I care for my air (Care For Air Health Breezer)

Member Name: kernow21

Product:	Care For Air Health Breezer
Date:	10/10/08 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Freshens air, removes allergens, scents the house.

Disadvantages: Quite noisy.

What is it?

The Care for Air Health Breezer is basically an air purifier. It works by using water and essential oils to 'wash' the air clean. It is said to remove allergens and toxins and pollutants from the air, and also act as an ionizer. The air goes in at the back of the unit, is (somehow, the website nor the packaging explains fully how this actually happens), is 'washed' or purified by the water, and then the flow of cleaned air comes out through the slits at the top of the unit.

How do you use it?

The unit is easily operated. The white 'lid' on the top of the unit comes off, and then you have to fill the clear bowl underneath with cold tap water. There is a min and max line that the water level has to be in between. These lines are quite clear and easy to see. You can then add a few drops of essential oil to the water. Care for Air sell their own range of oils in 100ml plastic bottles to go with the Health Breezer, such as tea tree, lemon, rose, apple, sandalwood, citronella, Thai lotus flower, lavender, and an anti tobacco blend. They also have some more unusual ones such as a chocolate smelling one. They are bring out new ones on a regular basis and their collection of oils is now quite large. These bottles sell for £7.99. You don't have to use the oils that you buy from Care for Air, you can use any essential oil. I often use fragrance oils from The Body Shop in it. Normally when you buy the Health Breezer, they have on some sort of offer where by you get a couple of bottles of oil free.

When you have filled the clear bowl with water and added the oil of your choice (you do not have to add any oil at all if you don't want to), just place the bowl where you want it and replace the white top. The Breezer is operated through mains power. The wire is connected to the white lid of the unit. When you have replaced the lid, plug the unit in and you will find about halfway along the length of the wire an on off switch which you can operate the unit with. The electrical cord is not that long, so think about where you want the unit as unless you use an extension cable the cord is not long enough to plug in it and then place the unit elsewhere.

What is it like when it's working?

I have found that the scent of the oils is distributed very effectively. It seems to scent the whole house and is in some ways more effective in distributing the scent of the oil than an oil burner. At the same time, the scent is not at all overpowering, just nicely noticeable. When the unit is switched on, the water starts to swish around in the bowl in a circular motion. You can sometimes see the water getting dirty as the time goes on. I normally change the water once it gets visibly dirty, just to keep it looking nice and clean. The unit itself does not look anything special, its emphasis is certainly more on being functional than something that's going to look great in your home. Still, it doesn't look horrible, and it's quite unobtrusive. The only downside to its operation is the fact that it can be quite noisy. I find that I get used to it being in the room while I'm watching TV but it would be a bit too noisy to have going in the bedroom overnight.

Does it work?

Well, it's obviously quite hard to gauge how much my health has actually improved since using this, but it seems to have made a difference. I was once allergic to cats, and although I no longer suffer from severe allergic symptoms around cats, I will always be quite sensitive to them. I actually live with cats now ( when I was younger I couldn't be in the same room as one), with no ill effect, however if they sleep on my bed or I have a lot of the hair on me I will sneeze quite a bit, as I said before I will always be sensitive in some way. Therefore I bought this as I thought maybe would take away that last bit of sensitivity I have with cats, as the Health Breezer claims to take allergens out of the air. When I used the unit in my bedroom during the day, I let the cats sleep in my bedroom one night. I have to say that I had a very peaceful night's sleep, whether this was due to the Health Breezer or whether I was coincidentally going through a period of excellent immunity and health I don't know! I must say though, that even when used without essential oils, the air in the house always seemed very fresh when the Breezer had been on. Cooking smells didn't seem to linger either. Also, the air didn't seem as 'thick' when you breathed it in if you can imagine that. Overall, I think this does make a difference to the air in your home, the air seems a lot fresher and clean, and if you use the oils in it it always perfumes the house really well with the smell of the oil. I almost prefer using this to using an oil burner now, as it seems not only to distribute the smell around the whole house, but also the smell of the oil is not too overpowering. It scents the house in a light refreshing way, rather than with a thick plume of heady scent that you can sometimes get with burning oils in an oil burner.

I do believe it does remove allergens from the air, so I would recommend it if like me you are slightly allergic to any animals in your house and have up until now just been putting up with the odd sneezing fit. Also it would be good for any sort of pollen or flower allergy. I wouldn't like to say however, how effective it would be in preventing the symptoms of a full blown allergy to cats or dogs. Thinking back to when I was really allergic to cats, I'm not sure if this unit would've actually prevented all the symptoms. However there are ways to contact tham on their website (see below), so If you perhaps have a child with an allergy or something give them a call see if they can offer advice on it's true level of effectiveness.

How much and where do you get it?

I got my Health Breezer for £30 at the Royal Cornwall Show. Speaking to the people there they go to pretty much all the different shows all around the country. Next they were off to do shows in Devon, London, Bath and Birmingham to name a few. They also have a website, www.careforair.com, which has the full range and the latest offers. You can order both the ourifiers and the oils off of this site. They also do the Breezer in a mini version for the car, and also a version where there are colour changing lights in the bottom of the unit to create a more interesting effect and make it more of a visual thing. I don't think it was expensive, as I have seen other air purifiers for hundreds of pounds. Granted the other ones I have seen were also at the forefront of design and looked like something from a hundred years into the future but I wasn't worried about that I just wanted to live with my cats hassle free!

Overall I would recommend this product as it really does freshen the air in the house, and it might be really helpful to anyone living with allergies. I think I have covered just about everything but if I think of anything else I will update the review.

Summary: A good purchase.