Are air purifiers safe?

wuvzbirdies · Oct 9, 2009

Hi all, just wondering if anyone had any advice on air purifiers and whether they are safe around birds. I’ve been researching on the web but I can’t find anything consistent. We are thinking of getting one as our house is very dusty, I don’t know why because we don’t have any vents in the house and I vacuum and dust twice a week. Well we have 7 people and a parrot living in the house so maybe it’s the high traffic throughout. Anyway back to the question, I’ve heard that there is something in air purifiers that are not safe for our feathered friends, does anyone have any feedback on that, I’d like to find out before I purchase one as they are quite expensive.

Thanks for listening….. April

Spiritbird · Oct 9, 2009

If you have an african grey you will have dust from the bird itself. Some other parrots give off a type of feather dust from preening. It's a fact of life with birds. Bathing can help some. As far as the air filter being safe I read that the hepa type filtration system is good.

2dogs · Oct 9, 2009

They are fine

Auggie's Dad · Oct 9, 2009

Actual FILTERS (such as HEPA) are perfectly safe and actually can make a home much safer for a bird as it eliminates other potential dangers. I have two HEPA filters in my apartment, one in my room and one right next to Auggie's cage.

That being said there are many other products on the market for air purification and some of those can be dangerous as they use heated filaments to 'sterilize' the air, or charged plates which give off ozone (and do very little to remove airborne particles anyhow).

So in review: yes FILTERS are great, other 'air purifying' systems can vary.

HEPA filters work far better than those alternatives anyhow and are of comparable or sometimes lesser price.

joewag · Aug 20, 2010

Hi guys
I found that my quaker parrot has not been affected by the home air purifier I have from air oasis. My unit is in the duct of the a/c and does the whole house and my dust went down. Bathing helps too but check it out Purifiers

Bobby34231 · Aug 20, 2010

Hi April, almost all filters are safe for birds, however some may not be if a bird or human has an exsisting respiartory condition such as asthma, ionizers or ozone generators are such filters, the filters that use staticly charged plates and no moving parts are are very expensive and are very ineffective, as AD metioned, purifiers using HEPA filters are the most effective..... HEPA (which stands for High Efficiency Particle Arresting) is a government standard. No manufacturer of air purifiers can claim to be HEPA unless their unit removes 99.97% of particles greater than .3 microns in size. Bird dust and dog and cat dander are large enough to be trapped in the HEPA material.........just a thought, you say that you vaccuum a couple times a week, believe it or not that could be the cause of you having a dusty house..hope this helps, good luck

wuvzbirdies · Aug 20, 2010

Hi Guys,

This thread is quite old, I am please to say that I have had my amazing unit from Honeywell since Christmas and has worked wonders. With the most recent development with my asthma we are getting a few more, they are quite expensive but soooo worth it.

Thanks..... April

Bobby34231 · Aug 20, 2010

Ummm serves me right for not looking at the date of the original post.....( a lesson for the newbies hint hint).....lol, glad you found something that worked for you though

Spiritbird · Aug 20, 2010

To follow up I also purchased an excellent system from Rabbitair. It actually has multiple filters for many things that are in our air and are special made for bird people. I was so amazed during the cleaning to see tons of the white powder trapped in the system.

wuvzbirdies · Aug 20, 2010

If you don't mind me asking SB which model do you have, I'm on the website and they have quite a few. If it was made with bird people in mind it might be worth looking into. Let me know.

Chaos_1.0 · Aug 20, 2010

I have the Minus A2 SPA-700. I bought it about a week before I came to college. When it was new the filters gave off a smell but I left it in another room and ran it on medium for a couple of days and the smell was gone. I then put it in my room and it seemed to do really well. It was only in there a couple of days before I left but I will say that I was very impressed.

Are air purifiers safe?

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