Ecoquest Air Purifier
Ecoquest makes a number of air purifier products, and their primary line is the Fresh Air model, a relatively high end product that relies on an ultraviolet-light ionizer to kill germs and eliminate odors using the ozone it produces. It will run you quite a bit (usually around $650-700) so this is one you're going to want to do the research on.
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Ecoquest Air Purifier
The Good:
It's been through some rigorous testing by outside agencies, and done pretty well - getting rid of the vast majority of bacteria and dust. This uses ozone technology, as opposed to HEPA filters - there is heated debate about which is best, and personally I've got no dog in that fight, but if you do then you'll want to make that one of your considerations. It also doesn't use filters, which can be a big plus - many people simply forget to replace them, and it can actually be counterproductive if you do. All the dirt that got trapped on the filter can just get sent back out into the air - with the Ecoquest Air Purifier, you don't have to worry about replacing the filters every few months. It also has a pretty large capacity - you can clean about 3,000 square feet with it, so you don't need to buy multiple air purifiers to cover your house.
The Bad:
First, a lot of people complain that it's too loud if you've got it on its highest setting - the counterpoint to that is, of course, that the reason for the noise is that it's a 5-speed fan that can be set to work on extremely high. This probably isn't that big of a problem - if you want it at one of the moderate settings you won't even have to deal with it. If you really need the Ecoquest Air Purifier on the maximum, it may be worth coping with the noise. Second, some people have complained that the UV lamps burn out rather quickly. Third, one of the bigger problems with this model is that it is based on ozone. Ozone can be toxic in large amounts - it causes breathing problems itself, and while Ecoquest has tested it and says that it's safe, there have been some people complaining about the smell of ozone. That's possibly hypochondria or a bad model, but you don't want to be the guy who shells out that kind of money and gets a broken one. Fourth, there have also been some complaints about rapid rusting (possibly due to the ozone, again).
One other issue is the exact corporate status of Ecoquest. Its predecessor, Alpine Technologies, was involved in some problems with the FTC over making misrepresentations about the effectiveness of its air purifier - this company has some of the same people, but it is not clear exactly what the connections were. Ecoquest has an evangelical Christian approach to business, and it may be that the bad apples have been weeded out.
Update:
I got an e-mail from Beth Williams, who has attended a convention with Ecoquest products featured there, and had some updated information on their products. She's got the scoop on the relationship with Alpine and some suggestions on some products Ecoquest offers that don't have any ozone risks:
"I thought you might be interested in a few tidbits I picked
up at the last EQ convention.
EcoQuest terminated its relationship with Alpine Air because Alpine was
providing poor quality parts for EQ's Living Air machines. and they were tired
of getting so many returns from dealers. After they severed their
relationship, Bill Converse (Alpine founder) started a new MLM company,
Natural Air. Don't know much about Natural Air but suspect they have ozone
generating machines.
Current Fresh Air technology uses RCI, technology originally developed for
NASA., plus the plate that produces some corona-discharge ozone. Apparently a
major player in the Kissimmee area tested these machines in their hotel. They
took 2 sunny rooms, ran a machine in one and left the other alone. They found
the ozone level to be lower in the one with the purifier. I heard but havent
verified that they are using them but they are hidden so that people don't
know they were installed. (Maybe they're afraid some litigious individual will
claim they got sick years ago and sue because they weren't installed earlier?)
It seems the RCI is a catalyst and converts the ozone (o3) and water (h2o)
into Hydroperoxide (h2o2) and something that I think is called o-negative.
Regarding ozone - Canada has some sort of "no ozone" law so EQ developed Fresh
Air Everest. It's for sale in the US too. I prefer it because there are no
plates to clean, just a lint screen to vacuum on the back. We put in 2 RCI
cells on my father-in-law's unit and got a double whammy. But no ozone smell.
Fresh Air machines have been tested by Kansas State University, Univ. of
Cincinnatti and Syracuse Univ. for effectiveness against candida and MRSA
staph. KSU also studied EQ's Breeze ozone generator and said both were
effective but Fresh Air worked faster. Test results also showed that Bird flu
is undetectable after 8-12 hrs.
EQ is discontinuing Breeze and Flair, which have the ozone plates, and they
are replacing it with a one-room unit in the first half of 2007 called the
Qube."
So it looks like pretty soon all their products won't have any problems with ozone, which seems to be the main thing anyone's complained about.
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