Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with air

What air fresheners are good but not overwhelming?

zombieflanders — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:45:30 -0800

My friends have commented on how strong the air freshener in my apartment is. What brands or methods are good for a place with poor ventilation? I'm a nonsmoker with no pets who has been trying to maintain a nice-smelling apartment using the Air Wick brand of plug-in fresheners, usually with whichever scent seems least likely to be overpowering. The apartment has four rooms: kitchen, living/dining, bathroom, and bedroom. Only the kitchen and the bathroom have ventilation shafts, while the living room and bedroom both have windows. My friends tell me that my place smells strongly of air freshener, and that they can sometimes smell it from outside my window (I live on the ground floor), or even worse, on my clothes. The thing is, it's usually on the lowest possible setting, unless I'm cooking. Whenever I try to cook anything with even moderate aroma, I can smell it for a day or two, although that's better than the week or so from before the freshener. This poor ventilation seems to be the main culprit, but I 'm not sure if there's anything to be done about that, certainly not by me. Plus, I get used to the scent after about a day, so I can't tell how strong it is.

So what can I do to neutralize odors and/or make my place smell good? It can be other brands of freshener, although I'm certainly open to other methods (including natural solutions) as long as they're not strong-smelling either. I'm somewhat of a brown thumb though, and my heating/cooling system seems to dry the place out. Also, I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but 90% of the apartment has carpeting that is vacuumed every week or two.

I Can Haz Clean Air

airguitar2 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:31:26 -0800

What is the best air filtration/purification system for a 1 bedroom apt. in Brooklyn? I'm still getting used to the difference in air quality here in NYC (I came from Wisconsin). My apartment, while great in many ways, is above a somewhat busy street, as well as an apartment of smokers below. As a result, the air seems heavy with contaminants and toxins of various stripes!

Has anyone had good experiences with an air filter/purifier/etc. for the purpose of removing city contaminants/air pollution? What works? The apt. is about 850 sq. feet.

Thanks in advance.

I'd rather not celebrate Christmas at Terminal 5

venividivici — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:12:39 -0800

I have a ticket to fly British Airways home for Christmas next Tuesday. What should I do? I'm set (or was set) to fly from Heathrow to Baltimore (LHR-BWI) next Tuesday, the 22nd. This is now, of course, the very day that the strike is supposed to begin. Christ almighty.

Reports are saying the RyanAir and EasyJet are being called in to pick up the slack, but they don't fly to the States. I know you're not psychic, but if the strike does happen, what is going to happen to BA's transtalantic flights? I can't imagine there's much wiggle room to put hundreds of thousands of people on other international carriers at this time of year. This site says that I might not get a re-route until January. I paid a fortune for these tickets and desperately need this holiday -- am I really not going to be able to go? And should I be doing something? Pestering them? Making voodoo dolls?

What lightweight but powerful laptop should I buy?

bkudria — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:36:10 -0800

Which light-weight yet powerful laptop should I buy? I like the Sony Vaio Z, followed by the MB Air and the Thinkpad X200. Am I missing any models? I'm looking to replace my current work laptop - I use it for web development, so I need to be able to run Apache, MySQL, PHP, and some other stuff. I also use Chrome pretty heavily, and of course I watch a DVD every now and then, play music, etc. I don't run an office suite or play any games.

I carry my laptop to and from work every day, and my current HP is pretty heavy, so I am looking to buy the lightest laptop possible that still has a real CPU (e.g. no Atom, ULV, etc). I don't want anything at all resembling a "netbook". What I'm not considering at the moment is price - I'm happy to pay extra for a nicer, lighter, laptop.

At the moment, the best option I could find is the Sony VAIO Z-series. It weighs 3.3 pounds, not the lightest on my list, but it has a nice CPU (a T9900 @ 3.06 GHz). The MB Air is 0.3lbs lighter, but the CPU clocks in at 2.13 GHz and as expected does slightly worse in benchmarks. The Z also has a higher-res screen. I use an additional external monitor, but it is a nice extra. The Lenovo Thinkpad X200 and X200s are lighter even than the MB Air, but have even smaller screens and slower CPUs.

(Note: I am aware of the Z's in-BIOS VT block. I have no problems with patching the BIOS to work around this. I don't consider it a downside.)

