Cochinoman tech, sushi, poker
Have you seen the Oreck ProShield™ Plus Air Purifier with Helios Shield™ infomercial on TV? I did too. And since I’m a victim of advertising, I decided to order it and try it out.
The unit is approximate the size of a small desktop computer and can be placed flat (like in the photograph below) or vertically like a tower PC. The design and look is pretty good and I like the blue lights. The model I ordered is the middle priced unit and comes with a tiny remote control.
Oreck XL Air Purifier – $399.95
The control buttons are on the left (or at the top in tower mode) and there are 3 power settings. In low mode, it’s very quite and you can barely hear it in a quite room. In regular mode, it’s louder and just loud enough that it may disturb your TV viewing or music listening experience unless the unit is far away. In high mode, it’s very loud and should only be used when smoke or other impurities must be taken out of the air quickly. The lights indicate what mode it’s in and can be seen from across the room.
Close-up of control buttons
Personally, I don’t suffer from Asthma or severe allergies so the purpose of my purchase was just to keep the air cleaner since I live in LA and the air is basically dirty all the time. From what I could tell, it did seem to keep the air cleaner as advertised. It’s also supposed to kill viruses and germs but there’s no way for me to know if it’s really doing that. What I did notice is, it did take away odors pretty well. It takes a while but if you leave for work and come back, that’s enough time for the odor to go away.
The first few weeks that it was in use, the air did “smell” different. Actually, there’s no smell at all. Whatever “smell” was present is just gone and it’s strange. In fact, a friend of mine who works in the medical field said it smells like a hospital. I’m guessing that hospitals also use the same kind of unit to kill germs and viruses. After a few weeks, I got used to the non-smell environment and forgot it was even there.
After a couple or 3 weeks, the “Collector Cell” light comes on, indicating that it has to be cleaned. To do so, all you have to do is open the top and remove the collector cell.
Cleaning Light On
Here is the collector cell in my sink under water. After a few minutes the water turned gray so I know that it did “collect” something. It’s disgusting what I’m breathing into my lungs. Next, just take the cell out of the water and air dry it. It’s a very simple procedure. If I can do it, anybody can.
Collector Cell In Sink
The Purifier also comes with a free refrigerator air purifier that’s about the size of a coke can and uses 4 “C” batteries. You can set it for “Hi” or “Lo” mode. Other than the blinking light, it makes no sound so you really don’t even know it’s there. Frankly, I cannot rate this unit because I don’t have enough stuff in my frig to make any type of comparison.
Free Refrigerator Air Purifier
On top of the free refrigerator air purifier, you get to pick yet another “gift” from a list on their website. You can choose from one of: Floor sweeper, car vac, speed sweep, or cordless speed iron. I decided to get the free car vac, which turned out to be a bad choice. First, I didn’t realize that it was corded and although the cord is pretty long, it really gets in the way and there’s no good way to store it in your car.
The car vac really works well sucking up the dust and dirt but unfortunately, the design is bad and once you pop the unit open to clean it, it’s very hard (or nearly impossible) to close it again because the latch is not constructed properly. I literally used it once then threw it away at the gas station. You get what you pay for.
Free Car Vac
Instead of offering all these free crap, I wish they would just lower the price of the purifier. So far, it’s been a good product for me. Do I need it? I’m not sure but it sure makes me feel like I’m doing something good for my body. Which is more than I can say about my eating habits.
I have been running two Oreck professional air purifiers in my house for over two months, cleaned them today and there is no dust captured in filters, but the air in my house still has dust particles floating around, can be easily seen in bright sunlight. These purifiers are not doing their job. Very unhappy with them. Definitely not worth the money.
You have to read the fine print. This unit is for rooms of 77 sq ft. An 18×12 room is 216 sq ft and would require 3 units. That said, I have one in my living room, and one in my bedroom. I have 6 cats and 2 dogs. It removes their odors, a good share of their hair, and almost all the dust from my rooms. Clean the prefilter weekly, and you may not have to clean the truman filter except once per month. I am quite pleased with my units, and when I had a smoker in the house, it totally removed the smoke smell within 30 minutes.