Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 26, 2022 19:46:14 GMT -8
I bought this Coway air filter and am still waiting for it to arrive. My office tends to get dusty so I'm just looking to control that a bit. In preparation for the filter, I spent 7 hours today cleaning my office/residence. I tend to vacuum fairly regularly but I haven't deep-dusted in a very long time. And my lungs could tell that the air was getting a little stuffy. The reason it took 7 hours (and I'm only about 70% done) is that I have a lot of shelves, electronics, knickknacks, and other stuff that requires a certain amount of logistics just to move so that you can get at the deep dust. But the hard part is over. I've still got to do the anteroom that is mostly my retro computing station, bed, and storage. There's not that much complicated stuff to move so that part will go much faster. And I still need to do some dusting of a number of shelves. I figured given that since I was vacuuming and dusting, both high a low, there was little point in dusting the various flat surfaces (unless it was a high, difficult to reach place...and I was up on the ladder anyway). It's just going to get a layer of dust from all the cleaning and moving of the stuff around. I settled on the Coway because it had great reviews, looks good, and the filters are less expensive than most.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 28, 2022 8:23:18 GMT -8
The Coway air filter (they call it a "purifier") arrived FedEx yesterday. The driver was apologetic that it didn't get here on Christmas Eve. He said with the ice and snow on the road, he didn't want to chance getting stuck in my parking lot. I told him no problem. And then he went on to congenially say that his boss then told all the drivers that they had to deliver all their packages even if they had to work Christmas Day. If they didn't, he said they would be fire. I suspect a certain amount of hyperbole. He said he didn't work Christmas Day and yet he wasn't fired (that is, he was still delivering this package on Tuesday). But I don't forget that these are human beings with lives, families, and hopes-and-dreams, that they are not just a means to an Amazonian commercial end. A quaint notion, these days. And I'm not virtue-signaling. It's just that I'm highly sympathetic to anyone with a Y chromosome who is diligently working. The forces are now stacked against honest, hard-working men. We've got to stick together. Here is apparently the official spiel on the life of the filters: If this was a Hewlett-Packard machine, you could expect the "replace filter" light to come on earlier than needed and that you would need to replace both filters (whether both needed it or not) and with a "genuine" HP filter or the machine would lock up. This is what they used to do with some of their printers – a policy (according to a friend of mine) that they have recently backed off of. But I suspect you can do this once a year, at most, no matter what the warning light says. A set of Coway filters are $40.58. A set of off-brand filters runs $29.99...and I would be sure to purchase the off-brand ones when the time came. It has four basic settings (basically according to fan speed): Auto (adjusts speed as the sensor deems necessary), 1, 2, 3, and Eco. On setting 1, you barely hear it. I had it on that setting overnight and really couldn't hear it. During the day I had it on 2 where it is more robust but not at all noisy. The heater in my room makes far more noise. With the TV on, I don't hear it at all. Will this keep the dust down? I suppose it can't hurt. And it never hurts to remove pollen and other irritants from the air. We'll see if my instances of sneezing and itchy eyes goes down.
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 28, 2022 21:18:47 GMT -8
The more dust which accumulates on the first layer of a filter, the better it filters out future dust. There is a balance between optimum filtering and over straining of the machine's motor. I believe one can go much longer between changing filters than the manufacturer recommends and get a better result to boot.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 30, 2022 9:54:13 GMT -8
I realize these domestic tales are inherently uninteresting. But I like "journaling" (as they call it) about such things from time to time. That is especially so because, to some extent, my home-office is my universe. Well, my universe is a lot cleaner now after about 18-20 hours of thorough cleaning. And it's not like I'm a slob and this was 7 years of cleaning left heretofore undone. I vacuum regularly and dust some of the more noticable things. But my home-office resembles Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe (haven't been there in decades, by the way). The more knickknacks, trinkets, and bookshelves you have, the harder it is to clean. And so the dust adds up. And it did. I'm sure the dust situation is exacerbated by my lack of air conditioning. To cool the place down, I open the front door and blow a fan inward with cooler air. I realize now I'll likely have to buy some kind of portable air conditioner. I don't need much. Just enough to take the edge off on those rare spells of warm weather. If anyone has any suggestions on which unit to purchase, let me know.
