A Breath of Fresh Air
Jun 22 '00 (Updated Jul 13 '00)
This season, when you put your AC units in the window, add an electrostatic filter for a breath of fresh air. This inexpensive and easy to use accessory will turn your window AC unit into a clean air generator. The results are amazing.
The AC unit in our bedroom is the least used one in out house. Consequently, we relegated our oldest AC unit there. This year, our clunker needed some TLC so I headed down to the local Home Depot. They had their usual collection of generic AC accessories in a display by the door. I grabbed a few things that I needed, and then I noticed an electrostatic air filter. The package claimed to trap 99.7 percent of particles from .245 - 80 microns. Unfortunately, I had left my bag of .245 micron, test particles in my other jeans. What the heck! It was only $8, and my wife and I both have dust allergies. I decided to splurge.
When I got the filter home, and opened the package, I found a large pad inside about 1/2 inch thick composed of three layers of foam, one black, one white and one blue. My old AC unit has a filter on a plastic frame that slides through a slit just under the air outlet. Between the thin plastic struts is a foam filter, as thin as the ham on a British Rail sandwich -- think transparent. Obviously I could not use this slit, so I just laid my old filter aside.
The front casing on my AC unit is just a push fit, with little plastic tabs on each side. A careful push and squeeze removed it. It only took a few seconds with the kitchen scissors, to cut a rectangle of the new pad to size. Being careful to put the black side out, as directed on the package, I clipped my new pad in place. There was plenty left over to make a filter for another AC unit.
That was that really, until the first warm evening. We switched it on, and went to sleep, When we awoke the air was sparkly clean. Honest, this was amazing. I normally have the sensitivity of a garbage truck, full of concrete, on a steep hill. Air quality just isn't a "guy" thing. This was like a cool breeze on a spring morning. That's a cool breeze on a mountaintop in Tibet, not the brown soup that passes for air in New Jersey.
I have only been using it for a few days now, so I cannot vouch for its durability. The package says that you should wash it once a month and it has a 3-year guarantee. Even if it only lasted one year, it is a great buy for $4 a window. Every AC unit in our house has one now. The one I used was "The Web," but I suspect that whatever electrostatic filter your local home-warehouse carries, will work just as well.
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Location: NJ, USA
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