Clarifying concerns about the Air Oasis iAdaptAir 2.0
1) Introduction
Lately I’ve been getting quite a few messages/comments on possible concerns about Air Oasis and their new 2.0 model. Generally speaking, the concerns revolve around off gassing and VOC production. Some patients seem to feel “bad” when the units are turned on, either in the form of dizziness, strange smells, and/or exacerbated reactivity problem.
I’ve had a chance to discuss these concerns with Jon Bennert (CEO of Air Oasis) and, combined with my own personal experience/observations, am ready to comment on these concerns.
The first thing I want to say is that, to the best of my knowledge, there is no company out there that has worked as hard as Air Oasis to make a product that is as CIRS friendly and useful as possible given the current technologies that we have available to date. Over the years, Air Oasis is the only company that has had extensive discussion with Dr. Shoemaker on how to make a product that addresses the basic needs of CIRS patients. And now they are doing the same with people like me.
I personally have sworn by this product because it has literally saved my life on multiple occasions. I took it upon myself to really understand what makes this purifier so unique from the other dozen brands that I have tested in the context of CIRS. I have done multiple workshops on the art and science on using an iAdaptAir (make sure to check those out) and I plan to continue making more content that helps you understand how to make best use of it in the context of CIRS treatment.
That said, I think it is completely reasonable for people to be concerned about these issues, in part because we CIRS patients represent a degree of environmental sensitivity that simply sits outside the societal norms. But also, there is variation in how patients can respond to any given technology out there. In fact, when I first purchased my very first iAdaptAir back in 2021, I returned it because it made me “feel” so sick that I panicked.
It was only a matter of time until I realized that me “feeling” so sick was a misunderstanding of what the technology was actually doing for me. Let me try to explain (and again, make sure to check out our workshops that cover cleaning and air management):
2) Bipolar Ionization Technology
The iAdaptAir uses a bipolar ionization technology that is released into the air and surfaces. Most purifiers with ionization technology only include negatively charged ions. The iAdapt Air, on the other hand, includes both negative and positive ions.
Think of the positive ions in the same way that we think about binders. We need a positively charged binder in order to remove most of the biotoxins that trigger immune dysregulation in CIRS. This is because most of these biotoxins are negatively charged. In other words, opposites attract each other. The same principle goes for the bipolar ions, we really need the positive ions in order to tackle the negatively charged microbial particles in the air.
Over time, these bipolar ions will break down microbes (molds, bacteria, viruses) into smaller and less volatile fragments. They ultimately promote cellular death in the microbes, which will reduce or eliminate any activity from the microbe that is conducive to emitting biotoxins.
The bipolar ions will also help oxidize/deactivate inorganic particles such as VOCs, chemicals, gases, and smoke. Given this feature, it is extremely unlikely that the iAdaptAir contributes to an increase in any of these. In fact, Air Oasis has third party testing showing that the iAdaptAir dramatically reduces these (see this article).
In the process of deactivation, the bipolar ions will bring down floating particles into the ground and surfaces. To picture this, if you had an extremely dusty indoor environment and you decided to run an iAdaptAir with the bipolar ionization turned on, you would start seeing some of that floating dust settling in surfaces. This allows particles to be easily cleared out with a HEPA vacuum and/or microfiber cloth.
Notably, the bipolar ionization from the iAdaptAir DOES NOT emit ozone. This is a certified claim from Air Oasis. Jon and I have talked about it quite extensively. I personally have a long history of using ozone based products (generators, small devices, UV lights) which led me to become extremely sensitive to commercially produced ozone and I have never had any kind of issue with the iAdaptAir in that regard. So I feel very confident in saying this is not an issue.
The bipolar ionization is the main component of the iAdaptAir that helps sterilize the environment. This is what ultimately allows CIRS patients to experience a calm down of innate immune activation and often, this is what allows patients to pass the Visual Contrast Sensitivity test even when the indoor environment is not fully optimal.
As an illustration, in the picture below, the first figure on the left was my first VCS test living in a water-damaged apartment (confirmed via a certified mold inspector). The second figure on the right was one month after incorporating several of the older iAdaptAir models (6 iAdaptAirs and two Ionic units, which are now discontinued) in the same space. Note that this is all before the Shoemaker treatment, so Welchol was not in the picture yet. Even though I still failed my left eye, I was able to pass with my right eye by virtue of integrating these units, which is quite astounding.
3) UV LED Technology
The iAdaptAir uses a UV technology inside the purifier to sterilize and kill any living particles that make it into the filters and/or into circulation.
This is really important because over time, the filters can start accumulating living microbes that will continue to emit biotoxins, making patients highly reactive to the unit itself (and in fact, some of those smaller particles can make it out of the filter and cross over into the blowing air, potentially stalling your recovery without even knowing it’s coming from your own purifier.
I experienced this problem in my Water Damaged apartment when I purchased an IQ Air Health Pro. I was extremely hyper-reactive back then. After one month of using the IQ Air, I became so hyper-reactive to it that I couldn’t go anywhere near it; I had to sell it. The key distinction here aside from the bipolar ionization is the UV technology that keeps things sterilized. It goes without saying that the IQ Air is an amazing product, but this kind of purifier falls in the more traditional class of purifiers, meaning, all they do is trap particles from the air at a very efficient rate, but it does nothing for sterilizing the indoor space.
Whereas the original iAdaptAir used a UV light lamp, the new unit uses UV LED, which lasts much longer than the lamps and are also more efficient in terms of energy consumption and in killing microbes.
