I can't breathe

[movingtospore]

Anyone have any advice for dealing with the hideous air quality at the moment? My child is having a heck of a time with it due to past bronchial and lung infections..

Aside from fleeing this place...am thinking of an air filter for her room? We're keeping the apartment shut and the A/C going. Not sure if that's making it better or not. Can't wait to see the electrical bill this month!

[iloverice]

I always turn on the air purifier in my room, now getting another unit for my office, else will die of suffocation soon.

[Max Headroom]

Anyone have any advice for dealing with the hideous air quality at the moment? My child is having a heck of a time with it due to past bronchial and lung infections..

Aside from fleeing this place...am thinking of an air filter for her room? We're keeping the apartment shut and the A/C going. Not sure if that's making it better or not. Can't wait to see the electrical bill this month!

Aircons use a filter, so by right, the air indoors should be a little better than outside, certainly at the moment. Mind you, I doubt the filter is fine enough to take out all the gunk, but it should help a bit. Provided the a/c is serviced regularly of course.

I've had the a/c running all day too, but we've raised the thermostat a few notches. This way, we still get the a/c benefits, but without the bill headache.

[durain]

defo get air-filter of some kind. look for one with ioniser too. be prepare to pay good money for a good one.

[JR8]

I found a thing like a cross between a match-head and burnt piece of straw next to arm on the desk earlier (window open at home).

This is bad, and is giving both me and the wife respiratory problems.

[therat]

Once an Indonesian government spokesman said:

“It has only been a week of smoke but people are already making so much noise. What about all the oxygen that (Indonesia) supplies to them during the rest of the year?â€Â

[sundaymorningstaple]

Valid point as well.

[beppi]

Aircon filters (a simple mesh of fibers) are useless for filtering micro-sized dust particles.
All other "air purifiers" and similar stuff mainly help the maker to line his wallet.
There simply isn't a good technology (that is affordable to a normal household) able to filter out particles of the size that goes deepest into human lungs.
If you can, spend most of your day in semiconductor or medical clean rooms!
Or stop breathing!

[Mi Amigo]

It's pretty dreadful, isn't it. I can't remember it affecting me so badly in the past; I think I must have had a cough / throat infection developing before the haze levels went up, as it's got me spluttering a lot.

Pity the poor sods who live nearer to the source of all the smoke. Here, just for JR8 , is a Guardian article about the underlying problem. Makes depressing reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/26/sumatra-borneo-deforestation-tigers-palm-oil

[x9200]

Aircon filters (a simple mesh of fibers) are useless for filtering micro-sized dust particles.
All other "air purifiers" and similar stuff mainly help the maker to line his wallet.
There simply isn't a good technology (that is affordable to a normal household) able to filter out particles of the size that goes deepest into human lungs.
If you can, spend most of your day in semiconductor or medical clean rooms!
Or stop breathing!

- the mentioned purifiers with ionizers should help a bit
- also IMHO just an ordinary aircon should remove some fraction with the moisture condensing and being dumped down the drain

[Chantikki]

It's pretty dreadful, isn't it. I can't remember it affecting me so badly in the past; I think I must have had a cough / throat infection developing before the haze levels went up, as it's got me spluttering a lot.

Pity the poor sods who live nearer to the source of all the smoke. Here, just for JR8 , is a Guardian article about the underlying problem. Makes depressing reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/26/sumatra-borneo-deforestation-tigers-palm-oil

It's really bad, this is the first year it's affected me, I'm wondering if it's worse than ever or I'm getting old...

[QRM]

Aircon filters (a simple mesh of fibers) are useless for filtering micro-sized dust particles.
All other "air purifiers" and similar stuff mainly help the maker to line his wallet.
There simply isn't a good technology (that is affordable to a normal household) able to filter out particles of the size that goes deepest into human lungs.
If you can, spend most of your day in semiconductor or medical clean rooms!
Or stop breathing!

- the mentioned purifiers with ionizers should help a bit
- also IMHO just an ordinary aircon should remove some fraction with the moisture condensing and being dumped down the drain

Alot of these ionising/ozone filters causes more problems then it solves see this web page for filters to avoid, http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/ozone.htm

Best bet is to get a high quality HEPA type filters I used iQair http://www.iqair.com not cheap but seems to do a good job. Might be all in the head but it really does gets rid of the smell and a good test, for me at least, it sits by a light coloured sofa and after a year of continuous running with the clean air being blown onto the sofa there is no discoloration or blackened soot type marks on the fabric, so in my book thats pretty clean air.

If I was a filter manufacture I would send in covert teams to Indonesia and start fires.

[the lynx]

Wear N95 mask?

[QRM]

Wear N95 mask?

LOL reminded me of the time I worked in Langkawi the haze was so bad flights were cancelled. A lot of the site contractors had masks on but they made small holes in them so they can smoke without having to take it off.

[JR8]

[quote="therat"]Once an Indonesian government spokesman said:

“It has only been a week of smoke but people are already making so much noise. What about all the oxygen that (Indonesia) supplies to them during the rest of the year?â€Â