# Ionic Air Filters - Waste of Money?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ionic-air-filters-waste-of-money/82878>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 20, 2001, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ionic-air-filters-waste-of-money/82878 "2001-09-20T21:14:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rknot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7c8e57/32.png) [@Rknot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rknot)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ionic-air-filters-waste-of-money/82878/1 "2001-09-20T21:14:31Z")

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Whether or not “negative ion” generators do anything besides waste electricity was addressed in: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40790](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40790).

However, I’ve been teetering on the brink of purchasing one of the Sharper Image’s Quadra Ionic Air Filters™ every time I go in the store. Living in the city gives my allergies a full-time workout. These things seem to attract a lot of airborne junk onto the filters, but before I blow $350 or so for one, I want to find out if they are good for anything besides some kind of neo-Stonehenge statuary in the house.

Anybody own one who can give me some info besides the infomercialesque puffing that SI has on their website?

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**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ionic-air-filters-waste-of-money/82878/2 "2001-09-21T00:41:11Z")

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We tried one at work a while back and they do take some particles out of the air, but the dust sticks to the desk/table that the device is sitting on. We had to clean the desk and the wall behind it all the time to keep the area from looking like a dust pit, and the difference in the air quality really wasn’t noticeable. I’ve heard better things about HEPA air filters, but have no personal experience with them.

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**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ionic-air-filters-waste-of-money/82878/3 "2001-09-21T03:04:25Z")

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I’m with the Swede.  
The one we had attracted dust like nobodys business. The wall and table top around it were seriously nasty all the time. And I never noticed any difference in air quality. However, we had no allergy sufferers. YMMV

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**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ionic-air-filters-waste-of-money/82878/4 "2001-09-21T13:15:38Z")

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AFAIK, there is no evidence that filters (even HEPA filters) reduce allergy symptoms (I own two).

You might want to check this site for general info on allergies: [http://www.medem.com/search/article\_display.cfm?path=n:&mstr=/ZZZVZDYW18C.html&soc=NIH&srch\_typ=NAV\_SERCH](http://www.medem.com/search/article_display.cfm?path=n:&mstr=/ZZZVZDYW18C.html&soc=NIH&srch_typ=NAV_SERCH)

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**Author:** ![Rknot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7c8e57/32.png) [@Rknot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rknot)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ionic-air-filters-waste-of-money/82878/5 "2001-09-21T15:47:45Z")

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Kinda what I expected.

Thanks all.