Smart Air • Hacker News Board

Re: Smart Air

#91

Post by yaddayadda » Mon, Nov 04, 2013, 10:37 AM UTC

dopkew wrote: post #86

talhelmt wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, this is Thomas, founder of Smart Air. Excellent question! Particulates are very important, but gases can be a problem too. We talk about gas pollution in our workshops, and I've written about it on Particle Counting: http://particlecounting.tumblr.com/post/60881490803/the-limi... However, I don't know of home filters that target gases.

There are various indoor plants that are said to help with indoor pollution.

http://www.ted.com/talks/kamal_meattle_on_how_to_grow_your_o...

http://www.slideshare.net/jaymeattle/how-to-grow-your-own-fr...

TED presenter Kamal Meattle argues for: - Areca Palm - Mother-in-law's Tongue - Money Plant

Re: Smart Air

#92

Post by tianshuo » Mon, Nov 04, 2013, 11:02 AM UTC

talhelmt wrote: post #53

unholiness wrote: post #15

I never thought I'd be pulled in by a product that essentially bills itself as "Clean your air CHEAP with this one cool trick discovered by a college kid", but they've executed well. What they're offering is just an easy way to buy a fan and HEPA filter ($27USD, or 166RMB, as the FAQ freely admits). Even so, their website makes me like instantly their business model, and because of their approach and willingness to r…

Hey, this is Thomas--Smart Air is my startup. Thanks for the ideas! I'll consider adding a subscription service. Several people told me at the beginning NOT to publish my findings (at http://particlecounting.tumblr.com/ ) because I should make money off of it instead. But I published it anyway because I thought (1) if I don't make a dime, but people learn how to protect their health without going broke, that alone is…

Hi Thomas, I'm a Science and technology instructor for high school students in Beijing, this could make a great project for them. Call me at tianshuo_at_gmail_dot_com

Re: Smart Air

#93

Post by jmpe » Mon, Nov 04, 2013, 2:14 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #66

jmpe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use aquarium air stones. The smaller the bubbles and higher the column of water the better.

Wonder if a fully functioning fish take would be even better - if you get plenty of plants growing, they will feed off the water/each other in my experience. The rate of air injection would likely have to be higher than that of a normal fish tank though? I used to run a fish tank with CO2 injection to get the plants growing well. The best, cheap way of doing this was to put CO2 into the filter intake, that way big bu…

AFAIK you could introduce mosses (Vesicularia and the likes) instead of higher plants, they're not as CO2 dependent. Every aquarium tutorial I ever read tells me that air pumps lower the CO2 content and you need injection as you explain.

Re: Smart Air

#94

Post by gcb0 » Tue, Nov 05, 2013, 2:21 AM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #46

gcb0 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a quote from the movie with the mock history of dr kellogs: health is the easy way to a fool's wallet. that said I have 3 expensive of those filter at my home. not that one, 3 other different brands. The main factor for my purchases were silence. and ironically the only one that was silent is a discontinued sharp model that sold for $150. all the $300 models are awful. specially the blueAir one that focus all it's ma…

How do the three compare on size? I suspect that the blueAir has the smallest fan and the Sharp has the largest fan.

interesting assumption. The blueAir the largest one, by far.

and i wrote wrong! i don't have a sharp one. the silent one is from sanyo! it also has the ONLY truly silent humidifier included, though very low volume as it is only used for the ionizing shenanigans.

Re: Smart Air

#95

Post by peferron » Tue, Nov 05, 2013, 11:56 AM UTC

Just ordered one, and also a Dylos DC1100 particle counter. I'm often in Shanghai, and pollution can get pretty rough even if we have it better than in Beijing. I'll make sure to measure the hell out of it and see if it really works. :)

Edit: I know the particle counter ($200) is 6 times the price of the air purifier, which can seem ridiculous; but to me it makes much more sense to do that than to buy a $300 air filter and just pray for the best while having no clue at all about what's really going on.