0. https://twitter.com/LazarusLong13/status/1425517352624410627
Well, sure, to a point.
I could make my own air purifier (like the one you link) but it looks awful. I would not want that in my home. So yeah, aesthetics do matter. Its not the only thing but it is a factor.
When west coast forest fires put dangerous levels of smoke into peoples homes, box fan air filters are an extremely valuable tool for lower income families. Consider yourself extremely fortunate if you are able to choose form over function on devices like this.
I don't understand why you try to shame us for choosing to buy our own. Of course we are fortunate we can afford it. We aren't talking of a sports car here, it's few hundreds dollar, this is a perfectly fine trade off to decide to buy one.
I don't see anyone shaming anyone for choosing to buy their own. I see someone pointing out it's possible to make one, and I see someone else defending the choice to make one by pointing out not everyone can buy an expensive, pretty pre-made one.
I suspect you may have unintentionally read too much into the motivations from the comments. I didn’t see anything which resembled shaming.
"The air purifier industry is more about aesthetics than it is function"
I didn't mention anything about dangerous levels of smoke, forest fires, low income families...
I take your overall point but I think you need to keep the context of which it was said and not add a different one.
I'm not even sure what your point was. I never said aesthetics didn't matter, nor did I say it is the only factor. You seemed to feel inspired enough by the ugliness of a product to speak out against it, without recognizing why it exists.
Second, you know you can max a box yourself or hide a thin purifier under a desk or above a tall cabinet?
If it's something you only use a couple days a year when your region is on fire, then absolutely go with the design with lower upfront costs. But if you're running it 24/7, it's worth thinking about the extra 40-80 watts that a box fan uses.
For me, I figure the electricity difference comes out to around $100/yr so getting a dedicated air purifier has paid for itself (although I live in an area with fairly expensive electricity). It also has some nice bonuses compared to a box fan like auto adjusting speeds and a prefilter that hopefully helps the "real" filter last longer.
The restaurant industry is also there for people that don't want the time to learn to cook certain dishes themselves. And (many) restaurants are still thriving.
Are you sure you are a real IT professional?
All of my wives problems related to allergies or breathing have gone completely away. Guests comment at how good/clean our house smells. Stuff takes longer to mold when its left out. 10/10 would recommend.
I have the box fan and only use it when AQI is high (wildfire season)
Otherwise Vacuum Wars channel had an entertaining test on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QT8SQjp-y0
The channel is great in general for everything vacuum. As far as review goes they put a serious effort in them. The brief foray into air cleaners was a great parenthesis.
I think this is good if you are in a wild fire scenario and air purifiers are sold out, or for your home work shop.
Otherwise I suspect it is very energy inefficient and noisy.
0. https://deohs.washington.edu/edge/blog/how-make-box-fan-filt...