Allergy Consumer Review Issue #38
End July, 2002 Dear Everyone,
My husband and I, as well as other members of my staff
have been trying out all sorts of linens, pillows and silk
comforters. I had gently tried to dissuade my husband
from giving a fragrance gift to my stepdaughter for
her last birthday and had suggested some high thread
count linens as an alternative.
Mercia Tapping Disclaimer: Product and solution information reflect information available at the time of publication, including prices, availability, and reviews. To get the latest information, contact us or join our newsletter. |
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After
a fascinating visit to the wild of Alaska, I am back
in the steamy July heat of Boston. I slept in many different
beds on vacation and I can truly say it is a relief
to be back sleeping on 
My
husband pooh-poohed that idea but quickly changed his
mind after we sat with his kids at dinner one night.
Upon hearing that we sold fine linens, they all demanded
that their Dad give them 
| Silk
Comforters - Why They Are A Real Alternative To A Down
Comforter Lightweight silk comforters are hypoallergenic, warm, and are satin soft by Mercia Tapping
After 2 months, I must admit to being won over. The silk is wonderfully fluid and cloud light and best of all no need for an expensive dust mite cover. I do however use one of our Diva 400 tc ("thread count") cotton duvet covers. I have been known to just bypass any sheets as the duvet cover is so soft. When I insist on turning on the auxiliary air conditioner to make our bedroom the temperature of a refrigerator, the silk comforter has kept me toasty warm, which surprised me as the Ming Dynasty is recommended for Southern climates or Northeast summers. While I grew up in Europe being used to the huge puffiness of a down comforter and love my Hypodown Monarch for the depths of winter, I also prefer the neater flatter look of the silk filled comforters. Silk is a perfect fiber; it is amazingly strong and keeps people warm in winter and cool in summer by wicking away moisture into the air. It is inhospitable to dust mites because it does not retain moisture but unlike our Alpaca wool comforter which is also dust mite resistant there is no weight to it. After sleeping with a silk filled comforter and then going on vacation, I found that regular blankets felt like I was sleeping under a sack of potatoes! My husband's only half-grumble is that he is getting so quickly used to luxury linens (and it is amazing how quickly we adapt to luxury!) that everything else feels like sandpaper!
Diva
Collection 400 thread-count Cotton Duvet Covers
from $99.95 Hypodown
Monarch Down Comforters from $306.95 Alpaca Wool Comforters from $279.95
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| Silk
Comforter Review - Imperial Delight Silk bedding is satin soft by Mercia Tapping
Pluses:
Minuses:
Summary: The Imperial Delight is the best value for a luxurious silk comforter. Imperial
Delight Silk Comforters from $200 Ming Dynasty Silk Comforters from $369.95
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| Sheets
Review - New Diva Luxury Bed Linens Luxury bed linens available in california king sheets by Mercia Tapping Editor's note: Trust me, these bed linens and sheets are a sheer, self-indulgent thrill! Pluses: We had a "touch and feel" demonstration recently at our offices of all the different thread count sheets. The Diva Bed Linens Collection won the group's enthusiastic "I want one of those" - so I know exactly what to give the staff for bonuses because they all drop hints quite shamelessly! The Diva Collection bed linens are made out of the finest fine 400 thread count cotton. The sateen combed cotton finish makes the sheets feel silken to the touch, which is why I recommend the duvet cover as an ideal accompaniment to our silk comforters. Diva Collection 400 thread-count bed linens, duvet covers and sheet sets from $99.95
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Deep Pocket Sheets
Review - New DreamFit Cotton Bed Linens Pluses:
When we slid into the freshly laundered cotton sheets, a beautiful sky blue color, at first touch, we were changed forever! We just couldn't believe how soft these cotton sateen sheets felt. They just floated over the body like you were on a cloud. The cotton sheets lightly drape the body. We found these 310 thread count cotton bed sheets to have a lighter, more delicate feel to them than a lower thread count. After experiencing a high thread count, is to be changed forever. Sliding into these sheets after a long day of work or play brings a smile and a sigh of pure pleasure. DreamFit cotton sheets really are about "the fit." The fit on this Queen bed was just impeccable without a lot of tugging or adjusting. The white satin piping on the edge of the pillowcases and the flat sheet are a very nice touch and add to the elegance of the overall presentation. Minuses: Luxury cotton sheets require a bit more care than the average run-of-the-mill sheets. In this case, bleaching is a no-no and tumble dry on the dryer's low cycle is a must. With a high thread count cotton sheet, it's important to take them out of the dryer immediately and fold them or put them back on the bed as a higher thread count cotton sheet can wrinkle more. DreamFit sheets do not wrinkle as much as other high thread count cotton bed sheets. Be mindful of the straps on the