Editor: Mercia Tapping, President, Allergy Buyers Club
Email: merciamail@allergyconsumerreview.com

PLEASE NOTE that references to prices or specials within this archive reflect prices and market conditions at the time of newsletter publication. Prices may have changed since publication.

The Case For A Whole House Water Filtration System

By Mercia Tapping

After our Condo Association had sent out a report that our very own water plant delivers a very high standard of purified water, I began to wonder whether my recent acquisition, an Aquasana Whole House Water Purifier that was yet to be installed, was a waste of money. Several things changed my mind. Firstly, I noticed rusty rings around the toilet bowls in our home. While I knew these were probably only iron deposits, I started to wonder what else might be coming through my water supply that I could not see.

Secondly, after a long chat with an environmental engineer at a party, he was telling me how many municipal water pipes are long over due for replacement, and while the water leaves the municipal plant purified, by the time it gets to your house, all the pesticides that your neighbors have been spraying onto their lawns and gardens are leaching from the cracked water pipes into your household water. It then further occurred to me that just purifying my drinking water at the kitchen sink or for showers was hardly enough, and every time I washed my hands or did dishes, I would much prefer to be using guaranteed really pure water.

So we installed the Aquasana Whole House water system. It took 1.5 hours of a plumber's time. He turned his nose up at the standard plastic bypass piping provided by the company, and put in copper tubing with valves which allow one to turn off the water if you want to change the pre-filters or the whole house cartridge. Overall the system won our plumber's approval and he said given our consumption it would last several years before needing replacing. However, what he did not anticipate and what I discovered a month later is the pre-filter already looks totally disgusting, and I need to get some extra pre-filters to have on hand to replace. I was simply amazed at the amount of sediment collecting in our pre-filter given that our pipes are brand new. Seeing is believing, and now I am convinced. All I have to do is train my husband not to buy any more expensive bottled water. Our savings in bottled water should pay for this filter in no time, and I no longer have to keep track of the life of under counter filters or shower filter life - one less thing to worry about.

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The Bosch Electro Duo Plus Hepa Canister Vacuum Cleaner - Compact And Powerful

By Mercia Tapping

There is a new light weight canister vacuum cleaner by Bosch that you might have missed. It is a top-notch canister Hepa vacuum cleaner that tested out superbly by our testing team for almost zero emissions and does deep pile carpeting with a powerhead at an affordable price. If you have solely wall-to-wall carpets, we would suggest that the larger bags of an upright vacuum such as the Sebo G series would suit you better.

Bosch Electro Duo Plus

However, in New England most of us live with a mix of bare floors and rugs. Here are some of the things that I noticed while testing out the Bosch Electro Duo Plus. Since I was not given a manual to accompany my testing session, this was a real test of whether the controls were intuitive or not.

Pluses 1. The lighter weight and easy carrying handle really made a difference when picking up the vacuum cleaner and moving it around. This is a big plus for someone who does not like a "luggable" vacuum cleaner. 2. I also immediately noticed how quiet the Bosch Electro Duo Plus vacuum cleaner is compared to the usual vacuum cleaner roar. When it is working in air driven mode only you can hardly hear it at all. 3. I was simply delighted with the small size power head, as it meant I could use the telescoping wand and clean cat haired cluttered upholstery exceptionally easily without changing tools. 4. I was amazed that with such a small vacuum cleaner, the accessory tools were still stored on board, which to my mind makes ensures you do not lose them. 5. The telescopic wand moved very easily up and down, so I could adjust the length for any cleaning tasks. The length of the wand is a little on the short side for taller people, but at 5'8" I was perfectly comfortable.

Bosch Features

6. The power brush was so smooth I had no fear of using it on my bare floors, even those that were highly polished. Theoretically, it would have been better if I had used the proper floor brush attachment, but I was given the wrong attachment and my office was now 60 miles away. However, just turning off the rotating powerhead and using the head like a turbo was more than enough to clean my bare floors without changing tools.

