Sharp Plasmacluster air purifiers feedback thread

[AnnMumsnet]

This thread is for the 10 Mumsnetters who are reviewing a Sharp Plasmacluster air purifier in their home. All reviewers have at least one child with asthma or dust allergies - this could be mild, moderate or severe. Reviewers will be adding feedback and thoughts over the next three months, in a diary style.

However if you are not a reviewer but are interested in this product please feel free to add comments or ask questions of Sharp or of the reviewers.

Please note: This feedback will only be used by Sharp to inform their development of the product, it will not be treated as a clinical trial.

Sharp have some specific areas they would like you to comment on - you won't be able to add comments/ views on all of these straight away as some are looking at the longer term issues so please do revisit the thread and update your responses over the period of the review.

Please state the age of your child(ren) with asthma / dust allergies as well as the severity of their condition.

Initially, please add your first impressions of the product when it arrived: for example: overall first impressions of the product, was it what you expected? Where have you placed it? How was it to get it set up/ started etc. If you have any queries about the product please either post them here and Sharp will aim to respond or email MNHQ.

Then once you have had the product in your home for awhile, please add your thoughts, comments or experiences regarding the following areas - and the possible effects the air purifier has had for yourself and your child(ren).

Affect on asthma / dust allergy generally
Any reduction in illnesses in the home or affects on winter colds you would normally expect to see
Any reduction in smells around the home
Any reduction or effect on dust in the home - and the effect of this on your child with asthma
Any reduction or effect on mould in and around the home (in troublesome areas such as Bathroom and Kitchen where ventilation might be an issue) - and the effect of this on your child with asthma
Any other comments?

All reviewers who add feedback here will receive a £50 high street gift voucher as a token of thanks for taking part.


Many thanks

MNHQ

[Louii]

Bramblebooks, wow that's a lot of money, do they not usually fund them?
Another fab night here,

[Louii]

So has everyone, all 10 testers had good results?
Great product trial if so, that's like "100% of families saw an improvement with the Plasmacluster" .

[bramblebooks]

Louii, depends which pct you are in. We hope to be funded when the equipment upgrdes next summer.

I have it on boost at moment with all of the colds in the house - need to rduce the risk of ds2 getting this cold. Really interested to hear about zapping the viruses in the air.

Eldest ds who has it in his room doesnt seem to have that constant littl throat clearing cough all th time at the moment. No nose bleeds for a little while too. Fingers crossed.

[QOD]

SLightly concerned about how much water is now in dds room LOL - we always used to joke that one day we'd come home and all the wall paper would be on the floor - every winter we end up using the wall paper steam stripper to humidify her room! Maybe I should have patented that!

[StarExpat]

This thing is amazing. We haven't gone this long in cold weather without a lot of coughing and wheezing from DS before. I can't afford the plasmacluster, but I'll be buying a cheaper version of a humidifier and air purifier now that I know it works. Probably blasphemous on this thread but I just can't afford this machine.
For anyone who can afford it, it's well worth the money, though! :) I can say that with all honesty.
Thank you for letting us take part in this trial and for helping DS breathing so much!

[magnolia74]

ok ds1 has a cold so will be interesting to see if dd4 gets it and if her usual athsma symtoms (which get worse with a cold) are reduced....

Watch this space.

Realised how much our heating must dry theair, have to fill the water tank daily!!

[blueberryboybait]

Magnolia - I have to fill ours daily too.

Another thing I have noticed is that DD's breath does not smell as bad in the morning - she isn't breathing through her mouth as much.

[Louii]

Still doing fab here!
DS currently has a cold which usually means a whole night spent coughing and choking, eh no, another night of solid sleep enjoyed by him!

[QOD]

well I was away for 4 days (at Gatwick airport - long story) and dd and dh didn't even put it on - I did and it was amber so spent a few hours sorting out her dust.
She said this morning that she has slept well and didn't drink any water last night

[bramblebooks]

Well my cold didn't disappear quickly and I have been like the wreck of the hesperus all week. However, fingers crossed that ds2 hasn't developed it (although he could pick up anything at school). ds1 seems to have lost his little cough.