fitted sheet. This is at the core of the DreamFit system. When you have a thick mattress and/or thick mattress pad, the DreamFit sheets have extra deep pockets with the straps to hold the sheets in place. Although the straps fold on themselves off the bed, be aware of the straps as you are taking the fitted sheet out of the washer. You wouldn't want them to get caught on the agitator in the washing machine. Warranty: DreamFit Sheets and Sheet Sets are guaranteed to fit any mattress, and to stay on. DreamFit sheets are guaranteed against any sewing imperfections and holes in the fabric. The elastic has been tested to last approximately 200-300 washes depending upon washing machine. Fabric care: Machine wash warm water. Do not bleach. Tumble dry at low heat and remove promptly for best results. DreamFit cotton sheets and pillowcases from $64.95 |
| Cotton
Jersey Sheets Review - New Luxor Bed Linens Bed sheets available in california king size bedding by Mercia Tapping Review: I found these cotton jersey sheets one night at an upscale Bed and Breakfast, and I was so taken with them, I took apart the bed to find out who made the sheets and what they were made of! These Grade A, jersey sheets are buttery soft and have a comfort reminiscent of a bygone era. If you like the idea of flannel sheets but just find them too thick and rough, then these cotton jersey sheets are just for you. They are even available as california king sheets. Made out the finest Egyptian cotton, these sheets combine a fine, light feel with just a touch of warmth. I initially thought these jersey sheets were best for winter only, but later revised my opinion, and love them for use all year round. If you have ever got into bed feeling like the bed is chilly and the sheets too cool, then jersey sheets are the answer. Our jersey sheets come both in natural chemical-free for the environmentally sensitive, and in regular, with a charming assortment of pastel colors. I found they washed well in warm water with no sign of pilling or stretching. They also washed and dried with the minimum of wrinkles which is nice because I refuse to iron. My mother would not be proud of me. Fabric care: Wash before using. Machine wash cold with like colors. Only non-chlorine bleach if needed. Tumble dry medium. Remove promptly from dryer. No ironing necessary.
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| Synthetic
Down Comforters and Pillows Review Primaloft hypoallergenic comforters and pillows contain hypoallergenic fill Primaloft bedding is very popular and last year we ran out last Fall due to high demand. So if you want pillows or comforter by Primaloft, please order early as it can take up to 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. Here is my take on Primaloft. If you use a duvet cover on the comforter and have it professionally cleaned (we recommend environmentally friendly wet cleaning) it will last a lot longer. The pillows are wonderfully soft and comfortable, they just do not last as long as a good quality Hypodown pillow but the price is right. My husband's favorite pillow is Primaloft Medium. Pluses: We are pleased to say that we think Primaloft is the best of the synthetic down "feel alikes" with some caveats.
Minuses:
Summary: Primaloft is one of the best choices you can make when selecting hypoallergenic comforters or synthetic down blankets. The warranty periods are shorter than those for high quality down products. Note: These synthetic down comforters simulate the fill power of a 550 or less fill down comforter which won't be as warm as a 700 or 800 down fill power comforter. We therefore suggest that these are better for Southern or moderate climates, than for the Northeast. Primaloft
Comforters from $119.95 Primaloft Pillows from $84.95
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| Wools
Pillows Review - Hypoallergenic Alpaca Wool A pillow filled with hypo-allergenic alpaca wool with a cotton cover by Mercia Tapping
There are many benefits to a wool pillow for the allergy sufferer. They are naturally dust mite, mildew and mold resistant, and handle moisture better than any other fiber. Wool will not over- or under-heat underneath you, so on warm nights, these pillows absorb the moisture from sweaty nights and dry out fast. Need I go on? So what you have in the alpaca pillow (which does have some wool in it to prevent it matting down too fast) is a pillow slightly firmer than down but a pillow which is allergy-friendly and needs no dust mite covers! Alpaca Wool Pillows from $94.95
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| Air
Filters - Which Air Cleaners are Easiest to Change? Hamilton Beach, IQAir, Austin Air, and Clarifier Air Cleaners Tested Changing filters on your air cleaner is a must. I bought my dirty Blueair into the office and measured its efficiency before and after putting in new filters. After putting in new filters the efficiency rose in the order of over 20%, a clear argument to changing them. So now the question is, how easy is it to change them? We did some training of new staff recently and took apart a number of our best selling air cleaners to change the HEPA and pre-filters. This is a quick summary of what we found. We rank ordered them in terms of ease of changing the filters. Blueair: These air filters were the fastest of all to change and for the "mechanically disabled" like myself, they make life easy. Changing the filters