We Need a Particle Zapper

FIRST, THERE'S A NEED “We have a lot of dust in the house. Where does it come from? How do we prevent that?” THE IDEA OR THOUGHT OR REMEDY The idea or thought or remedy was seen or read about on the internet, one of the communal websites. “It says here that there is a device that will zap particles and clean harmful bacteria and germs and odors and stuff, including covid-19, from the air. I think we need to add a particle sanitizer.” With a limited amount of discussion but plenty of internet encouragement, the contractor is called. THE CONTRACTOR AND THE TRADE OFF He installs the particle zapper and a filter 4 times larger than the old filter. “More surface area, the greater the filtration, less dust. The zapper is always on, scrubbing out harmful bacteria and germs and odors and stuff but the hvac fan needs to run. Your electric bill will go up, that’s the trade off for cleaner, safer air.” The system is upgraded. HAPPY CAMPERS (BUT WE'RE NOT CAMPING) Everyone is happy. Normally dust will settle on surfaces within 2 days of dusting. 2 weeks now and nada, zip, nothing. And the odors are gone, not that there were a lot to begin with. In fact if the fellow who installed the zapper and filter hadn’t told us about the odors, we wouldn’t have known we had them. But that constant humming of the fan is annoying. “Maybe we turn it off at night. it’s kind of loud at night” “But what about cleaning the air? We’ll be only eliminating 2/3 of the dust and only zapping 2/3 of the harmful bacteria and germs and odors and stuff”. THE POE EFFECT At first I thought we’d get used to it and eventually not even hear it. But she heard it all the time. I could live with it. For me, it was like when I was in the Navy, being on board a ship. It was only when the noise or humming stopped did I notice. But she heard it, all the time, and said so, all the time. The constant humming noise was becoming our ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ We agreed that we could turn it off once in awhile, specifically when we had windows open. THE GREAT COMPROMISE After running the fan, off and on, for a month, we found that there is probably no need to run it all the time. We run it during the day and at night we shut it off, open windows and cool the house down. We can live with that, I guess. It’s funny how one day the dust is a real health hazard and nuisance. A month later it’s hardly noticeable.