I'm going to put the machine in the spare room and get dh to sleep there for a couple of nights (he's working until the small hours and waking me up). He has a constant sniff and grunting cough. He swears he hasn't got asthma or any allergies .... we will see. If it will sort this it may well save his love life!

[StarExpat]

Ok, so the machine shut off yesterday evening (I had it on from 4pm-5.30pm then it shut off) (??) And DS had a mild cough earlier on in the day but usually with that enormous machine on through the night, he sleeps brilliantly and doesn't cough anymore.

Well, last night when it shut off, I couldn't get it back on.

He coughed and coughed and coughed. Coughed so much he was sick. Difficulty breathing in between coughs. It was horrible. It started working again (thank god!) so hopefully tonight will be a better night.

Will we need to change the filter at all?
There is a very, very odd odour coming out of my machine when I put it on "clean air" the past couple of days. Is that normal?

[GemmaSharp]

Hey StarExpat, I have sent you a direct message so we can arrange with you to have your Plasmacluster unit collected and replaced. We certinaly haven't experienced the unit shutting off before and will send the unit off to be looked at. Regarding the smell, this has been noticed in Japan before but it turned out to be that "humidify mode" was on but the water had run out, or that there was water in the unit with "humidify" off. Could either of these be the case for the smell?

[blueberrysantabait]

I am still feeling the love! Our central heating is broken and were have had to resort to warm air blowing heaters, which I hate as they dry the air and we end up with horrible dry coughing all night - I filled the water tank at bathtime last night, humidity was 29% in DD's room it worked like a trouper and by bedtime the humidity was up to nearly 50% and we had a peaceful night. I have had it running in the hall outside all the bedrooms tonight and it is doing it's magic.

[Louii]

Everything still fab with us, the change in all of us is immense, amazing what getting sleep does.

DS has still not had a bad night since we got it.

GemmaSharp, I have a friend in Ireland who is literally at her wits end with her DD coughing all night, any plans to do product testing there?
I have told her about our miracle result with the plasmacluster.

[QOD]

Well, dd went to bed with a temp of 39 (high for her as she is naturally 36) at 5.30pm with terrible sore throat and headached, blocked nose etc.
I had left it on humidify all day and I can currently hear her singing in the lounge!
SOmething got sucked out thru a filter last night!

[blueberrysantabait]

Oh Lordy - Dh just shook his pillows out infront of the filters and they went instantly red New pillows in the morning then. I was amazed at how quickly on the super setting it all went back down to green.

DD has a cold so has been in with us a bit so will see if the sneezes have been sucked into the filters (I put the machine right next to her in bed!) and we will all be cold free.

[Louii]

We usually put it on the ion shower when DS is getting his story in bed, forgot last night and he had a couple of coughs, so went in and stuck it on and no coughing rest of night!

[DaftApeth]

Yes, I try to put it on whoosh mode when ds goes to bed too. Ds does seem to sleeping longer and apart from being poorly with an ear infection last week, he is not coughing as much as before.

[QOD]

Last night was a disaster ... but not for dd - her alarm clock went off at 4am for 20mins, I could hear it (untuned radio fuzz) going on and on and on and on.
Finally cracked adn went to find out what it was......... she was still sparko LOL

[GemmaSharp]

Hey Louii, apologies for the delay. Unfortunately there are no immediate plans to trial this product in Ireland, but your friend may be interested to know that Sharp are offering a 30 day trial, money back guarantee on the product. Details can be found here www.sharpdirect.co.uk/air-purifiers/kc930ekw-air-purifier-with-humidifier/invt/kc930ekw/#. Sorry its not news about a trial, but it may help?

[Louii]

Thanks Gemma, will let her know.

DS has had a bad cold and cough, had one night when he did a lot of coughing but that was it, just the one night, has been grand since.

[GemmaSharp]

That's great to hear; thanks Louii!

Thanks to you all for your feedback so far! It really is fantastic news that you are all experiencing such fabulous results! From all of us at Sharp, we would like to wish you all the best for the festive period, and the New Year.

[DaftApeth]

Thanks Gemma. You too.

Where are you based? Are you snowed in too?!

[GemmaSharp]

Sharp UK are based next to Heathrow. Not quite snowed in, but ever so chilly!

[DaftApeth]

Ahh, near me then.

Still quite a lot of snow on the ground though.