requires lifting up the lid on top of the Blueair, pulling the new filters out and replacing with new ones. A 15 to 30 second operation at most. No screw drivers involved. Hamilton Beach: Here you open up the front grille and pull the dirty filter out and snap a new one in . No screwdrivers are involved and it took less than one minute to change the filter. Absolutely idiot-proof. IQAir: No screwdrivers are involved here but the system looks more intimidating the first time. In fact, it was much easier than it looked. You pull the side arms of the machine out and then remove and restack the filters. The mechanically inclined will accomplish this task in 2 to 3 minutes. Fumble fingers like myself took about 8 minutes the first time but can now do it as quickly as the rest of them. It is the resetting of the filter replacement controls that took more time during the first time out. Austin Air: We turned the machine upside down and used a screwdriver to open up the base plate. The HEPA filter slid in and out easily. We were dismayed at how CLEAN the pre-filter looked after 3 months constant use. It did not appear to us that it could be doing much good. However, the person on our staff who had changed the pre-filter a few months back said the pre-filter does in fact catch a lot of large particulates but vacuuming from the outside (the method recommended by Austin) is not effective. So here you have to use a screwdriver to change or wash the pre-filter. This process took us about 8 to 10 minutes. Clarifier: One of our all time favorite air cleaners, but it does not get top marks for ease of changing filters. We opened up the manual, read the instructions and our newbies tried to change the filter without success. It seemed stuck. We pushed and pulled and became very frustrated. It was clear that some screws needed taking out and no woman in the group could get the screws out by hand. A power screw driver was needed. In frustration, we gave the machine to our most mechanically astute sales person (an engineer by background). He was almost about to give up, and was getting visibly annoyed at the process, till he realized two additional screws needed to be removed. It just was not clear in the manual. Even after that removal and reinsertion of the filter was a bit of a struggle. We decided after over 30 minutes of this effort by 6 people, that if the manual instructions were improved, it would have saved a lot of aggravation and a power screwdriver was a must. We still felt this filter change was not for the faint of heart. Second time around we estimate this operation aided with a power screwdriver would take 15 minutes. See all the air purifiers at Allergybuyersclub.com Order replacement filters at AllergyBuyersClub.com
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Questions And Answers To Our Staff On Air Cleaners 1. Our response to a customer question about photochemical removal Reply by David: You are correct in that the Clarifier, the Allerair, or the IQAIR GC Multigas would be the best cleaners to remove the photochemical chemicals. As far as the whole house air cleaner goes, I have not heard of your method but I have heard of an air cleaner that is free-standing where the air is ducted in from the main return of the central air system and is then ducted back to the return after the air is cleaned. I cannot see how cleaning the air in the room where the air is before it is pulled into the return would be able to properly work. An electrostatic plug-in type of furnace filter is an excellent idea because up to 0.3 of a micron you will be able to remove up to 50% of the particulates and reduce the dust in your house and create less of a strain on the furnace, because you are circulating cleaner air through the heating cooling system. If you have any questions concerning any of this please
feel free to call. Reply by Customer: Dave: I bought the Clarifier air cleaner from your company and am waiting as it works on my mold problem. Also bought the furnace electrostatic from your company which within 20 minutes had cleaned the air enough that my lungs "automatically" began to breath deeper, this was an odd yet positive experience, and there is substantially much less dust and nearly no dust balls rolling around on the floor. Tried my dehumidifier in the furnace room as per my question below. We were both right! Much of the air is not affected by the dehumidifier in this position but some of the air is apparently pulled in from the furnace room so the house did gradually seem dryer. Thanks for your answers and great products, Tom
Hello, I'm trying to figure out if a machine and which machine would be good to use in a 750 sq. foot apartment for pretty much, strictly dust buildup. Unlike others, I don't really have any allergy problems and other than a bit of pet odor from the litter box of my pet rabbit, I don't have odor problems either. My main goal is to cut down on some of the household dust that seems to accumulate so darn quick after cleaning. Now I won't lie to thick within a week or two. Will an air cleaner help with this problem and cut down on the amount and frequency of dust buildup? I've read some things that say that 99% percent of household dust is simply dead skin & hair, but then I read things about dust mites being a problem for some people. I don't know how you would tell the difference. Btw, I just got the rabbit, so this was happening