Re: Carbon Air Filter Contamination and Emissions

A Reader writes:

Hi Ed,

I think I am going to go the with the E.L. Foust 160R2 as I can just not include the filter down and just have the optional Hepa and carbon filter.

One question: Do you think that having a carbon filter can create it's own problems, in other words, does it spit out particles of carbon into the air or do you feel that it is still the best way of removing VOCs etc from the air?

Regarding your MCS.

It really sounds that you have tried everything and Iwish you all the best with your struggle against the condition.

The only one thing I could say is this: Going on the assumption that, no matter how complicated and severe the MCS is ( and yours sounds as though it is pretty severe) all people who suffer from MCS can benefit, in some way, from Detoxing the body.

This is obviously something that your are very serious about and disciplined with as you have discussed that in your last e-mail.

There is a very simple and very effective way of further detoxing the body and even healing the organs within the body : Oil Pulling www.oilpulling.com

It's really cheap (as all it takes is sunflower oil) and has been around for a very long time and is recommended by many homeopaths (and others) around the world. It is a good method as it is effective but gentle as some detox methods can be really harsh - as I am sure you know!

After 15 minutes of having the oil swirling round your mouth, what you spit out is a mouth full of toxins that have been drawn from the body in a very effective and safe way.

It can sometimes take up to three months to really kick in but if you do it every day you would really start to notice results.

You may already be very aware of this method - if you are, then sorry for telling you something that you already know.

It takes 15 minutes a day, costs nothing and it might help your symptoms 10%. It might even help your symptoms 50% - who can tell.

All the best...

Ed's Reply

Hey Reader;

Better carbon filters are granulated to avoid carbon shedding.

But many carbon-impregnated polyurethane foam prefilters, found on cheaper air cleaners, will shed particles. These are generally picked up by the HEPA filter and aren't a threat to users except in the cheapest products.

The problem with carbon is saturation, a complex subject.

There is a huge variety of adsorbtion media choices, each with a target range of chemicals.

Each gas phase pollutant has a different profile.

For instance, molecules with strong polarity, such as the aldehydes, do not cling as effectively to the surface charges on the carbon.

This means that the filter can be saturated with one pollutant fairly rapidly, while still effectively controlling others.

Since our only method of evaluating chemical filter effectiveness is our sense of smell, it is extremely common for carbon filters to be running while contaminated - a pollutant source, sometimes after the original offender has been removed.

This is especially true where people use air purifiers to clean up after painting and other heavy chemical situations. Many naively try to use air cleaners as a way to avoid the real issues in their life space.

So a carbon filter is only as clean as the home it runs in, dirty homes need very frequent filter changes, and there is no air cleaner that can effectively clean up continuous source emissions like tobacco, other indoor burning, or chemical applications of all kinds.

In a well policed life space, a quality carbon filter will last for years. But some users, especially where ozone generators and smoke/formaldehyde are mixed with a light carbon filter, have saturated the carbon in just a couple months.

My position is: "If your air purifier is fouled prematurely, it is trying to tell you something - clean up your life."

I consider a significant weight of high quality adsorbent, which can include other materials besides activated carbon, to be the cornerstone of any odor/chemical control effort for residential applications.

While several oxidative technologies have evolved, in my opinion they are not ready to replace activated carbon, expecially in sickroom/bedroom applications.

Thanks for the tip on oil pulling - I will be trying it.

Ed