In Search of some Air Filter Recommendations for my Bird Room

[Botsari]

With the arrival of my new baby African Grey, "Goose", I'm back to having two birds and would like to up my air filter game. My current filters in the house were pretty high end in their day, but are creakingly (embarrassingly) old and for one brand replacement parts are not even available. I just noticed the pre-filter in my old model RabbitAir GS is just physically deteriorating due to age - sort of like its owner. So time to belatedly look for a few new ones to add to the dying collection. What filters do people on here particularly like, find effective and would recommend? I'm looking for either non-ionizing HEPA type filters, or one where the use of the ionizer feature can be switched off manually. Thanks in advance!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

With the arrival of my new baby African Grey, "Goose", I'm back to having two birds and would like to up my air filter game. My current filters in the house were pretty high end in their day, but are creakingly (embarrassingly) old and for one brand replacement parts are not even available. I just noticed the pre-filter in my old model RabbitAir GS is just physically deteriorating due to age - sort of like its owner. So time to belatedly look for a few new ones to add to the dying collection. What filters do people on here particularly like, find effective and would recommend? I'm looking for either non-ionizing HEPA type filters, or one where the use of the ionizer feature can be switched off manually. Thanks in advance!

I use several Honeywell HEPA filters in my house and they are very effective judging the the amount of dust that collects on the prefilters in one week. I have severe asthma-the kind that kills you)and eight budgies (but no bird allergies) so it's critical that I keep the dust load as low as possible. I recommend buying at least one size larger than the one recommended for the square footage of the room.

 

[Botsari]

I use several Honeywell HEPA filters in my house and they are very effective judging the the amount of dust that collects on the prefilters in one week. I have severe asthma-the kind that kills you)and eight budgies (but no bird allergies) so it's critical that I keep the dust load as low as possible. I recommend buying at least one size larger than the one recommended for the square footage of the room.

Yes, I think the "Parrot Dander Room" is where they must do all the final stress tests on air filter designs - the ones where they know their prototype will eventually die, but they just want to see how long it will last. It is kind of scary how much parrot dust also settles into the inside of my computer after several months - even two rooms away from the bird room.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Yes, I think the "Parrot Dander Room" is where they must do all the final stress tests on air filter designs - the ones where they know their prototype will eventually die, but they just want to see how long it will last. It is kind of scary how much parrot dust also settles into the inside of my computer after several months - even two rooms away from the bird room.

Fortunately my Honeywell's are holding up very well, and no, this is not an ad. I think Filtrete makes pretty good air purifiers, too.

 

[SailBoat]

I have always viewed air treating as a whole home approach since the vast majority of homes in North America use Forced Air furnaces with most having air conditioners. For apartments with single apartment system, the same is true as those systems have a furnace mounted air filter. In either case, start with the replacement of this filters first. They come in standard sizes that can be determined by simply opening the filter access door and measuring it or noting the size listed on its side. Those filters (regardless of thickness) come is several filtering ranges /levels. Buy the highest ranging for dust tramping. If your furnace uses a filter width of 1" (25 mm) or a bit thicker. Replace those filters about once a month during the Winter (heating season) or Summer (cooling season).If you have a newer furnace, those commonly have filters thicker than 5"+ (125 mm+) and can be changed once per season or more often if your dust level is high.

Most homes and apartments will find that a full system filter will not need room sized filter systems. In those cases that do, use the recommendations found in the above Posts.

Clearing air ducts should be a scheduled event, by a professional, commonly once every five years.

If your home or apartment uses radiant (electric, hot-water, etc.) they will require room or larger sized standalone filtering units. See above Posts recommendations.

 

[Botsari]

Good info, but in my area almost no one has central air of any kind. We almost never need AC here, and while my house has a slightly more sophisticated heating unit that uses gas, there are many people that still use heating stoves. A lot of the houses, including mine, started off as summer cabins built slightly before to just after WWII, and gradually evolved into more extensive houses. That is why I was specifically asking about individual small placeable units that people have experience with, and like. NOT having any kind of centralized air handling is one of the things that makes this issue especially urgent in my house.

I live near and work in Silicon Valley less than 20 miles from here, at least as far as the parrot flies. So we are not luddites - it is part of the "charm" of living in the mountains. It is however significantly less charming on the few days of the year when the heat does get above 90 F for a few hours.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Good info, but in my area almost no one has central air of any kind. We almost never need AC here, and while my house has a slightly more sophisticated heating unit that uses gas, there are many people that still use heating stoves. A lot of the houses, including mine, started off as summer cabins built slightly before to just after WWII, and gradually evolved into more extensive houses. That is why I was specifically asking about individual small placeable units that people have experience with, and like. NOT having any kind of centralized air handling is one of the things that makes this issue especially urgent in my house.