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 30, 2022 16:14:42 GMT -8
Our central air conditioner went out this summer during a weeks-long heat wave of 100+ degrees daily. The repairman could not get to us for almost a week, so I bought a small window unit from Target. It was less than $200.00. It is very basic, but did a good job of keeping the master bedroom cool and even kept the master bedroom, second bedroom and the hall connecting the two, pretty cool. There is no thermostat, but as I was not going to use it long-term, this was not a problem. If I were going to use such a unit as my main air conditioner, I would get one with a thermostat. I would probably go with a GE unit. I have an old GE window unit, which I must have bought more than 15 years back, and it still works. Knock on wood. I am sure LG or Amana units are also good.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2022 8:22:38 GMT -8
Thanks for the advice, Mr. HVAKung. That GE unit looks like it might work.
The only feasible window I have for venting is 37" wide x 14-3/4" tall. The GE unit lists:
Window Opening Minimum Height (Inches) 13.375 Window Opening Minimum Width (Inches) 26.063 Window Opening Maximum Height (Inches) 13.375 Window Opening Maximum Width (Inches) 39.25
I don't have a "standard double-hung" window to put it in. Assuming this GE unit would physically fit (and it looks to), I would need custom installation.
My room size s about 600 square feet. Given that I don't need to create an icebox, I was figuring 8000 BTU would be more than enough. The room is in a basement and never gets too hot. I'm just talking about knocking it down from maybe a peak of 80 degrees to maybe 75. Perhaps the 6400 BTU of the GE unit would be more than enough for that. What do you think?
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 31, 2022 12:24:47 GMT -8
I would imagine that a 6400 BTU unit would be more than enough for your needs. You don't have to deal with the harsh conditions we have here where the difference between the outdoor and indoor temperatures can be 20-30 degrees. Getting your room 5 degrees cooler should be a breeze (pun intended) with a good window unit. Fyi, I never run either of my 5000 BTU units full blast and still find them effective.
One warning. Once your weather turns cold, there is a tendency for air to flow from the outside through the unit into your home. I can remove my unit and box it up until I need it, so this is not a problem. If you are going to have a unit permanently installed, you will probably need to have some type of cover to place over the unit when it is not in use. I have used an old blanket for the other unit which we have on the opposite side of the house.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 2, 2023 9:28:46 GMT -8
I'm thinking, Mr. HVAKung, that a portable air conditioner such as this one might work best for me. I could take one of the panes of glass out of this louvered setup. It would then be a matter of trying to adapt the unit's window insert to fit over it. Because there is no window to close over it (and thus hold it in place), some kind of extra braces would likely have to be rigged up, one on each side. And due to the mechanical structure of the louvers, getting a tight fit would be difficult. You'd have to plug the gaps, top and bottom, with something. Or...I have extra panes of this glass. One could be cut a little short and the vent could be rigged through this. If you look at one of the install videos, the vent is flattened down on the output part of it. It looks like it could be 3" tall, maybe 4" tops. It's one of those things where I wouldn't know what worked until I tried it. --- This SereneLife unit has better reviews and is supposedly pretty quiet.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 2, 2023 12:41:17 GMT -8
I have never owned such a portable A/C as the price difference between a window unit and such a portable unit was significant. But the price of the unit you linked to is reasonable. I have come across a few such portable units in my life. (In the homes of friends) I found them to be effective and more attractive than window units. They can be, after all, put in a closet when you don't need them. As regards closing up any gaps in windows, this type of strip is commonly available. There is much cheaper product all around. I would not buy expensive strip as you will probably replace it with new strip when you remove the exhaust panel from the window.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 6, 2023 21:27:20 GMT -8
One thing I like about this air filter – which is probably inherent to the type, not just this particular brand – is that it removes the smell of whatever you had for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. As much as I might like pizza or scrambled eggs, I don't want my home-office to have that lingering food smell. And I'd say this unit takes care of that very effectively...certainly within an hour or less.
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