Air purifiers & dust. Worth it?

JustAnotherSaver

I can't believe how dusty this house gets, it's ridiculous.

Granted, I don't hoover daily or wipe surfaces down daily. I don't have the time to do it daily. Or rather I do have the time but then if I'm doing that then I don't have the time for something else so something somewhere will have to give.

Had a look on how to try and keep dust down - answers I expected like hoover, change bedding. Not sure how changing the bedding is going to help my TV stand, TV, sideboard in the living room, PC desk, PC in the computer room etc.

I know if air purifiers worked then you'd need them in every room to cut it down in every room so that'd end up getting costly but was just wondering - do they make a significant difference?

Or are we talking having to get huge industrial sized purifiers running 24/7 to make any significant difference, which nobody is going to do & therefore this option is a non-starter?

_Sam_

Taking the shoes off at the front door can help keep dust down. Robot vacuum cleaner on everyday, so that less dust on the floor to be kicked up when you walk.

JustAnotherSaver

_Sam_ said:

Taking the shoes off at the front door can help keep dust down. Robot vacuum cleaner on everyday, so that less dust on the floor to be kicked up when you walk.

Hmm. I've always been against the robot hoovers (from the viewpoint I can do it myself when I do it).

Do you have any experience of them? I may have to price them up. Just some concerns....

Whenever I've seen them in use, they always seem to be in pristine laminated floored / tiled videos where there's perhaps 1 spec of dirt on the pristine floor.

Well I can assure you that's not my house.

Living room is carpeted with rug on top in front of fire.

To get from the living room in to the diner there's a bit of a ledge because there's a doorframe that separates the two rooms.

Diner is carpeted, kitchen tiled but it's flat between the two.

Upstairs is flat & carpeted but narrow walkway in a lot of parts.

Just wonder how well one of these robot cleaners would get on in this setup since I don't have the idealistic video friendly home.

ka7e

I have a cheap generic one ((£120ish) and it's fine on hard floor surfaces, unless you have very dark flooring (it doesn't reflect the laser properly). Short-pile carpet is fair-to-middling, it would not work on deep-pile ones. You have to keep the floor clear of too many obstructions and you get magnetic strips to stop it going into areas where there are lots of cables or kid's toys on the floor.

Mine tries to manoeuvre around corners and chairs legs and usually gets it right but will sometimes go in a loop and keep going over places it's already cleaned. It has a 50/50 chance of getting stuck on the edges of thin rugs, so I remove them first. Door bars are no problem, a deeper drop might make it stall. It is brilliant for getting dust bunnies out from under beds and sofas, if it has room to get under them.

Mine has a water tank so could possibly be used to mop the floor, but it's not very effective. It should do room mapping, but I can't get it to sync with either Alexa or the internet (probably my lack of tech savvy).

My son has a state-of-the-art Roomba that  learns the floor layout of each room, sends a map of area cleaned and docks and empties itself! It also photographs obstacles and sends a picture to his phone, a vital feature having seen the carnage caused by a robot vacuum encountering dog poo!

FreeBear

JustAnotherSaver said: Living room is carpeted with rug on top in front of fire.

Do you use this fire ?

I have a multifuel stove in my lounge, and it is surprising just how much dust is thrown out when cleaning out the ash pan.

JustAnotherSaver

FreeBear said:

JustAnotherSaver said: Living room is carpeted with rug on top in front of fire.

Do you use this fire ?

I have a multifuel stove in my lounge, and it is surprising just how much dust is thrown out when cleaning out the ash pan.

Well not at the moment with it being a little on the warm side but yeah we use it of the weekend in colder weather. Would use it through the week too but it's a little pointless by the time we get home (call it 6pm at the earliest).

I call it a fire but I suppose the modern term is multifuel stove. I have a proper (well it was advertised as supposed to be) fire hoover. I know that wont be a magic wand but it helps.

I bring in a rubble sack, take the ash pan out, put it inside the rubble sack, carry it outside & chuck it in the bin.

Don't worry - no chance of the bin setting on fire. I don't do it when it's warm

Novice_investor101

Why the need to keep the dust down? Is it to maintain the cleanliness of the house or due to allergies? 

I’m allergic to dust mites & found a dehumidifier really helped. Low humidity seems to keep the dust mite population down so I’m not as sniffly. A cordless hoover helped me clean more. It’s much easier to grab a little handheld & run over the parts of the house that get dusty quickest. 10mins every couple of days is enough to keep on top of it. 

JustAnotherSaver

Well after talking to my wife tonight I realised I've totally used the wrong product to ask the question, I think.

I think I was referring to a humidifier, not an air purifier. But anyway...