Additional details: I plan on running Linux, so gross Linux incompatibilities are a no-go, but I think I can handle anything merely pedestrian. Also, I plan on swapping out the HDD with an SSD some point in the future, so if that has any bearing on anything, I'd love to know. I'm still in the research phase for that.

In short: I want a light yet powerful high-quality workhorse laptop. The VAIO Z looks to be a good balance.

My question: Am I missing anything in my analysis? Do any of these laptops have any glaring flaws? Are there any other models that have solid build quality and similar or better specs?

Thanks!

Soda Popinski

meadowlark lime — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:31:10 -0800

When you pour soda into a glass, is the head / froth / bubbly stuff at the top actual soda that is being turned into froth and then wasted? I have a debate with my girlfriend. I say that when she pours soda into a glass without tipping it, the head / froth / bubbly stuff that fills half the glass and then disappears downward is actual soda that is somehow combining with air and being wasted when it disappears.

She says that it's not soda, it's just something that comes out of the soda when you pour it that way.

Who's right?

Automatic Air Freshener Dispenser

Noodles — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:44:11 -0800

I am looking for an Automatic Air Freshener Dispenser that uses regular cans of Lysol instead of the little cans that most dispensers are made for.

Ventilation Problem

glenngulia — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:03:06 -0800

How do I determine why vent is not sending heat & A/C to one bedroom? Have a 3 bedroom house. 100-years old if that helps (A/C is brand new, furnace is probably 40+ years old).

2 bedrooms (the 2 larger ones) have vents that work fine. The 1 small bedroom only has 1 vent: absolutely no heat or A/C comes through this vent.

Where do I begin to figure out what the problem is?

What to do about an office that smells like smoke, exhaust, and stale french fries?

lakeroon — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:25:53 -0800

How can I make the air in my office more breathable? HEPA filter, activated charcoal, or both? Brand/model recommendations? My office is in an old building with heat that is hard to control. Year-round I'd like to be able to modulate the temperature by opening the windows, but they're one floor above an area where people stand for smoke breaks, across the street from a restaurant that emits frying smells, and right at an intersection where cars idle. The air in here isn't that great even with the windows closed, but of course it's particularly bad when I try opening them.

Specs of the office: a single room about 200 square feet, baseboard heat, window a/c unit in one window, two openable crank-style windows.

From prior questions it seems like a HEPA filtration unit (the Austin Air HealthMate was mentioned) and/or activated charcoal might help with the smell, flying road dust, and headache-inducingness of this situation. Which would help more, or can they be used together? Should I try putting filtering material over the window screens and/or an active filtering device? (The solution does not have to be aesthetically pleasing.) Product recommendations welcomed. Thanks.

A carbon air filter that works?

Nish ton — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:36:46 -0800

Have you ever encountered an activated carbon air filter that actually removed odors, leaving the output air clean? Which one? Never in my life have I been so peeved at the whole steaming pile known as consumerism.

I've tried no less than 7 times now to find something that works.

I bought a honeywell filter appliance, a febreze, and a bionaire, only to find that there was something wrong with the carbon filter material itself in all 3 cases. Not only does it not clean the air, but even after more that a week running in the garage (12 days in the case of the honeywell) it was still releasing some sort of awful fumes. I strongly suspect the smell is added intentionally by companies to make the air "smell clean" to ignorant consumers.

After the misfortunes of finding the honeywell and febreze machines didn't work, and having bought and not yet gotten around to returning the bionaire, I decided to try something.

I bought some carbon filter stuff (they call it " paper" but it more like a mat of hair made from Polyethelene terephthalate), the sort they use in air conditioners in office buildings, from Camfil Farr. To remove odors, suposedly. Then I took the filter out of the bionaire machine and taped a few square ft. of filter paper over the intake.

Exactly the same smell and problem after running it for a week. I figured it was just a matter of finding a brand of carbon filter that actually worked. I tried 3 more filter medias from various sources, all with the same problem.

I read up on some of the physics and design principles and it is clear that it is easy to make a functional filter that will absorb household smells, but
apparently it has come to the point now that companies have decided to stick with just duping the masses into accepting useless junk instead, no matter how little effort making a functional product actually requires.

So has anyone ever encountered a filter that works?

