Ionic Air Purifiers

Brent has been complaining about all the dust and allergens that have been accumulating on the stacks of important papers in our office suite this winter. The cleaning lady doesn't really do much dusting, and it feels like one of us always has a cold or a sinus condition. Once winter is over, we all have seasonal allergies that take over. While I can't do anything about the germs that the kids bring home from school (and that I bring in to NYC to share with Brent), I've been wondering if an Ionic Air Purifier would help in the office, but I have no idea which kind to buy or how much to spend.

I have seen them for several hundred bucks in some of the specialty catalogs, but you can also find an ionic air purifier as cheap as $29.99 online. For an extra ten bucks, I can get an electrostatic ionic air purifier with an active carbon filter and UV light that promises to provide active oxygen, remove that fusty smell that Brent can't stand, and quietly kill the germs and bacteria in the air. An tower-style ionic air purifier that is 17 inches tall and 6 inches in diameter (a little bigger than the coffee maker, smaller than the fridge) will cover 500 square feet, perfect for a kid's bedroom or in our case, the office. I worry about whether an ionic air purifier requires a lot of maintenance, but according to the web site, there are no messy filters to replace. Someone needs to wipe the blades clean about once every three weeks, but that doesn't sound as difficult as cleaning out the coffee machine or the water cooler.

Then there's a pricier HEPA IONIC AIR PURIFIER CLEANER OZONE IONIZER BREEZER on the same site for $179.95. The device is a 12.5" box instead of a taller cylinder but seems to cover a much larger area, up to 3500 square feet, which is larger than most NYC apartments! It requires a HEPA filter, but a bit of online research shows that HEPA filters are more effective than any other type of air filter at capturing dust, pollen, ragweed, dust mites, mold spores and other allergens. This type of ionic air purifier would go a long way towards reducing sneezing, sinus and ear irritations, asthma and itchy eyes.

If any of our Roxiticus Desperate Housewives have any experience with ionic air purifiers, please post your comments below. We'll keep you up to date on the air quality in our office, even if Brent posts that I am still full of hot air.