Customer Reviews

FreshAir Surround by Vollara (formerly EcoQuest) with ActivePure

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

Hands down this is the best air purifier I ever used. I used the Ionic Breeze and the Oreck XL and they don't even come close to this unit. My friend let me borrow his unit because I was complaining how I was having problems getting rid of my cat odor in my room. Oreck XL was close in getting rid of the odor and The Ionic Breeze was a useless piece of junk. The Ecoquest got rid of my cat odor COMPLETELY.

I would get the ECOQUEST version though cause I think ECOQUEST bought out Alpine and updated the unit with more advance features like the lighted digital display, a "Go Away" feature, and added a remote control. You can get at ebay for around $300 for about the same price as the useless Ionic Breeze.

The unit works well eliminating dust and odor. Most of my friends who have this machine have the same complaint that I do - Maintenance and new parts. They tell you that you never need to buy another filter. This is true, but the lamp ($17) always needs replacing (this is the 3rd one in 18 months) and friends of mine have complained that they have needed to replace the plate many times. Since you cannot buy parts at your local store, you need to get them online and wait while your machine is out of commission. You need to clean the machine at least once a month. It is not like other machines that just snap open. You need to unscrew the back panel, front panel and inside panel. It is amazing how dusty the inside gets! The filters are easy to wash down. Like anything else, when it is working it is great.

I've had my EcoQuest Fresh Air Purifier for five years. I love it. My son and I both have asthma and before we purchased the Fresh Air unit, we would wake up with itchy eyes and sniffles every morning (no indoor pets). Almost every day, we'd take allergy medication leaving us drowsy, even if the packet advertised, "drowsy free". I hated sending him to school foggy from the meds and wondered what the long-term effects would be.
Since purchasing the Fresh Air unit, we've done away with our daily meds and our home smells fresh.
Occasionally, I'll wake up with the sniffles and then I'll notice the "needs cleaning" message is on. That's proof that it's effective.
I would've given it 5 stars except, I've had some maintenance issues. I purchased it from an EcoQuest sales rep., and have received great service. The parts aren't expensive to replace, but the unit could be made with better quality parts. The wiring clips kept corroding. He changed out the cheap wiring and fasteners for me and that made a big difference on maintenance.
I've recommended it to friends and relatives who have experienced the same improved health from it.

Many people do not understand what ozone is, therefore they are afraid of it and say all manner of inaccurate statements about it. The reason air purifiers and especially the Ecoquest air purifiers work so well is that they are modeled after nature itself.

Ozone is created in nature all the time, especially around moving water, in the mountains and after thunderstorms, to clean the air, but in conjuction with water it does more. It is also found wherever there is pollution...and there is a reason for that. There are several things ozone was designed to do. To name two: clean/purify the air of pollutants and kill mold.

A molecule of ozone is O3 while oxygen is O2 and water is H2O. Here's a picture that might help in understanding this entire process and the bad rap ozone gets from some. If there is a fire, then the firemen are alerted and they go to the fire to fight it and put it out. Now, if we started saying that firemen cause fires, because they are always there whenever there is a fire, that would be silly. It's the same way with ozone. Calling ozone a pollutant or saying it is the cause of pollution is not scientifically accurate. Ozone forms when there are pollutants in the air, therefore, the more pollutants there are, the more ozone there is.

The O3 actually has one atom of the three that is unstable. This is why it can clean pollutants out of the air. This unstable atom gets attracted to the pollutant atoms and puff!...it then oxidizes (burns up.)Then you have a clean oxygen molecule, O2, because the third one is gone! It continues on with this process until all the air is cleaned. This is especially helpful after a forrest fire, so again, that is why these machines work so well in rapidly getting rid of smoke damage even in wood in a home. It is beautiful in its simplicity.

Now, let's deal with the toxicity of ozone...and asthma sufferers (I have asthma and I love what the air purifiers do in my home.) Would you agree that water is good for us? What if we were in the middle of the ocean and couldn't swim? Sometimes in some situations too much of a good thing is not so good! But it does not make the actual item the bad guy...it is how one uses it. Anti-biotics are good for us, but getting too much has now created the very thing we were trying to stop. I am sure you can think of many such situations...fire is good, too much and used wrongly and it can mame and kill, etc.