BTW this really matters because I live in a house with no provisions whatsoever for bringing in fresh air during the winter.

No more wires please.

Jon-o — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:29:04 -0800

Apple AirPort Express wireless music question. I know iTunes has an option to play music via the speaker-output port on the AirPort Express base station. How do I route all of my computer's audio output through that?

How can I best see Airforce 1 at Logan Airport this Friday?

UMDirector — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:23:20 -0800

How can I best see Airforce 1 at Logan Airport this Friday? It appears Obama is coming to Boston to give a speech @ MIT and attend a fundraiser. I just happen to be staying near the airport for work for a week. Any idea how I can find out more about about when he may be landing? Any thoughts on the best place to actually catch a glimpse of AF1 and/or Obama?

All I know at this point is the MIT visit begins in the late morning according to the MIT website.

Looking for a keep-feet-warm in bed device (to keep on the bed, not just socks)

lrodman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:44:05 -0800

I want something to put at the foot of my bed to keep feet warm - a throw would work, but something more designed for the purpose perhaps- like a giant "sock" that slips over the end of the comforter that you slip your feet into or something like that. down or equivalent preferable, but post whatever you have!

How to solve a medical mystery involving insomnia, chemical sensitivity, and an air purifier that seems to be an accomplice?

bross12 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:46:04 -0800

Does anyone have recommendations for dealing with wicked, terrible insomnia that seems to be caused by something I'm breathing in (judging by my racing heartbeat, constriction in my chest, and burning eyes)? Multiple Chemical Sensitivities are a part of this, so anyone with this who has learned a trick for controlling indoor air quality - please help me!!! Here's what I think are the most likely causes:

- Formaldehyde gas exposure. I live near a plastics factory that produces a fair amount of this, so that could be one source of exposure. I've lived in this apartment for a year, though, and have had insomnia only off and on. So maybe it's happening when the factory is churning up their goodies? I know I react to clothing treated with formaldehyde, so there's no question I'm sensitive. But I pray it's not the factory, because what then could I really do about it, short of getting a really expensive industrial quality air filter?

- Possibly allergens in the air right now. But I don't have any sneezing or runny nose or itchy eye things going on, which I'd think I would if it was a regular allergy. This would be great, though, because it would be easier to address.

- Mold. We recently had a new roommate move in who had lived in a house with a fair amount of mold that she reacted to. She cleaned everything she owned before moving in, and isn't reacting now, but maybe she brought in some mold and I'm reacting to that? In the past, my reactions to mold have been a heightening of fatigue rather than a racing heartbeat, though.

A wrinkle to consider:

- I recently bought an expensive air purifier from a company called Blue Air. This purifier is supposed to be great at getting rid of mold, allergens, and tiny dust particles, has a HEPA filter, and is supposed to not off-gas anything weird (such as ozone or gases from plastic). It does not address gas exposure though. I ran it in my room about a week ago and then things got MUCH worse. I am scratching my head over this one. Any thoughts?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Cheapest way from Tokyo to Kumamoto?

0bvious — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:09:56 -0800

Last minute Japan travel: after making an error with timing I need to arrange one-way travel from Tokyo to Kumamoto quite quickly. What are the cheapest options? I have looked into flights and trains (for the 17th of August) and both seem expensive (about £200-£250 a ticket). I am in the UK at the moment. Would it be worth waiting until we arrive in Japan? Perhaps trying to get last minute flights at the airport? Information on this site suggests cheap train travel, but has no links to buy: frommers.com

Air travel is looking pricey: farecompare.com or skyscanner.net

Is it possible to book overnight traisn from the UK? what re the other cheap-cheap train options?

Any help or advice you have would be much appreciated

Help me out of Seoul and back to LA

klangklangston — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 06:05:53 -0800

Still in Korea: Due to a bit of stupidity and bad luck, I missed my flight back to LA. What now? I realize that I should not have relied on my brother's sense of time, nor his gauge of distance, nor accepted his assurances that we could be later than I thought we could. So, now I'm here, Orbitz (whom I booked the flight through) seems to be fairly useless for the moment, as they want to wait until the LA offices of China Air are open in order to shift the ticket. The next available flight (according to the website) leaves Tuesday, though the China Air folks said on the phone that there were no flights out for a week. I'm kinda freaking out and want advice on what to do, how to best minimize the financial damage of this fuck-up (I'm dirt poor) and how to avoid clubbing my brother to death as I assume that deportation flights are not booked with budget in mind.

