This time, I bought a home appliance that I've never really felt the need for in my life.
What is it, you ask? It's an air purifier.
Unlike essential items such as air conditioners, microwaves, and refrigerators, you can do without an air purifier.
I recently had the opportunity to purchase an air purifier, so I'd like to share my impressions of using it.
Reason for purchase
The reason was that my wife wanted it.
When you clean or do other chores around the house, dust gets kicked up, and the house tends to feel dusty.
In spring and autumn, you can simply open the windows to let in fresh air, but in winter and summer, you use air conditioning, so you don't want to let in outside air.
For those reasons, we decided to give it a try and buy it.
Features and price range
From a quick look, it seemed that most standard-sized items were priced between 15,000 and 35,000 yen.
The price will vary,
- Does it have enough power to handle a large room?
- Does it have humidifying and dehumidifying functions?
• Performance of various filters
• Is it designed to be easy to maintain?
- Accuracy of odor and dust detection sensors
I think the performance in these areas will vary depending on the price range.
Since my family doesn't need a humidifier, we purchased this one which purely functions as an air purifier.
This is the "Air Purifier KuaL White MCA55UE5W" (Daikin Industries), which costs around 35,000 yen.
Personally, I thought it would be nice to have that kind of feature.
However, my wife's opinion was that using this function would require maintenance such as refilling water and cleaning, so it would be better to have fewer troublesome tasks.
It's about the size of a slightly larger trash can.
It's not that big, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding a place to put it.
The dimensions are 27 cm wide, 50 cm high, and 27 cm deep.
However, since it draws in air from the bottom and expels it from the top, it's best to avoid placing it directly against a wall.
Apparently, this can also cause stains to accumulate on the walls.
There are no particularly complicated functions; simply plug it in and start it on "automatic mode" and you can use it right away.
The "Automatic Driving" mode senses the amount of odor and dust in the air. When there is a lot of dirt, the operation becomes stronger, and when there is less dirt, it automatically becomes weaker.
Points that require maintenance
The dust sensor, which detects the level of dirt, apparently needs to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner or similar device whenever dust accumulates.
The instruction manual also states that the lens area needs to be wiped with a dry cloth about once every three months.
Additionally, the pre-filter, which is designed to trap larger debris, needs to be cleaned about once every two weeks.
In reality, it will probably be when dust starts to visibly accumulate.
Additionally, if you notice a decrease in deodorizing performance, you may need to clean the deodorizing filter with a vacuum cleaner (it cannot be washed with water).
The dust collection filter, which collects the finest dust particles, apparently only needs to be replaced once every 10 years, so there's no need to worry about that for now.
It is stated that this can happen even faster in households where people smoke heavily.
I realized that even without humidifying or dehumidifying functions, a lot of maintenance is still required.
However, I think it's usually okay to wait until dust has visibly accumulated before cleaning it.
Most of the maintenance seems to be as simple as vacuuming, so I think I'll just vacuum it occasionally while I'm already vacuuming.
Actual experience
I didn't think I'd really notice much of an effect from an air purifier, butI was surprised by how effective it was.
When I return home after being away for a while, I usually notice a distinctive dusty smell, but by leaving it on automatic mode, that problem was eliminated.
Furthermore, it eliminates strong-smelling foods exceptionally quickly.
On days when I eat instant cup noodles for a late-night snack, the smell of the sauce lingers in my room for quite a while, but thanks to the air purifier, it disappears very quickly.
I often find myself feeling surprisingly positive about it.
Also, there was an instance where our child, who was just over a year old and still wearing diapers, had an accident, and before my husband and I noticed, the air purifier suddenly switched to turbo mode, which is how we found out.
Odor sensors are truly amazing.
summary
While not owning an air purifier isn't essential for daily life, I found it to be quite effective and useful.
When using gas for cooking, it is of course necessary to turn on the exhaust fan for safety reasons.
However, since I no longer need to open and close windows for any other reason, I feel that purchasing it was a positive decision in terms of saving time and effort in my daily life.
If you're interested, there are some products available for under 10,000 yen, so why not give them a try?