Novice_investor101 said:

Why the need to keep the dust down? Is it to maintain the cleanliness of the house or due to allergies? 

I’m allergic to dust mites & found a dehumidifier really helped. Low humidity seems to keep the dust mite population down so I’m not as sniffly. A cordless hoover helped me clean more. It’s much easier to grab a little handheld & run over the parts of the house that get dusty quickest. 10mins every couple of days is enough to keep on top of it. 

Well I don't really like the look of it for start.

It's not worrying about what visitors think. Far from it. We don't get enough of that for that to be a concern anyway (not that I'm complaining actually). >I< don't like it. You see when the light hits surfaces & it's just dust.

I don't know, maybe I'm a clean-freak or something. I just hate it. That's why when we get the kitchen re-done, the worktop will be a surface that shows up dirt so I can see where to clean & not the horrible one we inherited that hides dust, bits of food, spills etc.

But yes, allergies also. Or reactions at least. I'm not allergic to anything but in bed I will often get a stuffy nose. My wife has asthma & also suffers from stuffy nose at night.

My wife's been asking about a handheld for a while now. Might be time because after having a gander this afternoon, I'm not totally sold on robot-hoovers.

Especially with their price.

_Sam_

ka7e said:

My son has a state-of-the-art Roomba that  learns the floor layout of each room, sends a map of area cleaned and docks and empties itself! It also photographs obstacles and sends a picture to his phone, a vital feature having seen the carnage caused by a robot vacuum encountering dog poo!

Sounds nearly like a Mars exploration rover!

I don't have a robot hoover yet but it is at the absolute top of the list of appliances to buy for the new bungalow. With dogs in the house we do need daily vacuuming just to keep dog hair at bay, and I'm hoping in the bungalow it should work well with everything on the same level. I'd love a state of the art but for now will have to settle for a (hopefully good) budget version! 

De-humidifier is a useful thing generally I think as the climate here is often more humid than not. It should help with damp, mould, condensation, things like that. Also on our list to buy (but closer to the bottom haha)

It's good to know it helps reduce population of dust mites, but with dust itself I'm not quite sure - figuring if the air is dryer, the dust would dryer so would be lighter and so would be able to fly around that much more (as opposed to being wet and heavy and settling?) 

Edit: we have the air purifier already, keep it in the bedroom with the purpose of having a cleaner air during sleep. I suppose it helps with flying dust too, it has a HEPA filter and its original purpose is to help people with allergies though we just got it thinking of dogs and their dust and creating healthier environment.

Keithy13

Robot vacuum is the way to go. Bought one 2 years ago (works with Alexa). Just say Alexa Tell {name} to clean and off it goes, when finished tell {name} to go home and it goes back to charge point. You can also set a schedule or control it with the remote control (or an app if you have a smartphone). We are in a bungalow, carpets and a rug in the lounge and bedrooms and cushionfloor or whatever its called in the kitchen and dining room. Only downside is it doesn't empty itself.

JustAnotherSaver

Keithy13 said:

Robot vacuum is the way to go. Bought one 2 years ago (works with Alexa). Just say Alexa Tell {name} to clean and off it goes, when finished tell {name} to go home and it goes back to charge point. You can also set a schedule or control it with the remote control (or an app if you have a smartphone). We are in a bungalow, carpets and a rug in the lounge and bedrooms and cushionfloor or whatever its called in the kitchen and dining room. Only downside is it doesn't empty itself.

I'd have to see one in action in my house I'm afraid. I'm just not convinced by them and the price they are, I'm not really wanting to take an expensive gamble to find out they don't tick the box.

I could well be wrong. I'm not saying I know it all, far from it. I'd also like to be wrong. I just don't want to spend that money to find out whether I am or not.

So as it is right now, I just think I'd set it off in the living room & it'd do that and the hall. It may or may not struggle with the rug so that may or may not need moving out in advance & then it may or may not need putting on the rug individually.

I'd have to get you a photo I guess but without seeing them tackle these things, I don't believe it would make it from the living room to the diner. I think the frame/ledge/step would be too much of an obstacle. I don't even run the Henry over it, I lift it over --- so I'd have to keep my eye open for when it's finished (which sounds a bit annoying), go pick it up & set it off in the diner. Once there I'm sure it'd do that & the kitchen very well as it's all flat so no concerns there.

I'd then have to wait for it to finish, pick it up once again & trot off upstairs. It'd do the landing fine, spare room fine, bathroom fine, not 100% convinced about our bedroom but probably fine & I think it'd struggle with the box room due to what's in there so I'd have to remove stuff for it to do it. Kinda defeating the purpose.

Then I'd have to get out the Henry and do the stairs myself.