My filter is getting crapped out

stormygrey — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:05:03 -0800

Is genuine best in with the Aprilaire Whole-Home Air Cleaner?I am having trouble sussing out what is best for our situation. I might just have a general air flow issue. Our little old bungalow came with an Aprilaire Whole-Home Air Cleaner. I later realized that its basically just a filter with no electronic or moving parts of its own.

The Aprilaire site says that the media (fancy word for filter?) should last about a year, two if you don't make much detritus. It also says that it gets more efficient with time and there is no benefit from changing it more often.

HOWEVER, we started changing it twice a year and now even more often. We started using the filtrete replacement filters. Of COURSE, the Aprilaire peeps say that the non-genuine have less surface area, aren't as efficiect or long last, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The thing is, we have air flow issues, we can't get the house cool. We smoke, we sand, we do a ton of woodworking stuff, we have three dogs, and two cats...so of course the filter gets congested really quickly. We asked the air guy about putting filters on the returns, cheapies that we could vacuum or change regularly, but he indicated that would be a big strain on the system.

We only had one return for the whole house, but we had three big 12 inch ducts going to that one return. We took one of those down and created a hole for a new return in the living room which seemed to help for a week, but then it stopped being very efficient, so we changed the filter, but now the ducts have lots of drippy condesation!

Oh gracious, this is much longer than I meant it to be, perhaps we just need some freon, but we don't have any money to pay to have someone out right now.

Is it hot in here?

Crotalus — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:47:20 -0800

Its June in Florida, and my A/C is borked. We returned home from a long vacation to find that our central A/C is toast. At age 21, it was already on its last leg. We need to buy a new one right away, because its summer in Florida. I know nothing about air conditioners. Any advice on how to buy a central A/C will be greatly appreciated. Tips on how to pick a contractor, brands that have served you well, how to choose a service plan, etc. etc. Your collective wisdom is much appreciated.

Underpowered A/C

davidnc — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:12:46 -0800

Other experiences with under-powered A/C in Subarus? I have a 2002 Subaru Outback, and since day 1, its air conditioning has always been inadequate. It's reasonable in cooler weather, but even on an 80-degree day in the sun it has to run full blast on recycling air to keep the car cool -- especially if anyone is riding in the back, then it's full blast the entire time. On the really hot days, it just never cools the car off much. The air is definitely cooled and dry, but just not cold, and everyone who has ridden with me says it's weak compared to any other cars they've been in.
Car has an impeccable service record including all the A/C system services along the way, and it has always run like this. So I was curious if other people have had experiences with underpowered A/C in their Subarus. No results on google searching, but wanted to see about MeFi user experiences.

Cut while skydiving will a person bleed faster?

Sully — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:11:47 -0800

So my buddy and I watched that old Keanu Reeves film Point Break the other night, and we got to talking. We're thinking that more air pressure causes you to bleed at a more furious pace. So if someone's in a knife fight in a plane, is cut, say across the arm, then jumps out of the airplane to parachute to the ground - will they bleed to death before they hit the ground because the air pressure is causing them to bleed so quickly? It doesn't have to be skydiving, it could be on like, Everest. Will you bleed crazy fast higher up? I know that there are a lot of variables here, but I'm just curious if the thinking is sound.

An air conditioner thru my wall?

ecorrocio — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:45:03 -0800

Thinking of putting our bedroom window air conditioner in the wall... bad idea? Our bedroom gets quite warm on summer nights. We have a window air conditioner, which does the trick, but I hate blocking part of our one window, and it's across the room anyway so the cool air does not reach us well.

I'm considering putting it right thru the wall, closer to the bed. Cut an opening, frame it out, and put the a/c in. There's an electrical socket nearby. I figure we could cover it with a painting when not in use. In winter, I'd remove it, and put an insulated panel there.

All the same, a little voice in the back of my mind is saying... "maybe not a good idea self." I'm pretty handy, so the construction aspect is not a problem.

What do you think?

What are average costs to replace an air conditioner coil and condenser in the US?

