AKIRA Ionic Air Purifier AP-606C

When the recent Haze condition persisted over a couple of months, people started to find a long term solution to minimize breathing in harmful particles that are smaller than 0.0025mm (2.5 microns). The Pollutant Standards Index or PSI in short, had gone above 100 points in most days. The living rooms, bedrooms, kitchen areas all smelled of smoke. Imagined that you are sleeping and breathing in all the pollutants.

People started to go crazy and snapped up all the available air purifiers that they could find at the electronics shops.

My colleague from Finland actually went around to search for an air purifier for his home. He remembered that he saw a branded air purifier in his homeland that looked similar to the AKIRA ionic air purifier. The price was selling at $249 and after a hundred dollars discount, it was selling at $149 at the Giant Singapore at IMM. He immediately bought one and started to use at home.

When he came to the office, he recommended us to buy the same model because it was cheap and value for money. My boss went to buy three for the whole office. One is placed at the door entrance, middle of the office, and the third one at the area near the back of the office. The rest of the colleagues realised that the price is very attractive and wanted to buy for their own homes. On the same day, the air purifier was sold out. We couldn't find any AKIRA AP-606C at any electronics shops anymore.

The design of the air purifier is sleek and small. The operation of the purifier is simple and just needs to press a few buttons on the front to get it going. It is not noisy and you will not notice whether it is there or not.

You can set timer to the air purifier if you want. The filters are at the front. Just remove the magnetic cover and the filters will be exposed.

It eliminates airborne allergens and germs via negative ion generator, germicidal UV lamp and high efficiency filters. It is a multifunction purifier which combines purifier, ionizer, disinfector in one machine.

AKIRA Ionic Air Purifier AP-606C

AKIRA Ionic Air Purifier AP-606C

Manual

The precision of the HEPA filter is 0.01 micron. It is able to eliminate particles which are larger than 0.01 micron with the filtration rate of 99% or more. Dust, bacteria, fungi, viruses, allergens and other small and tiny particles are not able to get through the HEPA filter.

Filter 2 (Antimicrobial and HEPA Compound Filters)

You can see dust particles trapped at the edges. I'm not sure whether this is the dust particles from the floor/carpet or from the haze.

 

Dust on the Filter 2

Filter 1 (Cold Catalyst and Activated Carbon Compound Filters)

Types of Filters

Parts and functions of the purifier

Electrical specs

Remote controller

The Haze is back in Singapore with PSI in unhealthy range

Well, the haze is back and this time, it seems to last longer. Life in Singapore is good when the air is fresh. Right now, it is very miserable and people are starting to put on their masks. Everyone is talking about the PSI which is Pollutant Standards Index. You can track the air quality over Singapore in the NEA Haze website.


PSI index category

You can tell the air quality is bad not just by the smell but when you can see the sun with your naked eyes. The haze has blocked most of the sun rays and the sun looks liked a dull egg yolk.



Photo taken at 7.15am in Singapore

 

Without the sunlight, the plants or vegetation will not grow well and will probably wither away. Without the plants and trees, there will be no photosynthesis to remove the carbon dioxide and introduce fresh oxygen for us to breathe. The high carbon dioxide level will create a green-house effect and cause the heat to be trapped and eventually the global temperature will raise and cause the ice caps to melt and sea level to rise. More land mass will be covered by sea water.

You just wish that everywhere you go has air-conditioning and fresh air. Most schools in Singapore are still not air-conditioned and it is bad for the students to study in unhealthy air situation. They will need to install air purifier in the classroom to remove the harmful particles. I hope the schools have business continuity plan in place to react to this type of emergency. Looking at the website for the Ministry of Education, they have some Haze Management Measures in place. When the PSI is greater than 300 (Hazardous), the schools will scale down lessons. All student will be spread out in enclosed indoor spaces (classrooms) to allow for better thermal comfort and ventilation. Students and staff who are unwell will be temporarily accommodated in an air-conditioned room with an air purifier, before they are taken to seek medical attention. Parents of these students will be notified.

The occasional downpours did not reduce the PSI much. The harmful particles are smaller than 2.5um and the rain will be get rid of those.

Singapore has experienced this type of emergency before a few years back and they have already stocked up enough masks for the whole population. But I was wondering the stocks can last for how long. If the haze persists for a few months, then it will be very detrimental to the health of the people as well as the economy. Firstly, the tourism will be affected. The Singapore Grand Prix will be held on 18 to 20 September at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The haze situation may affect the turnout at this annual event and hopefully the drivers will be not affected by the air quality.

I think in most people have a common wish - we wish that the wind direction will change and divert the haze to a place or the sea where there are not people there.