When one goes hiking in the mountains, often it is said that the "mountain-fresh air" is just great. There is more ozone there. Even at its highest setting, less ozone is created in these machines than what has been determined to be an irritant. It is only a matter of enclosure. When I use my purifier on the highest output of ozone to "sanitize" a room or my bedding, I shut the door and let it do its thing. When I open the door, I can smell a lot of ozone. All one has to do, is then turn the purifier down or off, and open the door a few minutes! It dissapates almost immediately. We often have people enter our home and remark at how fresh it smells (and I have three cats.)

But...there are a few (very few in our experience) who have not liked the way our home smells...my daughter, for one. She just does not like it. She says it smells like bleach or dirty socks! So, we turn the purifier down. For us, we are so used to it, we do not even smell it anymore unless we have been gone for awhile...and then we only smell it a few seconds upon entering our home. (And that is not because our sense of smell is being destroyed! It is a natural thing that one gets used to ones own smells if one is around them long enough...hence, we often get offended by another or another one's environmental odors while they are not...much, much evidence and examples can be used here...like I said, we smell it again if we have not been around it for while.)

Now as to mold and how the ozone works on it. The unstable atom of the O3 breaks off as it is attracted to the moisture (H20) in the mold. It attaches itself to the H2O making it H2O2. And guess what H2O2 is? It is hydrogen peroxide, and that kills mold! Another beautiful creation in nature for our benefit...and yet, when man discovers these things, we then can harness the discoveries to make them work for us in many, many other ways. Hence, a wonderful air purifier.

There is certainly not time, nor space, nor most likely interest to cover these subjects in their scientific entirety, but at least this general overview can address some of the inaccurate rumors touted today. The bottom line is that anything that can be good for us, if abused, misued, etc, can also be not so good. It is not good or bad in itself, it is how it is utilized.

The Fresh Air Surround is fantastic. I bought one for the office and one for home. It has removed all moldy smells and leaves a lingering fresh air smell throughout. A must for a clean fresh scent throughout your space. The away mode is fantastic and remote control is perfect. A must for dogs, partiers, smokers, and the like. I highly recommend one for office and home.

A friend of mine recommended this purifier. She was on medications for allergies to the dog and bird she has in the home. Her grandson, who lives with her, always had red eyes and sniffles. Since she got the purifier, she no longer needs meds and the boy is 100% healthy! It's a great product.

Best Air Purifier Ever! I have purchased 2 of these... It's worth the cost of the unit, great for odors like pets. I have a cat and totally solves the litter-box issue. It is good for cooking (if you cook fish, or burn food and you want to get rid-off the smell), it is great for the kitchen/living area. NO MORE "HOMEY" odors.
I use it on a day to day basis, breath clean fresh air all the time. I also use it in my cabin when the fireplaces back-up with smoke the Purifier takes the smoke and smell immediately out of the air. Solid unit, good looking and a compliment to any home.
I recommended it to anybody that wants to breathe clean fresh air inside every day. I didn't buy it for my allergies but, had mild allergies before and now they are gone. Definitely worth the price!!

This product is awesome. Ever since we got the machine it not only makes us sleep better, we feel more active during the day, and our house guests feel the same too.

We live in a hot, humid area and have recently had construction done to the swimming pool. During this time there was a lot of humidity in the house and a noticeable level of mildew odor. I was worried about potential mold forming due to the historic age of the home. Within 24 hours of plugging in the Fresh Air Surround, the smell and mold feeling had subsided immensely.

It took only several minutes, not complicated at all, to set up and begin to enjoy. We are so relieved to have this device and have recently purchased several more for ourselves and for gifts to others that seem to have everything. We have tried these types of projects in the past and did not have great results.

This has really changed our minds about air purifiers. We would never again be without our Fresh Air Surround Air Purifiers. Love it!

I have had this unit (7 of them) for about 4 years. I put them in the hallways of a hi-rise elderly apartment building, and some of the comman areas. I just bought another one for my basement at home and it made a world of difference. No more musty odor. I have had no problem getting parts from my distributor at a reasonable price. I have replaced some filters where I had heavy smokers, as a matter of fact. I recommend this product.