; in the house, on the porch, in the forest.

In the house vaping usually results in a window being opened or the kitchen overhead stove fan turned on. That fan is strong enough to suck your fillings out! I usually vape in the bedroom, living room, bathroom or kitchen.

I like to have tge windows open most of the time anyway. I like fresh air in the house. But last night, we had some pretty heavy rain fall so that was the rare occasion where all the windows were shut tight.

No worry with the neighbours here. That are about half a mile from me and know my habits. If they could somehow smell it wafting from my house in some super olfactory fantasy, they would probably just drop by for a visit!

Has anyone decided to spend extra money to include an air purifier added to the air flow throughout your home?

In my last house we installed an inline air purifier. It was great for about 10 years before it died. It was a Sears model.

Later, I ended up getting a few portable heavy duty hepa filter air cleaning units. At the time my husband and I both smoked. Those units had the air in the house smelling fresh and clean with no hint of tobacco.

I still have the portable units but they are packed away since,
1. I'm in the country now in an area that boasts the cleanest air in the province.
2. The climate is sort of temperate here and I can have windows open, at least a crack most of the year.

The portable units are the Americare brand and they are fantastic workhorses. The heap filters last for upwards to 5 years. I was really impressed with this company's product.

 

[CarolKing]

We use a wood stove for heat so when the house gets a little toasty we open a window even in the middle of winter. We also live in the country but the last few years there are more houses being built. Folks are selling their farms and acreage if they're able. I live in a legal state and sometimes take for granted the freedom that we have here. That could always change. That's why I will be keeping my medical card.

I am happy with the air purifiers I have but was curious about the built in systems.

 

[Squiby]

We use a wood stove for heat so when the house gets a little toasty we open a window even in the middle of winter.

I heat with wood too. Isn't it wonderful? I love the decadence of having a toasty house while being able to have a bedroom window open to bring in cool fresh sir. Pure luxury.

I am happy with the air purifiers I have but was curious about the built in systems.

Having had both, I would stick with the portable units. I think that they can be better maintained with available spare parts. Our built in model could not be serviced as the replacement parts were not available when needed and the unit cost about three to four times the cost of a high end portable.

This experience is from 20 years ago so things may have changed.

 

[Mr.Newton]

I've been using one of these for years and it does the trick.
https://www.amazon.ca/Honeywell-Pur...859885&sr=1-17&keywords=honeywell+Air+Cleaner

 

[Puffers]

The problem with just tossing things onto a central system is your average ducting isn't well designed for its intended purpose to begin with then you add on very restrictive filters and you choke your airflow. Which in turn wreaks havoc on your HVAC.

With filters more surface area is mo betta, a 4 inch media filter is going to be able to capture particulates for a much longer time and provide much less restriction to airflow then a 1" filter with similar filtration.

Activated charcoal absorbs odors while also helping to eliminate VOC's. I use a 2" charcoal impregnated filter for my home personally. My family has no allergies and I don't vape or smoke in my house though too.

The other issue easily overlooked is that your standard unit doesnt have the most efficient blower and turning your fan on to actually use that filter means it's usually running at high speed. Ideally your system has a variable speed ecm motor and uses a low speed for circulating the air in fan only mode. This way you can leave your fan on 24/7 and it's like an incandescent light bulb wattage wise. Some higher end or newer thermostats have a circulation mode for the fan setting where it can cycle the blower for a portion of every hour.

For odor removal it's hard to just eliminate them (bacon? ) by recirculating the same air. Fresh air ventilation is going to be the fastest but has its own fall backs depending on your climate. Opening the windows, operating a whole house fan or something similar when it's really hot or cold isn't exactly energy efficient. An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) can provide ventilation and help reclaim some of the heat being lost.


So I guess the TLDR is: it depends on what your looking for; how effective it needs to be and how efficient you want it to be while doing so.

 

[Squiby]

The problem with just tossing things onto a central system is your average ducting isn't well designed for its intended purpose to begin with then you add on very restrictive filters and you choke your airflow. Which in turn wreaks havoc on your HVAC.

Exactly!

 

[CarolKing]

I was curious if anyone knew anything about built in air filtration since I don't know anything about it. We like our wood heat but eventually will be installing a different heat system to work in tandem. We have an older electric heat system that was originally installed in the house.

We put in a wood stove when we moved in. This is our 3rd stove. A very high tech system that doesnt produce hardly any smoke outside. With ceiling fans it distributes heat throughout the home. As the Mr gets older after retirement getting firewood may be too difficult. So was thinking about the future.

Thank you @Puffers and @Squiby

 

[Squiby]

We like our wood heat but eventually will be installing a different heat system to work in tandem.

My country home is only a 7 years old and it is my retirement home. I have three heating systems that all work together.

The heat pump does the lions share of the work. It heats and cools the house for only the cost of the furnace fan running. It's heats the house efficiently until the outside temps are colder than around -5. Then the propane furnace kicks in.

At this point I start stoking up the wood stove. It burns continuously when I'm at home. If I'm not home and it cools down, the propane furnace kicks in.

The Propane Furnace and the Heat Pump use the same ductwork to direct heat/ air conditioning throughout the house.

I love this combination and the heat pump is really fantastic as it keeps the temps where they should be for about 9 months of the year for very little cost.

 

[looney2nz]

Has anyone decided to spend extra money to include an air purifier added to the air flow throughout your home? Something to cut down on any smells from medicating. We have air purifiers in our home and I use an oil defuser. Plus we have ceiling fans. I find that incense can cause soot in the air. I am very attentive to any smells and the Mister lets me know if he notices anything.

Years ago my husband used cannabis but not any longer. He has periodic drug test for his job. He has a very good sense of smell. The whole reason that i decided to vaporize was to be healthier and cut down on smell. Smoking weed just stinks too much. The smell in my nose was too horrible afterwards to deal with. I love I don't have the smell of smoke in my clothes or hair. My lungs are healthier for it.

Curious if there are folks out there that actually want to use cannabis wherever they want in their own homes? I know most folks live in illegal cannabis recreational states and need to be careful if you live with neighbors close by. We have a lot of medical patients on the forum too.

The cost of air purifiers come in a wide range of prices. The cheaper models really don't do any good. The couple though that I bought were $400 a piece and they work wonderful. I saw something online that you add to your central airflow and it was around $1000. Has anybody used anything like that? Seems inexpensive considering what we spend on vaporizers and bud.

Airpura R600 Plus Whole House Air Purifier. Airpura R600 Plus Whole House Air Purifier.

Carol, I've got the portable version of the R600.
HIGHLY recommended, especially with all the activated carbon!

 

[Puffers]

My country home is only a 7 years old and it is my retirement home. I have three heating systems that all work together.

The heat pump does the lions share of the work. It heats and cools the house for only the cost of the furnace fan running. It's heats the house efficiently until the outside temps are colder than around -5. Then the propane furnace kicks in.

At this point I start stoking up the wood stove. It burns continuously when I'm at home. If I'm not home and it cools down, the propane furnace kicks in.

The Propane Furnace and the Heat Pump use the same ductwork to direct heat/ air conditioning throughout the house.

I love this combination and the heat pump is really fantastic as it keeps the temps where they should be for about 9 months of the year for very little cost.

That's a really nice system. It's called a hybrid heating system using the heat pump as the main source of heat and propane or gas during defrost cycles or below the balance point (-5 in your case)