Our daughter has asthma. When we were away for 2 months from our home it cleared up substantially. So, we got an air quality monitor (after pretty careful study) last year. Everything was rosy, except the VOCs went off the chart during and after cooking on our gas hob.
And now a few months later everywhere I look I see this study.
Not that I have anything against it. I got an air purifier myself over these discussions - it seemed like a fairly cheap and easy thing to do in the time of covid, without worrying too much who's behind any possible influence campaigns.
And of course I noticed that my indoors air quality was excellent, except when I was cooking. And I don't even use gas, I use an old non-induction electric stovetop. It's hard to get temperatures right.
Considering getting both an induction stove, and a better sensor that could track CO2 too. After a year with air purification, and after the first bout of a cough-cold in a year, I feel like I appreciate the service my lungs give to my body. Nice to take better care of them (it's time to change that HEPA filter too).
I’ve been investigating this and the market seems crowded. Do you have any research that you did to help you decide? What model did you go with and why?
Sorry for the digression, but I think a random HN reader’s pick is more useful than SEO’s Google results or ConsumerReports or Wirecutter.
On that note, Ikea has some air purifiers[0] that aren't very expensive and use HEPA filters with optional carbon filter to remove smells. They have basic ones and 'smart' ones in different form factors (even one that is a table!). We have cats and it really helped removed the cat smell from out house.
But maybe I'm just being paranoid. There was some sort of notice about source availability on request, so I think it uses GPL software in there somewhere.
In short, I should have done better research myself. But at least it works.
I've poured a couple dozen hours into researching this space, and ultimately came back with a conclusion that what matters is:
- To have a HEPA filter, and
- Something that pushes air through it, and
- If you care about VOCs (whether for health or smell reasons), add a non-shit carbon filter (I say non-shit, as apparently some vendors sell "carbon filters" that have very little activated carbon in them).
All those purifiers that claim to have 5+ different modes of filtering are, to be very charitable here, delivering at most a very tiny improvement in some scenarios, at the cost of much inflated price. It's better to spend that money on getting more air pushed through HEPA filters faster.
HEPA-type air purifiers are increasingly laden with features that add no value, like poor air quality sensors, wifi connections for Alexa/Google assistant, ozone generators that everyone says to disable, bright lights and LED displays, and proprietary filters.
The Clean Air Kits products use commodity parts with as few electronics as necessary, and operate in the way that most people recommend: non-interactively and continuously running at a single speed. They are physically smaller, quieter, and use less power than the other commercial air purifiers.
Charcoal filters, though, seem like they may be worth it in a home as opposed to in a classroom setting. There are unavoidable smells in our daily lives.
Which air quality monitor did you get?
[1] https://www.bora.com/be/de/kochfeldabzugssysteme/bora-s-pure...
Hot stuff from your stove will naturally rise, so capturing it above the stove is much better.
Also, pressure cookers have a vent on the top and blow the steam up.
Also what happens to spillages? Edit: they do say this - "If anything is spilt during cooking, the integrated tray safely catches both solids and liquids." - yeah that's gonna go well.
Like another commenter says, this is total garbage.
I don't really know how it's code but it might be because there's often a window in the room that can be used instead?
I think that's how some bathrooms got away with not having a vent too.
A rare situation of course, but it has happened to me a handful of times over the years (and also the opposite - ventilator in kitchen running at max, kitchen window closed, living room wood stove going, the vent sucks smoke from the living room wood stove and the smoke detector goes off).
As to the other comment - my ventilator doesn't have a carbon filter and I have little experience with those. I recon it will remedy some of the problems with re-venting back into the room compared with the alternative (using nothing). And I've seen vents in Japan with carbon filters, or at least something similar - but they vent outside, not inside. I wonder though about all the other kind of fumes from cooking, the metal-grid "filter" in my vent gets quite greasy and needs to be washed and cleaned now and then.
"You can have carbon filters, why the ugly pipe?" they have said. I prevailed and have a venting one now.
It is indeed almost pointless. If there’s a filter it does at least help a little but many people wouldn’t even know to think about maintaining a filter.
The answer is likely "Yes, it improves things a little bit, but it's still a terrible idea to keep a device spitting dangerous emissions inside your home".
I completely agree, but some people will grab their burning pitchforks and will try to convince you that they can't cook as well on an electric stove.
I use both of them, and gas considerably lowers the air quality (I can feel it), and prefer electric very much, however it has a learning curve, and people don't want to change.
Also, AFAIK, you can't use a wok as it's meant to be used on an electric stove.
As for woks, that hasn't stopped China from being the largest market for induction cooktops, and they even make custom-shaped induction cooktops designed for woks.
I keep a small portable stove adapter which is pretty powerful. It screws to small LPG containers which I can buy anywhere, and provides ample power in a small footprint.
I have a full canister and this adapter [0], and if I ever need to heat something w/o electricity, I just take this out from my storage room.
We are using this setup at a couple locations, one of them is pretty remote, and proved to be very reliable for us during the last decade or so. All locations have electric stoves otherwise.
[0]: https://productimages.hepsiburada.net/s/48/375/1093835551544...
Realistically a western home gas stove isn’t that great for wok cooking either because most don’t get hot enough compared to commercial stoves anyways.