Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)We live in a dusty place--agriculture nearby, windy conditions and a relatively dry climate mean constant dust. Plus we are in an area of high air pollution with coal-fired power plants. I find lots of dust in the house, and I know it makes me uncomfortable. We purchased the EcoQuest Fresh Air Purifier during a home show, and I find it lives up to its promises of cleaner air, though there is certainly a downside to using it (more about later.)
How it works
Some air purifiers work by filtering the air--they bring IN the air with a fan and blow it across a filter or precipitator to remove the dust. But the EcoQuest is different; it bombards the air with ions that make the dust fall down and break apart. While this sounds like science fiction, it is a well-known method of precipitating particles in many applications. Therefore, one EcoQuest works on a large area--in our case we use one for the main part of the house which is open plan and find it controls dust in the great room, the upstairs hallway and kitchen. (maybe a 1700 sq ft area.) When we need dust control in the bedrooms, we just move it in there. Normally, ours sits on the top of the stairs where it can reach the great room, hallways and kitchen.
This is the major advantage of the EcoQuest--since it doesn't rely on bringing air into it, you can position it to cover a large part of a house.
Appearance and Operation
The Ecoquest Fresh Air Purifier is a squarish box, black in front and with faux rosewood plastic on the side. I guess it is about as unobtrusive as you can get, not pretty but not ugly either. It is the size of four or five phone books standing on end. There is a front panel with lcd readout and press-membrane style controls.
The unit has an ultraviolet light that generates ozone and then inside, there is a plate of ceramic covered with a metal screen. This is the ion generator.
The fan has several speeds, from one to five, five being the loudest and fastest.
The UV lamp in our unit, with fairly constant use, has been in service for two years and has not shown any signs of burning out. So far, so good. You can choose settings based on the size of the area you wish to clean (small bedroom, car interior, large open room). We live in a pretty large open area, so we usually leave the unit on the 1750 sq ft setting.
You can choose how long to leave on the unit from 2,4, to 6 hours continuous operation, on high. This setting is for cleaning the house while you are gone. We choose to use this on days when the dust is getting to us, and we leave the house.
When we come home we notice:
1. The dust on the furniture is smaller in texture, and the carpets feel soft. The claim that the dust is broken down seems to be true.
2. We notice the lightning-struck smell of ozone. Some people find ozone a pleasant, fresh smell, but in large amounts, it is an irritant to me, and more than a little will give me a royal headache and makes me cough.
The Down Side
So, now, to the down side of the EcoQuest. The UV light generates ozone, and the ionizer plate apparently does as well. Ozone for many people, especially asthma suffers, is quite irritating. It's actually a toxic gas in large amounts. So one has to go cautiously with the EcoQuest and air out the house. Ozone is used by fire remediation to purify air after a disaster, and also to remove stubborn odors. It's a valid technique to purify air, as long as you remove the ozone afterwards. On its own, ozone is actually a pollutant. But it is a reactive type of molecule and breaks down, so getting rid of it is not difficult.
Maintenance
Monthly maintenance is required if you use the EcoQuest regularly or if the air is dirty. If you forget, a light goes on, indicating it's time to clean the ion generating plate. There is a ceramic plate inside you remove by unscrewing a back plate Then you vacuum off the plate and dust out the inside carefully. This takes us about 15 minutes.
Parts to replace would include the ceramic plate and the UV lamp. So far, in two years of constant use, we have not had to replace anything.
Summary
The EcoQuest lives up to its claim of reducing dust by breaking it down and by generating air-freshening ozone. However, too much ozone is a pollutant in itself. Therefore, you have to use it carefully and be mindful that if you cannot tolerate ozone, this may not be the purifier for you. As long as we don't crank up the ozone, we are quite happy with the unit. We have enjoyed good operating life with little maintenance so far.
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