7. The overall maneuverability of this machine was pretty good especially with the lighter weight, which made the vacuuming a great deal less arduous than usual.

Minuses

1. It was obvious how to change the tools on the head of the vacuum cleaner but it is not a job for weaker or arthritic hands such as mine. I longed for the easier to change tools of the Miele line or even the Sebo. I hate wrestling with changing tools. This is my biggest criticism of this machine, but hasten to add that other people such as my husband had no trouble at all changing tools.

2. I did miss the ability to control the suction power on the handle of the machine, bending up and down to adjust the controls as I moved from task to task was a negative, albeit a minor one.

3. Accessory tools on board come at the price of small vacuum bags. Even the one gallon size which is bigger than some vacuums of this size is still small. I vote for changing vacuum bags as infrequently as possible, and I prefer a vacuum bag alert which the Bosch vacuum does not have. For pet owners, owners of large houses, wall-to-wall carpets or daily vacuum cleaner users, I think it would fill up the vacuum bag way too fast for most people's liking. Those people would need a different vacuum cleaner.

Summary

The Bosch Electro Duo Plus canister vacuum cleaner offers a lot of vacuum for the money but without some of the latest bells and whistles found in the very upscale and pricier machines. I think it would be best suited for smaller homes or even as a second vacuum and for those who have a mix of bare floors and rugs.

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Testing A New Value Priced Steam Cleaner - Li'l Bug 1500

By Mercia Tapping

Steam cleaning is one of the best cleaning appliance inventions in the past few years, and I have written about it extensively in previous articles and newsletters. Unfortunately, it is not a trivial expense; most of the better quality continuous fill steam cleaners come in at over $1000. So with that in mind, I was delighted to learn that the same factory that produced the five star LadyBug vapor steam cleaners had come out with a less expensive model called the Li'l Bug 1500, and it uses the same accessory tools as its more expensive siblings.

New! Li'l Bug 1500

Much of the effectiveness of steam cleaning comes from the quality of the tools, the other comes from the temperature of the steam at the tip and the consistent delivery of steam at the right temperature and pressure. The other factor is the longevity of the machine. Keep in mind that the ones advertised on TV break down as soon as you look at them.

The Li'L Bug did not disappoint and my home smelled wonderfully clean afterwards. Here is a summary of the chores I tackled and the results.

Pluses

1. My worst challenge was cleaning rugs or upholstery after one of my Siamese cats had some digestive problems before the vet got it under control. I will spare you the gory details but I was quite distressed at the extent of the problem. Soap and water had not even approached reaching an acceptable solution. Using a pre-spray of Formula 212 stain remover and then rubbing gently with a triangle brush certainly got rid of all odor and most, but not all the stain on first round of cleaning. I think I will get nearly all of it out on a second go around, but I am not a very patient person and there was a lot of other cleaning chores ahead. 2. The bathroom and kitchen tiling was where the Li'l Bug steam cleaner came into its own. Little stains on the grout came off easily with a small round brush and tile floors really came up like new. The cats' bathroom no longer looked unsanitary and everything smelled so wonderfully pure and clean. 3. I have been giving my cat his medicine (which is very sticky) on the kitchen counter top and despite efforts to clean off the sticky residue, the counter top wasn't as clean as I would like. One going over with a steam cleaner and I could feel the counter silky smooth and clean beneath my touch.

4. Husbands, cats, and kids all produce dirt and stains, and my husband is a the age when he visits the bathroom in the middle of the night but does not turn on the light so as not to disturb me. The results greet me when it is time to clean and the Li'l Bug gives a satisfying sanitary clean up of all the unmentionables. I use a separate set of tools for sanitary purposes, and just spray with a small brush and wipe dry with a towel.

5. We had a second refrigerator in the garage which had some mold inside and the odor was terrible. We wanted to put the refrigerator back into use for storage of cold drinks before a summer party. The large triangle brush and a nice clean towel tackled this disgusting task in record time, and the refrigerator is now restored to its former glory and is keeping dozens of drinks cold during these last hot and humid days of summer.

