How about a new thread on air purifiers (with a little angst thrown in)?

February 17, 2010

Seriously, I have been building up a list of questions while continuing to

research.

I was narrowing down to two brands of purifiers for a couple of different

situations: Blue Air and Austin Air.

I was considering Austin Air for my child's classroom, as she is getting a

headache at school pretty much all day every day. Actually, all three of my

children are coming home from a school building with moldy odors in their

clothing, and they are symptomatic - just about every day even though they got a

" clean " air sample in her classroom (Total spore count was below 1000 on a

Burkard, but they didn't say on the test results if the machine was calibrated,

sampling time, or HVAC system status, time of day, building status---you get the

picture.

Even I, a mere layman, could tell that the testing was merely to allay fears,

incomplete, at best. All along, I told them that my request was to look for the

source of musty odors in the school building, and to get recommendations for

reducing them. Of course, I am the only one who can smell the odors. (That

makes me the crazy one, right?) An " environmental scientist " did the

" investigation. " I think his training is " in-house " and he may not have any

actual mold credentials, though that doesn't HAVE to prevent someone from just

being a good sleuth.

The building is on a slab, and the classroom is carpeted, and was recently steam

cleaned. This did improve the odors somewhat. I think there are MERV 4's in

each classroom's individual HVAC system, most of which are probably 15 years

old, the same age as the building. The air return intake in the classroom is

always dirty, and there is just about always black dust on the vent covers and

on the surrounding ceiling . THAT wasn't sampled, huh? There is always a lot

of ambient dust in the classroom, none of which was sampled.

A big roof leak was found about forty feet down the roof line from my daughter's

classroom, and no sampling was done on the " water " spots, even though it had

been there long enough to grow what they said were " mushrooms. " No air sampling

was done in the attic spaces. As far as I know, the HVAC pro only did

preventative maintenance and said the system was free of visible mold. BUT, he

didn't say he looked the system over thoroughly for any leaks or breaks.

Aside from the larger question of, " Do I pull my kids out of this school really

soon to protect them? " (They each have one mold gene a la Shoemaker, and they

have already been made sick from a mold situation at home that was resolved in

'09, but are no longer " flaming " symptomatic at home like they are at school, is

it realistic to think that a simple Blue Air or Austin Air purifier (that also

removes VOC's since the investigation leaves so many unanswered questions)

placed in the classroom could protect my child enough for her to be well and to

to actually be able to learn new information in this place? Is this merely

naive and hopeful?

The children were getting cholestyramine and Low Dose Naltrexone, but we are

stopping all meds (including any that might contain nutrasweet!), looking for

anti-gliadin antibodies, and monitoring MSH and MMP9 in at least two of the

children, and may start in the third child, but I am still working on pricing on

the labs with the lab, insurance company, and doctors office. We are following

Shoemaker's five step re-exposure protocol, and my daughter already tested show

positive for exposure on the VCS testing after three days with no CSM, even

though I did the same thing, with a double mold gene, and tested negative.

Last, our doctor has agreed to do a Shoemaker phone consult. SO, maybe I'll

just wait to see what the man himself says!

February 18, 2010

I have had just about every air filter on the market at one time or another. The

Blue air had such a bad plastic smell,I wanted to return it, they said it would

go away in a few days. It did not go away, and then because I had use it for

over a week, they would not take it back. I would like to add that I was not

terribly MCS at the time. I never found that even the most expensive air filter

did anywhere near as good as sitting outside, which is what I do now.

>

> Seriously, I have been building up a list of questions while continuing to

research.

>

> I was narrowing down to two brands of purifiers for a couple of different

situations: Blue Air and Austin Air.

>

February 18, 2010

My thought is that an air purifier may 'help', but that it's unlikely to

completely solve the problem. You'd presumable need a very quiet one, and very

close to where your child would be sitting for most of the day. I had a super

air purifier in our former, moldy, home, and, while it helped, I'm feeling much

better now that we're in a different, non-moldy, home.

May I also mention that I homeschool (and always intended to, even before I

became ill), and that it's a complete joy? In my previous life, I was a public

school junior high teacher (in a basement room that probably suffered from both

mold and pesticide exposure . . .), and now that my children have reached junior

high age, I'm amazed how far ahead of most of my former students they are in

both academic skills and personal/social maturity. If you think that pulling

your daughter out of school might help her health, you could experiment with

schooling her over the summer and see how it goes. If you'd like any ideas and

advice in this area, feel free to e-mail me off list.

February 18, 2010

I have two Austin Airs. I like them. Some think they are noisey. I think the

noise they make is soothing so I like that. They make a 'woooshing' sound that

is soft. I like it particularly in the bedroom, where it acts like 'white

noise' and blocks other noise from disturbing me at night.

When air filter becomes dirty the sound isn't so smooth, so its a good

indication filter needs to be changed.

The only down side to the Austin that you have to turn the air filter upside

down, remove four screws with a phillips screw driver to get to prefilter to

change it. The machine is a little heavy 'for me' but I can do it, but I don't

change the prefilter probably as much as I should because of that. I decided to

a 'prefilter' of my own around outside of machine to keep 'inside' prefilter

cleaner longer. I get material at fabric store but it isn't good looking to

have it on the outside.

>

> Seriously, I have been building up a list of questions while continuing to

research.

>

> I was narrowing down to two brands of purifiers for a couple of different

situations: Blue Air and Austin Air.

>

> I was considering Austin Air for my child's classroom, as she is getting a

headache at school pretty much all day every day. Actually, all three of my

children are coming home from a school building with moldy odors in their

clothing, and they are symptomatic - just about every day even though they got a

" clean " air sample in

February 18, 2010

Barb,

Don't know which austin unit you have. we have a health mate that has a

pre-filter on it around the heavier filter unit. We used to take it out and

vacumm and then wash the prefilter every couple of months. I spoke with someone

at A.A. and they said that you could also turn off the unit and vacuum all

around the grated filter area with a brush and that would also serve to keep the

pre-filter clean. Which means only taking it out to clean maybe twice or three

times a year. As far as the filters they last alot longer and my sense is that

unless you're soaking up alot of contaminants it shouldn't require any

replacing. If you or anyone has another take on that, please do jump in.

Thanx,Sam

--- On Thu, 2/18/10, barb b w <barb1283@...>. I decided to a 'prefilter'

of my own around outside of machine to keep 'inside' prefilter cleaner longer.

I get material at fabric store but it isn't good looking to have it on the

outside.

February 18, 2010

I know we can vacuum the Austin pre-filter, thought you can't wash it.Â What do

you use tand how do you wash it?Â I was told by the store where I bought my

Austins and IQ that the charcoal filtersÂ can last as long as 5 yrs.

________________________________

From: Sam <yaddayadda53@...>

Sent: Thu, February 18, 2010 2:07:09 PM

Subject: Re: [] Re: How about a new thread on air purifiers (with a

little angst thrown in)?

Â