It is also worth noting that the UV LED technology implemented in the iAdaptAir 2.0 DOES NOT produce ozone.
The UV LED system has been created such that its effects remain contained within the unit.
4) Filters (H13 HEPA, Carbon, Silver Ion)
The iAdaptAir 2.0 includes three types of filters. Both sides of the unit contain one of each of these.
HP13 HEPA
The HP13 HEPA filter is a medical grade filter (an approximate MERV rating of 17 or 18) that has been shown to efficiently trap particles in the the 0.2 micron range.
A VERY IMPORTANT note on HEPA filters and microns: This is something that took me some time to understand. All HEPA filters are incredibly efficient at trapping nanoparticles below 0.1 microns and larger particles above 0.3 microns. Where HEPA filters are less efficient is right around 0.2-0.3 microns. This is sort of a “weak spot” or “middle ground” where the efficiency naturally goes down for the technology. Therefore, what we want is a HEPA filter that can show high trapping efficiency around that weak spot/middle ground, and the HP13 HEPA filter used in the iAdaptAir 2.0 fits that profile. You can visualize the pattern on this figure (source here; note that MERV 17-18 ratings are not part of the graph):
CARBON SILVER
HEPA filters are great for trapping organic particles and dust; they are not great for trapping VOCs, chemicals, gases, smoke, and odors. This is where the carbon filter comes into the picture and is another reason why I would find it difficult to entertain the idea that the iAdaptAir naturally emits any of these chemicals.
SILVER ION
The Silver Ion filter is yet another layer of sterilization that prevents living organisms from growing within the unit, which will further minimize patients’ chances of hyper-reacting to biotoxin-producing microbes inside the purifier.
5) Third Party Testing on CIRS-Relevant Microbes
The iAdaptAir 2.0 has been shown to significantly reduce the concentration of several biotoxin-producing microbes, including molds commonly found in water-damaged indoor environments and human-pathogenic actinobacteria:
6) Why Are Some Patients Reacting to the iAdaptAir?
Reason #1: Bipolar Ions are doing their job
The number one reason I suspect some patients feel “sick” around the unit is because of the bipolar ionization technology.
Some hyper-sensitive bodies become tuned into the process of mold spores and bacterial particles being broken down and falling down to the ground.
The way I experienced that process was as if “rain droplets were hitting my face and body”. My first couple of experiences with this process made me feel dizzy and develop temporary blurry vision. It also made me react to my bed sheets when I laid down in bed.
Once I started treating with Welchol, these hyper-reactivities started to slowly go away. After hopping on VIP, Prodrome Glia, and treating tick borne infections, these kinds of reactivities went away even more.
More importantly, this type of response is much more common in either water-damaged environments, or in household where a lot of residual particles need to be removed.
In clean environments where residual particles need to be removed, this process should be temporary (anywhere from a few hours to a week).
In water-damaged environments, this process may become indefinite. Hyper-reactive patients may need to take additional steps to find ways to move forward with treatment in order to overcome these hyper-sensitivities.
Tick borne patients and/or stubborn cases of MARCoNs/actinobacteria colonization may sometimes develop these hyper-reactivities to the Bipolar Ionization. In those cases, what may be triggering the hyper-sensitivities is not the purifier per se, but rather, the organism’s response to the ionization process. In this case, successfully eradicating the infections/colonization may result in complete elimination of the sensitivity.
As a potential remedy, consider selectively turning on/off the the ionizer setting. Pick and choose when to use it and for how long. I personally use the ionizer at all times, and will selectively turn it off and open windows/turn on exhaust fans to get some fresh air once or twice a day.
Reason #2: The iAdaptAir 2.0 is moving too much air around
It should be clear to us that the iAdaptAir 2.0 is a very powerful purifier when it comes to the amount of air that it can pull.
Here is a table comparing the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of the iAdaptAir Pro (the largest unit) to other well established brands:
Naturally, when you pair the Bipolar Ionization with such a high CADR (meaning, many many ions are being thrown into the air at a very rapid rate), your CIRS body can experience a rather chaotic process of sterilization, especially if the environment needs a lot of sterilization.
Many particles and biotoxins will be floating around and hitting your body at a very high rate.
This should be temporary, unless you are dealing with an active water damaged space that requires remediation (or living in an area with a lot of nearby sick buildings that is polluting your indoor environment).
You can always play around with the speed settings in order to minimize this effect. I use mine at full speed by default, and once a day will turn it off for a few minutes and open windows/turn on exhaust fans to get new fresh air.
Reason #3: The filters are doing a good job at trapping offgassing from the indoor space
Very often patients feel there is offgassing coming from the unit, but what may be happening is that the unit is doing a really good job at trapping VOCs, and sterilizing particles within the unit (remember, it’s three layers of sterilization: Bipolar Ions, UV LED, and a Silver Ion filter), which may create a sense of distorted smell.
On that end, distorted smells are extremely common in CIRS and it may be the body’s attempt to signal that something dangerous is lurking around the area. And of course, once the unit starts trapping and hyper-sterilizing particulates for the first time, patients may become temporarily tuned in to that process.
My patient-derived suggestion is to allow yourself to try the iAdaptAir for a month or so. Play around with the different settings (ionizer, speed, UV), and try different iterations of turning them on/off, and re-evaluate your subjective and objective markers (VCS test, symptom clusters, blood markers).
Remember that bipolar ions are released from the air that comes from the unit. You can (and should) use the unit to target specific areas of the house (walls, bathroom) and objects (furniture, clothing, laptops, people, pets) with the ionizer setting on.
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