well before he came on the scene. Also, I anticipate moving to a larger apartment within the year, so the area to be cleaned will get bigger. Thanks for any info! I don't like to dust and clean around the apartment, so I don't do it as often as I should, so when I do, there is usually so much dust that it has already formed a new light layer within 24 hours. Reply by David: Hi Bryan, An air cleaner will help eliminate the dust in your home from the mere fact that the particulates in the air will be drawn into the air cleaner where it will be removed thus reducing the amount in the air. Keep in mind, the larger particulates and especially the ones you can see are heavier and will fall to the floor, furniture, etc. very quickly so the air cleaner will not have a chance to filter it out. It is most important, therefore to vacuum and dust regularly. The air cleaner will help with the lung damaging particulates that are too small to be seen and these will be small enough for you to breath in and large enough to not be exhaled out so they will remain in your respiratory system where there may be a reaction to the pollutant. I would recommend the IQAIR Healthpro unit, which will clean an area of 800 to 1000 square feet. It will remove at least 99.97% of all particulates in the air down to 0.3 microns in size. If you have any questions concerning any of this please feel free to call or respond. Thank you, David Barnaby See all the air purifiers at Allergybuyersclub.com
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Air Cleaners
and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Air cleaners for MCS sufferers need to be able to control a wide range of chemicals and not themselves be a source of chemical contamination. IQAir has with the GC series and GCX series, two product lines that meet these and other MCS requirements. What is MCS? What can cause MCS?
Symptoms of MCS Treatment MCS and Air Cleaning Most off-the-shelf air cleaners on the market today are not suitable for MCS sufferers, because their gas phase filters are too small. MCS sufferers should avoid products which use carbon pads or similar low carbon containing filters. Air cleaners with granular media, such as granular activated carbon, provide better removal efficiencies for gaseous chemicals. Coconut-based carbon should be avoided since it has been reported by some users to trigger allergies. But carbon alone does not offer complete removal of gaseous chemicals. Activated carbon works well with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) but not well with some semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) such as formaldehyde or inorganic chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide. The widest range of chemicals can be removed by air cleaners which offer both granular activated carbon and a chemically active alumina. Air cleaners which offer a combination of granular activated carbon and zeolite on the other hand bring no such advantage. Zeolite has been marketed by some air cleaner manufacturers in air cleaners for MCS sufferers, but no sound scientific evidence has been presented that makes it preferable to activated carbon or chemisorbant media. The gas phase filter in an air cleaner for MCS should be protected by a high-efficiency pre-filter. This guards against premature particle contamination which drastically reduces the effectiveness of the gas phase filters by clogging the micro-pores of the media. This decreases effectiveness, service life and may lead to cross contamination. Air cleaners themselves can present sources of chemical contaminants, which present a serious problem to MCS sufferers. Many air cleaners contain sealants, gaskets, glues and softeners, which can release chemicals into the air. Inspection of various air cleaning systems on the market has shown that there is no significant difference in the amounts of chemicals released between air cleaners with metal housings and those with plastic housings. This may be due to the fact that most of the off-gasing of the air cleaners at room temperature comes from gaskets and sealing compounds which may be contained both in units with metal and plastic housings. Fan motors have also been reported by MCS sufferers to release chemicals and odors. This is due to the varnish which is used on the motor windings. MCS sufferers should look for air cleaners that are sold with varnish free fan motors and have the fan motor located before the gas phase filter. This way the gas phase filter is able to take up any chemicals (from lubricants etc.) released by the fan motor as it heats up. MCS sufferers should also ensure that the fan motor and the gas phase filter are followed by an efficient particulate post-filter to capture dust which can be generated by the gas phase media and metal dust from the motor. Air cleaners which have the fan motor located at the last stage in an air cleaner should for these reasons be avoided. Suitable IQAir systems for MCS sufferers
If larger areas are to be covered or chemical concentrations are elevated, multiple IQAir GC units should be used. The IQAir GCX Series due to its even larger gas phase filter is able to deal with even higher chemical concentrations. In most cases, the use of multiple GC units will be preferable over the use of a single GCX system. See all the air purifiers at Allergybuyersclub.com
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