Air Purifiers

[RichardR]

I was researching air purifiers – with the aim of reducing the smell around the cat litter box. Someone recommended the BioZone that apparently uses "photoplasma" technology. Look Here for their "scientific explanation" of how it works:

Photochemistry is the chemical reaction or change in material caused by exposure to light energy. The process typically requires the use of photons in the ultraviolet spectral range. Ultraviolet light in this range is useful for disinfection purposes. When a strong enough ultraviolet light is present, it becomes useful in the destruction of contaminating organic compounds. Almost all indoor contaminants are organic, such as toxic volatile organic compounds, dust particles like dander, hair, dust mite feces, etc., and biological contaminants like bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Photochemistry can break down these harmful organic molecules.Ultraviolet light with enough energy such as in the 100-280 nanometer wavelength range can also break down the electron bonds of an organic molecule.

(And more.)

Does this sound kosher, to anyone who actually knows about this stuff? Or is it BS?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Vitnir]

I would stay clear of any device that produces ozone, it gives a fresh smell but oxidizes all types of organic compounds in radical cascade reactions and produce all manners of irritative chemicals. Its true that these irritative chemicals eventually is further oxidized into carbon dioxide and water but its better to have adequate ventilation to get rid of the indoor pollutants than start to oxidize them.

 

[Vitnir]

Air purifiers are not recommended for normal use by anyone, you simply dont benefit from them, not sure if its true in very heavily polluted parts of the world though. If your already allergic it might help to reduce your symptoms. An air purifier that works would in my opinion be one that simply filtrates the air through a particle filter, the filter must however be changed often to avoid microbial growth in the filter and this means a high maintenance cost. To get rid of organic pollutants in the air an activated carbon filter would work but again, high maintenance cost for those. So basically anyone who says they have a cheap device that magically will remove smell and pollutants with no or little maintencance costs are selling snake oil.

 

[Vitnir]

Ok now I saw you were talking about a cats litter box, I guess the smell is from ammonia from the cats urine, obvious solution (sorry) is to change sand more often. Most of the urine will be trapped with the sand clotting up but small particles of sand will escape the showel and eventually you need to change the sand completely.

 

[epepke]

I was researching air purifiers – with the aim of reducing the smell around the cat litter box. Someone recommended the BioZone that apparently uses "photoplasma" technology. Look Here for their "scientific explanation" of how it works:

(And more.)

Does this sound kosher, to anyone who actually knows about this stuff? Or is it BS?

Thanks in advance.

Short-wave UV is usually used to kill stuff. It works, and it's pretty safe, except for direct human exposure, where it can cause melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma. But still, there used to be UV bulbs in hand driers long ago.

I doubt it would do much for cat box odors, though.

 

[DangerousBeliefs]

We use air purifers... (fan through filter)... we use them so we don't have to dust so often around here.

It's hard to say why the house gets so dusty, but I suspect it has mostly come from the very large construction site several miles north of us.

I have a very easy recommendation to get rid of stinky cat smell.... I hate cats.

But if you can't get rid of'em... you might consider automated cleaning.

http://www.littermaid.com/

 

[Vitnir]

Large particles don't enter buildings much and the ratio outdoor/indoor for small particles (<5 microns) tends to be >1. Much of the indoor particles are generated by activities such as smoking, cooking or burning, if you remove those sources outdoor to indoor transport may start to be significant, larger dust particles are mostly generated by textiles. If you live next to a road particles may come from tire wear, wear from engines and diesel particles from incomplete combustion.

UV-light sources are very good ozone generators btw which was what I ment when I said to stay clear from ozone generators.

I have tested an electrostatic dust filter myself which I borrowed from work and the amount of dust accumulating on surfaces are indeed dramatically reduced. Electrostatic filters however may also emitt ozone which is why I didnt want it around for long.

 

[patnray]

I don't think an air filter will help that much. We use a covered litter box. It includes a carbon filter in the top vent, but I'm not convinced the filter does much and we gave up replacing it long ago. But the cover definitely helps. We also change the litter frequently. We keep our box on our enclosed patio and installed a pet door panel that fits in the sliding door track.

 

[BPSCG]

I don't think an air filter will help that much. We use a covered litter box. It includes a carbon filter in the top vent, but I'm not convinced the filter does much and we gave up replacing it long ago. But the cover definitely helps. We also change the litter frequently. We keep our box on our enclosed patio and installed a pet door panel that fits in the sliding door track.

Have you tried using clumping litter? I used to use the inexpensive clay stuff and it really didn't control the smell very well. Switched to the clumping stuff and even with two cats, you don't get the smell. The clumping litter is more expensive, but there's a lot less wastage than with regular clay litter, because all you throw out is the clunped-up cat urine, so it may work out to be no more expensive.

In any case, it's gotta be a lot less expensive than a bunch of high-tech gee-whiz gizmos.

 

[RichardR]

Thanks for the information. I think I understand – it might reduce the smell a bit but the ozone is a by-product I can do without.

Actually, the smell isn't that bad. It's just that you can smell cat litter. Clumping litters do mean you don't get the ammonia smell. Btw, I had a Littermaid litter tray and they suck. The one I have now is the best available and is called the Litter Robot. It actually reduces smell (and maintenance) to the absolute minimum. Believe it or not, I found out about it on this cat litter discussion forum! There truly is a discussion forum for everything, somewhere.

As an aside, are ozone filters for pools and hot tubs a bad idea too?

 

[roger]

Richard,

We discussed this a bit over a year ago. The poster CSSMariner posted quite a bit about it, as it was his business for the last 10 years. I don't know if he is still around to answer your question, or if what he was posting was factual.Nonetheless, here is the thread.

 

[_Q_]

Thanks for pointing out that thread, Roger. I completely missed it when it was "live".

(I'm also pleased to see that a thread that hasn't been posted to in over a year is still there for you to reference.)


_Q_

 

[RichardR]

We discussed this a bit over a year ago. The poster CSSMariner posted quite a bit about it, as it was his business for the last 10 years. I don't know if he is still around to answer your question, or if what he was posting was factual.Nonetheless, here is the thread.

Thanks. I didn't realize these BioZone things were the same as ionizers until today.

 

[Vitnir]

The website of CCSMariner is down atm, if his system produces ozone at levels of 50ppb its not deadly and I agree with him there. However I don't agree that it would improve the indoor air quality in any way. The human way of perceiving air as "fresh" is actually quite stupid since we are talking about chemicals that are highly irritative in higher doses. At low concentrations irritative chemicals are perceived as fresh something that perfume makers take advantage of, at higher concentrations the same perfume cause nausea.