6. Using a steam cleaner on a sealed pre-finished wood floor is not recommended by floor manufacturers who say to avoid wet mopping it. However, as a practiced steam cleaner user, I double wrapped a towel around a floor brush and lightly whipped around acres of wood flooring, with any dampness drying in seconds - the hallmark of a good steam cleaner. For this task I confess I would have liked to have used a Ladybug XL steam cleaner which delivers the driest steam and has a pressure gauge, but I breezed my way very successfully through this chore with no damage to the floor. This should not be the first ever steam cleaner chore you try.

7. I was having trouble cleaning my microwave oven and the usual spray cleaners were just not working, and lots of food particles were still stuck to the interior of the oven. A small brush with no towel, and a separate towel to mop dry, handled this chore with a pleasing result to even the cleaning obsessed.

Minuses

1. I have 3M tinted windows for UV filtration. The filtration company could not guarantee that the hot steam temperature would not damage the film, so windows need to be cleaned the old fashioned way. A limited problem for some.

2. Having been a user of steam cleaners for a while now, I missed the pressure gauge found in other LadyBug models which tells you when the machine is working at optimal steam pressure. A gauge ensures you are not wasting your time cleaning when the steam which is not at its peak. The other added benefit of a pressure gauge is one of safety, as it tells you if you are in the overheated zone- apparently this is a very rare occurrence but it is a feature in steam cleaners that gives me peace of mind.

3. Since I did not conduct protracted cleaning sessions (mostly an hour or so at a time) as I tend not to devote whole days to cleaning, I did not miss the continuous fill advantage of the LadyBug line. However, I can easily foresee when that would not be the case, and waiting for this machine to cool down and then heat up again[figure on an hour's interruption] would be irritating.

Summary

I think this is a very welcome addition to our vapor steam cleaner line as the Li'l Bug gives a great deal of what the average person needs for a steam cleaner, with its great tools and affordable price. If you clean for a number of hours at a time, we suggest looking at the complete Ladybug line steam cleaners and if you are trying to achieve a very high level of sanitation and germ removal or infection control, the Ladybug TANCS would be a better bet. However, for the rest of us, the Li'l Bug goes a very long way.

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In Praise Of Organic Towels

By Mercia Tapping

Having found that our new organic line of towels are the softest towels I have ever encountered, I have been quietly putting them at the end of the master bathroom in an inconvenient place and our other (new and expensive towels) handy for my husband to reach out and use after a shower. However, the man is no dummy and he has discovered how soft and absorbent these 100% organic cotton towels are, so now when I go to shower I find a damp towel awaiting me!

New! Organic Cotton Towels

I have also discovered another use for them. During very hot days on the golf course, when quite frankly we have been perspiring like a faucet, regular golf towels feel very scratchy, nonabsorbent and unkind to the face. Taking one of the smaller organic towels with us golfing, is a real luxury and helps my face not to feel so beat up by the end of a hot round of golf. This of course would be the same for any sport where constant perspiration is supposedly part of the fun.

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One More Time About Royal Pedic Mattresses And Bed Sets

By Mercia Tapping

I have written extensively about the Royal Pedic Latex Beds in previous issues of this newsletter but I have to tell you all once again, that despite being expensive, I think that these beds are worth every penny. I say this every time I have been away on a trip, slept in regular beds - or at least tried to sleep is more like it, and woken up full of aches and pains. Then on returning home, I find the aches and pains lessen significantly over the following few days, and I realize that spending money on a good bed is not such an extravagance if it actually improves the quality of one's sleep.

Royal Pedic Latex Beds

We also did a "bed test" the other day when a bunch of people came over to visit my house. None of the beds were exactly cheap and cheerful, but the Royal Pedic mattress won hands down for overall comfort. The votes were not even close, and the memory foam that my guests need to endure in my guest room, felt like an unsupportive rock by comparison to the Royal Pedic Latex bed with its separate pillow top pad.

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