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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great dust control and air purification but some "gotchas", July 15, 2006
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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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best keep secret, January 16, 2006
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.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unit works well, but maintenance and parts a drag, March 6, 2007
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.
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