It's no secret that I have a lot of animals in my house, but I always hope I'm not given away by the scent permeating in my abode. I'm pretty good about cleaning the litter box as soon as someone deposits a gift, and making sure that rugs, couches and litter areas are vacuumed and thoroughly clean. That said, sometimes when I come home things don't smell so fresh. In an attempt to keep things smelling fairly decent when I'm not home to pooper scoop I tried Germ Guardian's UV-C Pluggable Air Sanitizer...
Re(al)view: Germ Guardian's UV-C Pluggable Air Sanitizer
According to their site, the plug-in air sanitizer uses UV-C light, the same tech used in hospitals to sanitize, to kill bacteria without chemicals. The light is supposed to kill over 98% of airborne bacteria including airborne mold spores. Air is drawn into the product by a fan, which then passes through a chamber and exposed to UV-C light. Fresh air is pumped back out.
I decided to plug the thing in my bathroom, where two foster cats were recovering from being spayed. The socket I plugged into was directly above the litter box, so there was plenty of dirty air to suck in and clean. When powered on, the sanitizer makes a faint whirring noise as it sucks air in. A band of blue light comes on to let you know it's on.
One really cool feature is that the plug can be rotated on the back so you can angle the sanitizer any way you'd like.
I started my experiment in the evening. When I went to the bathroom towards the early morning there was no mistaking that one of my feline companions had gone to the bathroom before I had a chance to. The plug-in didn't seem to do much of controlling fresh odor, so I scooped and left the bathroom to make tea. I returned a few minutes later to sniff out the results, only to find that the stench was still there! Hrmph.
Over the course of the next few days I noticed that the plug-in wasn't very good at controlling the odors coming from my feline fosters. So much so that I ended up unplugging and reinserting my Mrs. Meyers plug-in freshener. Just after a few minutes of going back to Mrs. Meyers I felt like my $13 diffuser was doing a better job freshening things up than the thirty-something UV-C!
Sure, Mrs. Meyers was only masking the smell, but hey lavender with a tinge of street cat is much better than straight up street cat.
photos: soniaz
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Product Review, air & water quality, pets, cleaning device, cleaning, cats, air purifier, germ guardian, sanitizerRelated Links
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I know this is off topic but what about those toothbrush sanitizers? I have seen them in stores and there are so many brands that I have no idea if they even kill bacteria on your toothbrush... like has there ever been a study showing proof they work?
view witchbaby's profile
Just a note to be careful: cats and essential oils may not be a good combination.
From www.thelavendercat.com:
"Cats are known to be deficient in their ability to eliminate compounds through hepatic glucuronidation (they lack enzyme glucuronyl tranferases). Glucuronidation is an important detoxification mechanism present in most animals except cats. Lack of this important detoxification mechanism in cats may result in slower elimination and thus build up of the toxic metabolites in the body causing toxicity problems.
Most people are aware of warnings that focus on the topical and oral administration of essential oils, but they are generally unaware that inhalation of essential oils can also be unsafe for your cat. Oils can affect a cat by absorption and inhalation just like for humans, and precautions should be used when repeatedly diffusing essential oils, since the development of liver damage can be a slow process without any visible symptoms."
view pwl's profile
I've got a big Honeywell air filter in my bedroom as it tends to get a bit musty (something to do with airflow through the apartment). I was hoping it would make a difference, but it really doesn't.
That's because it's not really meant to - sanitizing and purifying the air isn't the same as deodorizing it.
It'd be interesting to see if airborne bacteria was affected. While it might still smell bad, perhaps the filter made the bathroom a bit more hygenic.
If anyone does know of something that can remove odors without adding a masking scent, I'd love to hear about it! I can't stand air fresheners as I just want a space to be completely odor free.
view DCE's profile