Evidently, Matt and I have a serious air quality problem in our house. I have no doubt that I contribute quite a bit to that problem with all of my projects. I’m continually creating dust and using products (paints, polyurethanes, and other chemicals). And then on top of that, we share our home with two animals — a 10-pound cat and a 100-pound dog. Our cat Felicity leaves her fur behind on all of the furniture, while our dog Cooper leaves behind at least a chihuahua-sized amount of fur on the floor every single week. (That’s gotten better since we got our our robot vacuum.)
But the air quality in our house is still awful (which I’ll show you in a minute), so now I’m on the hunt for a really superb air filter/purifier that is specifically made for homes with pets. And if you have any personal experience at all with these — good experiences, bad experiences, recommendations, warnings about brands to stay away from — I’m all ears.
So how do I know our air quality is still pathetic? Well, this is so embarrassing, but I’m going to show you anyway. I mean, this is really embarrassing.
I’ve seen advertisements for these Colorfil air filters on Facebook for a few months now. They claim to be the best air filters for households with pets. And the cool thing is that they start off this really bright pink (okay, maybe I just bought them because they’re pink ? )…
And then as they do their job and filter the air, they start to turn more orange. And then as they reach the end of their usefulness, they turn yellow. How long is this supposed to take? Well, I believe their subscriptions (for which I signed up) automatically send new filters every two months. So presumably, these are supposed to last two months.
So I put my brand new bright pink air filter into the air intake in our hallway on Friday, and here’s what it looks like as of this morning.
Yep. That’s a yellow, used up filter at the end of its life that needs to be changed.
WHAT…THE…HECK? I mean, obviously with all of the dust from my projects, and with two shedding animals, I don’t expect the air in our house to be dust-free, or allergen-free, or (especially depending on what project I’m working on, and what chemicals I may be using) odor-free. But I most certainly wasn’t expecting for our new color-change filter to go from bright and new to “change me now” yellow in two days.
After seeing how fast that filter was changing colors, the very first thing I did yesterday (and first thing this morning) was to open up all the windows in our house to get some fresh air inside. Thank goodness we’re having beautiful weather right now, so it’s not too hot outside for open windows.
And then I immediately got online and started searching for air filters/air purifiers, because obviously, something needs to be done ASAP. No wonder I always have a stuffy nose and feel like I’m not breathing as freely as I should!
Of course, once I started searching for air filters and air purifiers, then every single ad I saw on Facebook and Instagram was nothing but air filters and air purifiers, and all of them claimed to be “THE VERY BEST AIR PURIFIER/AIR FILTER ON THE MARKET TODAY!!!!” Yeah. Sure. ?
I did go ahead and buy two different things to start. I didn’t want to spend the money on some high dollar purifier until I could do a bit more research (and ask for your input, of course). I don’t mind spending a chunk of money on a really good air purifier, but with all of them claiming to be the very best, it’s hard to know exactly what to get.
So for now, here’s what I got.
First up, I bought some of these Clarifion air ionizers.
These aren’t really air purifiers or air filters. They’re little gadgets that plug into outlets, and then (from my very limited understanding) they produce negative ions that attach to dust, dander, and other particles in the air, weighing them down, and bringing them to the floor where they can get vacuumed up. In other words, they’re supposed to keep that stuff from staying suspended in the air all the time so that the air is fresher.
I actually had a large version of this type of air ionizer about ten years ago, and I do think they work really well. I’ve never seen any this small, though. Hopefully these little ones will work as well as my big one used to work.
And then I bought a couple of these LabCharge ionic air purifiers, which is “THE BEST AIR PURIFIER ON THE MARKET”. ? I think I bought the package of three, and each is supposed to cover 250 square feet.
From what I can tell, this is pretty much the same thing as the little Clarifion ionizers. Neither of these products is what I’d really call an air purifier but hopefully it’ll give us a good start on getting our air quality issues under control.
But in my mind, for something to be an actual air purifier, it would need to have a HEPA filter through which the air is cycled and cleaned so that the filter needs to be cleaned or changed regularly. And that’s where I’d love your input if you have any experience with those. Those are pricier and larger, and if I’m going to spend hundreds of dollars on something that’s large and visible in the room, I want to make sure it actually works. I don’t want to have to cycle through several different brands before I find something that actually works well.
What are your experiences with air purifiers? Have you used one? Have you found one that you really love? And if you’ve found one that is exceptionally good for households with pets (specifically shedding cats and dogs), I’d love to hear about it!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I hope you’ll join me on my DIY and decorating journey! If you want to follow my projects and progress, you can subscribe below and have each new post delivered to your email inbox. That way you’ll never miss a thing!
