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A comment on Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier. Parent comment

Re:Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier by mschuster91 on Wednesday January 10, 2024 @06:56PM (#38945377)
> I really like this purifier's big brother, the IKEA STARKVIND, which is available in both regular[0] and table[1] versions.

I got one of these as well, and I recommend them with the extra carbon filter. Very, very nice thing to have in a kitchen, if you're a smoker or if you have cats. The carbon filter takes out a lot of nasty smells, enough to not smell anything food-y even in a directly adjacent room while running a frying pan and chopping onions, or when smoking a cigarette on the open window. And the "plain" filter picks up a loooot of the fur that you'd find everywhere including in your food when your cat decides it's time to go and shed everywhere she can.

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Re:Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier by Doxin on Thursday January 11, 2024 @03:13AM (#38949244)
How long do the carbon filters last in your experience? Does it have an indication of when you should?
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Re:Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier by liminalsunset on Thursday January 11, 2024 @03:23AM (#38949326)
The carbon filters in this machine are fairly sparsely filled and don't have a significant amount of carbon in them. Typically replacement is recommended after about 6 months or so, but I've found that with heavy use, similar filters last only a month or so before losing effectiveness. It has to do with how much odor and VOC is present in the area you are using the filter in, as well as how much it is running.

I made my own filters with over 2-3x the carbon by weight (bought from Amazon) in them, and they last about 2-3 months before they start emitting an odd smell (but they still seem to reduce odor, but they are no doubt trading new smells for older ones as they fill up).

I usually change the filters as soon as the smell becomes odd, in my case, the smell is like a slightly sour and damp version of the fresh and dry chocolatey smell that they sometimes have when new.

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Re:Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier by Doxin on Thursday January 11, 2024 @04:27AM (#38949814)
Hmm, that'll not work very well for my use-case then. I've not got a great nose, and I would like to keep smells at bay for visitors. Not planning on replacing a filter monthly "just in case" though.

Thanks for the info!

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