I live near and work in Silicon Valley less than 20 miles from here, at least as far as the parrot flies. So we are not luddites - it is part of the "charm" of living in the mountains. It is however significantly less charming on the few days of the year when the heat does get above 90 F for a few hours.

Your situation is where portable Honeywell and Filtrete units are great. Keep in mind when selecting a unit size based on square feet of the room that these ratings are for average dust "loads" in rooms with standard 7-8 foot ceilings. If you have high ceilings you need to buy the next size up. If you have parrots or other pets that shed dander your "dust load" is higher, sometimes a lot higher, than typical homes and if you have a wood stove its even higher. I vacuum the debris off the pre-filter weekly and put the it back in the unit and it traps a lot of white bird dander, grey laundry lint and grey household dust (where does it all come from?) and fine, tan/brown environmental dirt because I live on a dirt road (another airborne debris source to
That's another thing to consider. One more thing I found is that two units each rated for a 200 square foot room and placed on opposite sides of a very large room are much more effective than one unit rated for a 400 square foot room. So when you figure in all your own unique debris sources plus the square footage and volume of your room, you should be prepared to purchase twice or more the filtering capacity stated in the manufacturers' specs for the best results.

 

[SailBoat]

Good info, but in my area almost no one has central air of any kind. We almost never need AC here, and while my house has a slightly more sophisticated heating unit that uses gas, there are many people that still use heating stoves. A lot of the houses, including mine, started off as summer cabins built slightly before to just after WWII, and gradually evolved into more extensive houses. That is why I was specifically asking about individual small placeable units that people have experience with, and like. NOT having any kind of centralized air handling is one of the things that makes this issue especially urgent in my house.

I live near and work in Silicon Valley less than 20 miles from here, at least as far as the parrot flies. So we are not luddites - it is part of the "charm" of living in the mountains. It is however significantly less charming on the few days of the year when the heat does get above 90 F for a few hours.

Yes, but I commonly write to the unintended viewer, the non-member that represents the largest volume of viewers of your Thread. You will note that I referenced the other Posts as part of my Post.

Congratulations on your on-going updating of your older home. I have a detailed understand of older homes as our home prior to our current started construction in 1907 and finished in 1911 and used a coal fired central heating unit and a wood fired cooking stove /oven that also heated the water for the bath rooms and kitchens.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I

I have always viewed air treating as a whole home approach since the vast majority of homes in North America use Forced Air furnaces with most having air conditioners. For apartments with single apartment system, the same is true as those systems have a furnace mounted air filter. In either case, start with the replacement of this filters first. They come in standard sizes that can be determined by simply opening the filter access door and measuring it or noting the size listed on its side. Those filters (regardless of thickness) come is several filtering ranges /levels. Buy the highest ranging for dust tramping. If your furnace uses a filter width of 1" (25 mm) or a bit thicker. Replace those filters about once a month during the Winter (heating season) or Summer (cooling season).If you have a newer furnace, those commonly have filters thicker than 5"+ (125 mm+) and can be changed once per season or more often if your dust level is high.

Most homes and apartments will find that a full system filter will not need room sized filter systems. In those cases that do, use the recommendations found in the above Posts.

Clearing air ducts should be a scheduled event, by a professional, commonly once every five years.

If your home or apartment uses radiant (electric, hot-water, etc.) they will require room or larger sized standalone filtering units. See above Posts recommendations.

I have a whole house system but with all them dang budgies I still need supplemental portable units. If you have a whole house system and you STILL have dust all over everything a few days after cleaning you would benefit from adding portable units.

 

[Botsari]

I

I have a whole house system but with all them dang budgies I still need supplemental portable units. If you have a whole house system and you STILL have dust all over everything a few days after cleaning you would benefit from adding portable units.

Yes, I feel like sometimes getting one or two close to the action is good. Always have to be very careful about placement and shielding of the sensitive parts, especially the power cord!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Yes, I feel like sometimes getting one or two close to the action is good. Always have to be very careful about placement and shielding of the sensitive parts, especially the power cord!

Run the power cords through small diameter lengths of pex plumbing pipe and secure the pex "tubes" along the baseboards so parrots can't chew on the cords and you won't trip over them.