Houstonian — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:47:53 -0800

What are average costs to replace an air conditioner coil and condenser in the US? And, should I stay with R22, or change to R410A? My air conditioner is leaking coolant in the coil (which is in the attic). An HVAC person came by today to add coolant, and he advised I replace the coil since there is a leak.

He also recommends that I consider replacing the condenser. Currently, my air conditioner uses R22 coolant, and he recommends I stay with that. I understand the environmental concerns about R22, and why environmentally I should change to R410A.

Are there any good reasons to stay with R22?

To replace a Goodman coil (parts and labor), is $1300 - $1500 a fair price?

To replace a condenser that uses R22, for a 2-ton air conditioner, (parts and labor) is $2100 a fair price?

If I replace the condenser with one that uses R410A, what is a fair price for parts and labor?

Any information is helpful, since I know nothing about HVAC. I thought I could find this information myself, by calling around for quotes, but I'm not having much luck (they all want to come to the house, and I just want a general price range).

It's too darn hot. How to cool off my studio apartment?

lsemel — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:25:33 -0800

How can I cool off my NY studio apartment this summer? Our building has central air conditioning, and while it's cold enough when I sit right next to the unit, the rest of the apartment gets boiling hot. During today's heat wave, when it was 82 outside, a thermometer sitting on the unit read 70 degrees. On the other side of the room, it was more like 75, and on the other side of of the apartment, almost 80. The building doesn't allow window air conditioners. This is making living here really uncomfortable -- what else can I do to cool this place off? I've been putting up with hot, stuffy summer air in my apartment long enough. I want to do anything and everything I can to cool the place down this year. The heat wave of the last few days reminded me once again how uncomfortable it can get.

Here's a plan that's similar to my apartment. (Unlike the apartment depicted, I don't have the main area divided into two rooms.) The central A/C is to the right, underneath the window. This unit has cold water pumped to it, and cools the room by blowing air over the cold water pipes. The window is south-facing, as wide as the entire wall, and extends all the way up to the ceiling,. Today, when it was around 82 degrees out, a thermometer sitting on the unit reads 70 degrees. On the other side of the room, it'll read more like 75, and in the bathroom or kitchen, or by the front door, almost 80. I have a Vornado fan underneath the air conditioner blowing upwards.

The building won't allow a window air conditioner to be installed. Last year I tried getting a portable air conditioner (this model) but it had absolutely no effect whatsoever, even after running it for days.

What else can I do to keep things cooler in this apartment? More fans? Install a ceiling fan? Replace all my inefficient, heat-emitting incandescent light bulbs? Any ideas would be appreciated!

air filter, emissions testing...

figTree — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:55:19 -0800

logistics of taking air filter out for emissions test? i heard that taking out the air filter would significantly in helping a car pass an emissions test. Makes sense to me, im just wondering if it is "safe" to drive for 30 - 50 mins without an air filter, as id like to warm up the car too. Whats the worst that could happen? its fuel injection if that matters. thanks! my car barely failed last time on the NO or NO3 count (or whatever nitrogen something they measure), also had not the best gas in there at the time. i would just like to double make sure im not going to have to go back for a 3rd time... any other simple tricks appreciated too. thanks!

FREE TIRE AIR CHICAGO?

defmute — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:41:31 -0800

Chicagofilter: Where do (or would) you go to fill up your bike tires for free? i recently bought a really shitty bike that deflates faster than any other bike i've had before. today i decided to stop at a BP to fill my tires only to find that they wanted 75 cents for goddamn AIR! as a result i want to start a directory of FREE air locations in chicago (where i live). i've lived on all coasts and non coasts in this country and i know i've been to gas stations with free air machines before and i know chicago HAS to have some. so...

where's the free air at?

Is it worth the trouble to vent our range hood outside?

odinsdream — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:55:50 -0800

Is it worth the trouble to vent our range hood outside? We are replacing our old range hood with an above-range convection microwave which can either vent outside or back into the room. Is there a good reason I should go to the trouble to vent it outside?

There is a pathway above the cabinets and it's a short distance to an outside wall, which I'd have to cut a hole in from the outside. I cannot easily reach the exterior wall from inside. I'd have to do most of the cutting work from the outside and fish the vent pipe over to the hole.

What benefits would I gain from venting outside?