Activated Carbon should be factory fresh, the smell of coal. Older bunk carbon filters have little to no carbon smell. Its just when its freshly activated. A lot of ompanies stock up on carbon filters and just like when I make green juice in my juicer, the juice loses 10% of its value every day after its juiced.
An old tire loses its rubber smell after its new. The "Micro Pores" in the activated coal. You don't want it to settle and coagulte. 200 miles per pound drops significantly. We bought an old one off of ebay and bought the identical new carbon filter from the manufacture. The old carbon filter didn't get rid of nearly half of the smell that the new ones filtered.
NOTICE: CARBON FILTERS ARE DEVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES:
NO ONE TOLD MET THIS, I HAD TO FIND OUT BY GATHERING INFORMATION FROM DIFFERENT COMPANIES AND USING LOGIC TO COME UP THIS AND WHY SOME ACTIVATED CARBON FILTERS WORK BETTER THAN OTHERS EVEN IF THEY HAVE THE SAME POUNDS OF CARBON IN THEIR COMPETING FILTERS.
Carbon they use comes in 3 sizes (diameters)
Type 1: Micro pore size. This granules are less than 2 nanometers.
Type 2: Meso Pore size. These have a range of two to 25 nanometers
Type 3: Macro pore size: these have diameters above 25 nanometers.
The thing that bothers me most is that the peopel wanting to get rid of gasses are buying the one that have the macro pore size when they should use the type that has micro pores.
In order to know if the purifier has the micro pore carbon, I first need to know what type of carbon it has. Some are made from coconut shell and others ifferently.
The pH of different carbon usually will range from 6 to 9.5 pH. Older filters will have a different pH than newer filters.
Ash Content: Some of the cheaper ones have a different ash content. So when i see some company offering 10 lb carbon filters at half the price I KNOW NOW WHY. JUST LIKE WHOLE FOODS selling fruit on sale. The BRIX level is almost 99.99% always lower when something is not on sale especially during non seasonal fruit. Like buying a pineapple that is normally $4.99 and all the sudden its on sale for $299. Or organic oranges that are normally 1.79 a lb that go on sale for 99 cents for no aparnt reason the next time you are at the store. A brix meter costs 30 bucks. Everyone should have one. If I get a pineapple and its below a certain brix. I return it. The grapes that arent sweet are always a low brix. Please get one of these. You will use it.
About the diameters of the carbon, the lower the diameter the more surface area it has and the better it can capature toxins in the air. If the carbon granule are spread out you can get about 1100 meters per gram of the larger and over 2000 meters with the smaller granules.
Some carbon filters have carbon that have been though and acid wash. This gives it more surface area. The ash content also goes down to about 1% from 3%. Also the pH becomes more alkaline because of the wash. This tops the 9.5 max.
Just having more carbon isnt always better. Everyone usually asks how many pounds of carbon the filter has. If you say 15 lbs they are happy. The person that has researched will want to know if it has the smaller size granules and the pH and ash content which rarely is on the label. More is better which beats the type of carbon but having the heaviest carbon filter with the best type of carbon is optimal.
Also know the zeolite to carbon ratio. Zeolite is much more expensive to put in the filter than carbon.
As a vegan raw foodist, another thing I had to figure out on my own cuz they wouldn't tell me. SOME CARBON IS MADE OF BONES. I just got grossed out at the idea. I found out that the carbon filters were made of coal mostly, and then coconut shell, woods, nut shellsand even fruit stones from pits like peaches and nectarines.
Some of the activated carbon filters are activated by chemicals. The wood carbon is usually this one. The wood is heated to about 800 degrees c and then turnt into carbon then its washed and dried into granules.
The other type is the steam activated carbon. This is usually the coconut shells they do this with. It goes to 1100 degrees c from steam
WArning: buying older carbon filters. The age of the filter can really effect the rate of how good the filter works. Also the temp of the carbon and humidity.
Beware: Haivng the home really hot or above 40 celcius can sometimes cause "de-sorbtion" this is when the carbon starts to release all the gasses that were absorbed and stored that suddenly gets released. Its nasty. Also when the air is humid going in the carbon filter, the pores become wet and clogged and their is less surface area to absorb. With the super high CFU rate models that blow tons of air, their must be enough time for the air to stay in contact with the carbon. If the CFU rate is too high the air comes in less contact with the carbon but having maximum lbs of carbon such as the Airpura brand has, then having a high CFU rate is fine as the cheap ones rid more gasses when its on low because the contact time is more. So hving a high Air flow rate is only good really when there is a lot of filter. Also I would never buy filters and stock them as they age. If anything, I would store them in a sealed garbage bag so no humidity can get in or gasses to age it.
Charcoal is turned into Activated carbon. They charge it giving it a positive charge makign it more of a magnant to particles in the air. Early generations didnt have activated charcoal. Most of the floating impurities in the air are negative charged. Having a factory fresh positive charged filter attracts impurites much better than the older ones that have lost their positive charge.
Once activated the carbon can absorb more gasses and chemicals in the air. Carbon that is the smallest cluster size. One gram of this carbon (1/5th of a teaspoon) has the surfae are of 500 sq. meters or about a 10th of a football field. One pound of activated carbon has the filtering ability of 200 miles of pores and fisures. One lb has a filtering area of about four milliion sq. feet.
Some filter have 2 to 3 lbs of activiated carbon and other around 15 lbs. Just make sure the ones with the most pounds of carbon have the right type of carbon you are looking for, not the macro granules that are not aerrated like the smaller type. Two pounds will have less surface area and more gases can pass by without being purified. The more the carbon the better especially when the filter is on high. It can be an 95% of the odors and gasses are trapped and 5% not. The more the caron the 5% goes down.
BUYER BEWARE: I never buy and stock up on carbn filters. The activation goes away and that is why its best to get fresh filters. Buying discount filters, always check the pH of the carbon to see if the filters have become bunk. I have heard stories of people buying filters that are not factory fresh and this is what usually happens when they are bought at discounts, espeically from unauthorized dealers.
SEE MY SCAM WATCH PAGE FOR MORE SCAM ALERTS AND WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR.
...because they sold me the wrong one twice
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