Does Not, and Cannot, Work
Written: Nov 16 '04 (Updated Nov 16 '04)
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Pros: Errr... It does nearly nothing at a low operating cost.
Cons: It can't actually clean much air.
The Bottom Line: Great for consumers that want to silently and stylisly pretend they are cleaning their air, but don't actually need an air cleaner.
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| sirwired's Full Review: Sharper Image Ionic Breeze GP SI730 Air Purifier |
The "Ionic Breeze" line of products cannot, by design, actually work.
Understanding why is actually quite simple. For the purposes of this review, we will compare two air purifiers. The Ionic Breeze, and a standard HEPA media filter with a plain, old-fashioned, fan.
We will assume that the Ionic Breeze removes 100% of the pollutants that pass through the device. (It doesn't but I am putting the Ionic Breeze in the most advantagous light possible.) Even better, we will assume that even a HEPA certified purifier removes a puny 10% of the pollutants that pass through. (This is not true, as there is nothing that unreliable about a HEPA media filter, but I am trying to put the Ionic Breeze in the best light possible.)
Now, stick your hand in front of one of these Ionic Breeze units. Feel how little air the thing is moving through that tiny slit? Now, go to your local Sears, or wherever, and turn a random HEPA air purifier on low. Even on low, which is quite quiet, the thing is pushing gale-force winds by comparison through a much larger area.
Lets say that the HEPA filter is moving 100CFM, and our Ionic Breeze is moving 2CFM. (Do those numbers really sound unrealistically bad for the Ionic Breeze? Be honest with yourself.) I don't know what the numbers for the Ionic Breeze actually are, but the thing really doesn't move very much air. Even your unscientific hand feeling the breeze can confirm that.
I think you will have to agree that neither air cleaner can effect air that does not pass through the device. An air cleaner in the living room cannot clean air in the bathroom unless the bathroom air travels into the living room. Your standard HEPA device does this by using a high-volume blower to stir the air around the room. The Ionic Breeze does this by scooting a miniscule quantity of air along with the collector plates.
If there are, say, 100 particles per CFM of air, then the Ionic Breeze can remove 200 particles per minute, if it catches every one of them. Even our outrageously poor hypothetical HEPA filter (in practice, they are much better), can remove 1000 particles per minute.
Yes, the Ionic Breeze is cheap to run, requires no filters, and is silent, but it can't actually clean much air. What good is a silent, cheap to run (but not buy) air cleaner, if it doesn't actually clean much air? If you didn't care about how much crud was removed from the air, why did you buy an air cleaner?
Ah, but some offer up the nasty looking rags after wiping off collector plates as evidence that it does actually work... Okay, wipe your hand over the top of a tall piece of furntiture that you don't dust. How nasty is that? Just about every horizontal surface of your house collects dust, and if you wipe a white rag, or tissue, or whatever, over just about anything that isn't touched for a few weeks, and it will make your rag grey too.
If you would like to compare the Ionic Breeze to something that actually works, run an Ionic Breeze and a Freidrich 400-A air cleaner for a week. (Run the Freidrich on low, if you wish.) Both of those devices are electrostatic precipitators with collector plates. Wipe off the plates after a week. Which one collected more crud? The one that sat there pushing around some puny amount of air, or the one that actually pulled the air through the device?
What about all the testimonials? That would probably be a combination of changing conditions and the Placebo effect. All those miracle breast pills in every women's magazine have testimonials too. I hope nobody is going to argue that those actually work.
What about those "Seals" from reputable organizations on their website? What do the seals say? They both say, essentially: "Removes allergens from the enviornment." This is true. What they don't say is how much was removed. My floor fan in my bedroom removes allergens from the environment because dust sticks to the fan blades, but that doesn't make it a useful air cleaner.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 250
Battery Life: N/A
Noise Level: Almost noiseless
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Epinions.com ID:
sirwired
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Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 3 members
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