My wife has had a persistent cough for 6-7 years. She's been to every doctor you can think of and the most recent diagnosis from her allergist is she has a mold allergy - and it's a very common mold for the Houston area indoor and outdoor - i.e. there no escaping it and no real treatment we can do in our home that would help.

His recommendation was to get a HEPA Filter machine for the bedroom for sleeping at night. He also said don't waste time and money on a cheap one - get a very good one and it's going to be pretty expensive for the quality we need to achieve.

Does anyone have something similar (condition or filter) and what do you recommend?


Note: we've had our A/C replaced within the last 2 years and bought the REME HALO Air Purifiers installed on both new A/C units

I've had the Levoit version recommended by WC in my Amazon cart for a while for my daughter but have yet to pull the trigger. I know you need to select based on room size.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/

I've got the Levoit 300 and it has been great.

When it's on high, the sound is on par with a white noise machine. It's barely noticeable on the lower setting.

Yeah biggest thing would be make sure you know how loud it is. Some of the commercial units we sell can sound like a jet engine when ramped up. I'm sure the residential side has this more in mind.

I'd also recommend looking at your RH, if you haven't done so already. Make sure you aren't encouraging growth in your house based on where you are setting the T-Stat. Not sure what brand manufacturer you have for your AC system, but most brands have added their own air purifiers to integrate into your existing system nowadays. You will pay more upfront, but the idea of complete integration into your AC system is appealing to some owners. Especially with the smart home controls people are shifting to more and more.

Biggest problem with UV solutions is that the air may be moving too fast through the light to irradiate it completely. Not saying you have that issue, but something to consider.

any advice on UV vs non-UV? The UV guys say anything else only traps mold and doesn't kill it or keep it from spawning more... the non-UV guys say UV emits ozone which can be harmful to your health long-term...

Specifically, my wife has a persistent / chronic cough for 7-ish years and the docs have narrowed it down to common molds in the Houston area that we simply are not going to get rid off, but perhaps we can help her sleep better in our master bedroom with the filter.

We have been seeing a lot of requests for UV since COVID. It works at killing most stuff, but the one thing I will say about it is most HVAC testing agencies have not done extensive studies on it yet. So it could be the greatest thing for air quality in the last 20 years, or it could be the next Sharper Image purifier. I tend to think the first option, but time will tell.

Again, biggest thing for the effectiveness of it is how much time the air moving through your system is spending underneath the light. If it's too fast for the power of your lamps, it's not killing everything.

I can't remember exactly which one I had, but I will say mine helped me tremendously growing up. I sort of grew out of my allergies over time thankfully. But the HEPA filter helped a lot. Hope she finds some relief.

I was looking at this one... it uses UV, it's pretty quiet, and has HEPA filtration also, but it's pretty UGLY:

https://www.airoasis.com/shop/iadaptair/

Check out Mila, got one and like it so far.

I am interested in this as well. My son fights allergies, mainly mold. I'm gonna get one for his bedroom, hopefully it will help him.

cena05 said:

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Check out Mila, got one and like it so far.

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Just did some research on that one. Great reviews and lots of features. Think I'm going to order one
Do you have to have WiFi for it to connect to your app?

Yes, mine is connected to my wifi and gives me updates on my phone. I don't believe it has bluetooth, so you need wifi. It can run without wifi, but then the app will not work.

I'm really liking it so far

Thanks, I'm definitely interested in this one

Hey if you're going to buy the Mila, I was chatting with customer service and got a $50 discount code -- BPM5BA - good until 30-SEP; also the first filter is free if you sign up for autorenew on the filters, and it's free shipping...

I got:
1x Mila Unit $350
1x Overreactor Filter $99 $0 since I chose auto-renew
1x Set of socks for the filters $50
Discount -$50

$350 all in for the unit, socks, first filter, and shipping... not too bad.

Man that's a good deal. I need to check with my wife and see if she already ordered it or not.

I had similar issues and my allergist couldn't really even figure it out. I developed a cough at my apartment that would not go away. I could not see any mold but could smell a musty odor that I suspect was hidden mold. I bought an IQAir which is used in some hospitals and that helped for about a month. Ultimately I had to move and was vindicated when my cough went away. If you are on a budget I recommend the Coway. If possible it could be beneficial to see if your wife has an improvement in her cough in a different house/apartment by staying there for 30 days to see if it's the house or Houston.

Another thing you might try is a mattress protector. They block allergens from getting in your mattress and are easily washable.

My Mila arrived on Saturday - it was damaged... getting a replacement asap

In addition to the Mila in my livingroom I have a Coway in my bedroom. Working good so far.