As much as I love our Benge-Nerg (one of my many nicknames for Bengie), that little boy can stink up a room fast when he uses the litter box. While the smell does dissipate in a bit, it’s never enough time to suit me. So today, after testing out the Westinghouse Powerwasher (it did well,) I decided that I would purchase an air purifier for the room that he occupies the most, my daughter’s bedroom. Also, her three guinea pigs are in her room; however, they’re not the stinkers. That’s all Bengie. Benge-Boy is the one dropping those stink bombs.
Initially, I was looking at a few other air purifiers; however, I liked the reviews for the Shark 4; its appearance was also appealing. It’s slim, streamlined, and fits quite nicely with the decor within many of the rooms in our home, and the reviews stated that it was quiet! Perfect!
Of course, the most significant selling point was the numerous reviews that raved about it eliminating odor! No more cat odor. Oh yeah, you got my attention! I was willing to try it out if it could remove the slight smell that would linger in her room after he used his litter box. The Shark Air Purifier comes in two colors; white and black. My daughter chose black since it matches her room decor. I purchased a unit for my bedroom also and chose the same color. ?
Let’s be honest; the actual test is in the performance, right? At least for me. When we picked them up from Wal-Mart, I was a bit taken aback by their size. It’s tall. Yes, I knew it was a tall unit, but seeing it in person was different. That’s ok, it still can fit into the rooms selected without an issue, and while I was on board from the initial shock, it took my daughter a bit longer to adjust. I showed her where she should place the unit in her room, so it would not be an issue. Nope, she still had some reservations. However, within minutes after setting up the purifier in her room, it removed Bengie’s lingering odor, and that’s what convinced her. Regarding how quickly the smell vanished, initially, I thought it might have been my wishful thinking that I wasn’t smelling anything. I did not say anything; however, my daughter commented on how “much cleaner her room smelled” after placing it in her room.
On the top and side of the unit is a digital readout/menu in which you can track your air quality and the intensity of the fans that are used. These units have four small fans located inside. I do find the info that it tracks to be interesting. Scrolling through the “Air Info” menu screens for the filter located in my bedroom, I see that I
currently have 4,394 hours before I need to replace the filter,
I will say that after burning incense in my room, that number plummeted to 22%,
and then it dropped to down 9%, before bottoming out at 0!
It will take 90 minutes to clean my bedroom.
And a few moments ago, I took another obligatory photo; I see there’s hope! The air quality within my bedroom has climbed to 30%! Glancing over at my Shark, I see it’s now at 61%. My air quality is still in the red zone; however, there’s hope as my numbers continue to soar.
Initial thoughts
I love pets and welcome them in our home; however, I don’t want to SMELL them in our house, and before Bengie, we did not have this issue. Although he stays in the upper levels of the home, the fact that there was still an occasional odor within the rooms that he frequented was an annoyance for me. After turning the unit on, I found it odd that her room was at 100% clean air. I still smelled a faint odor of Bengie in her room when I placed the unit in there. I’m unsure what to think of that. I’ll have to do a bit more research on that topic. I’ll be curious to see how the Shark Air Purifier performs within a few months; however, thus far, I’m impressed. It removed any lingering pet odor that I smelled after a few minutes of running. If it’s anything like my Shark Vacuum, which is still working as well as it did when I purchased it a few years ago, I believe I’ll still be impressed.
Edited to add
Fast forward thirty minutes later, and the Shark Air Purifier is almost back to 100%.
I’ve seen people sharing ads for such air purifiers on Facebook. They insist every home should have one in order that one would have clean air in the home at all times, something crucial at these times with the pandemic. Perhaps I should get one too since it seems to work.
I’ll be curious to see how well they hold up months down the road. I’ve read about air purifiers for years, and they have been on my “must purchase” list. But, of course, Bengie caused me to make the purchase sooner rather than later. So, I purchased another Shark today. This one is the Shark 6. It’s taller than the Shark 4 and resides in our dining room. I most likely will rotate that one between two of the larger rooms downstairs. After that, I imagine I’ll break down and purchase another air purifier.
I’m been thinking about an air purifier for my office. I should also get one (or more) for home but that will have to wait, I think.
With all the unhealthy elements we’re exposed to in our “modern” world, I knew it wasn’t something I could keep putting off to do later. It’s something I was sleeping on for a long time, not anymore. I would occasionally get a stuffy nose that stopped a few days after introducing the air purifiers in our home. Last evening I bought a tabletop air purifier for our largest bathroom. It received excellent reviews. I’ll purchase another Large air purifier for our second largest room downstairs; however, I’m fine rotating the Shark 6 on the second floor until that time.