For the past few weeks I have been using Reduce – Waterweek 16 oz. plastic water bottles. Unfortunately they were nothing amazing to make me switch from my usual water bottle to this one as my daily.
These bottles are actually smaller in size than what I am used to. It is certainly not enough water to last an entire day trip, I dislike that because I then have to worry about finding a place to refill my bottle or even not drink as much so I would have to ration my drink.
So I’m not a fan of a smaller bottle, nor am I a fan of these bottles for not having a loop to attach the bottle to my backpack or even carry it by, without needing an entire hand. Only the aluminum bottles come with tops that have a loop on them. If you buy the plastic 16 oz. or 8 oz. bottles they only have a regular plastic top. The only replaceable tops they have are the regular plastic ones, so customers are not able to buy the separate top that comes with the aluminum ones. To deal with that, I guess the company thought that they could make more money by selling the bottle clip for $3 each instead.
For this particular product I’m not sure one person really needs 5 bottles (a weeks worth) when we should be reducing what we use. I normally just use 1-2 bottles daily, for two different drinks when I am on the go. Though for an entire family a whole set of 5 bottles would be great for everyone, since everyone would be using them all. Just don’t think it is right for a single person.
The tray that keeps them corralled in the fridge is a nice idea and keeps everything in order. But I’m not sure that it is completely necessary. What keeps people from not having them neatly arranged in the fridge without the plastic holder? I think I’m organized enough not to need it, off to the recycling bin it should go.
Either way they may have planned it, I’m not thrilled about this company’s products for my lifestyle. Perhaps this bottle set is better suited for a family. To end on a positive note I did enjoy the normal size of the mouth of the bottle. I don’t prefer wide mouth bottles, so this one was just right.
So when I opted to review the E-Z Breathe basement unit I wasn’t sure what I was actually getting to be honest. I read up on it to see bold claims of Dehumidifier, air purifier and ventilator. It seemed too good to be true claiming to reduce not only the moisture while controlling mold and mildew but that it would also keep the smells down and improve air quality throughout my home. I couldn’t wait to get the thing in my basement.
I’ll preface the review with information on how I was previously handling the air quality of my basement. In the summer time I had been using a dehumidifier to keep down moisture and smells while hopefully preventing any mildew or mold in the process. There were a few sketchy areas I was concerned about but overall it seemed to serve it’s purpose making the air breathable while doing laundry and working on my computer down there. There was an obvious musty smell that, being in a few basements in my time, I believed was fairly common. This is my basement, on to the installation!
The Vendor who installed the unit at my house did a quick and amazing job, fully explained everything with an excitement only gained from his belief in the product itself. On sight the unit is small, not an eyesore in the least, and out of the way. The size worried me but upon asking the technician he showed me that the one I was getting could regulate the air of a 7,000 square foot home, mine is only a modest 1,500. The design is nice, if our basement was being finished at the time (it’s already finished), the ductwork could have been run under the drywall to make it less conspicuous then it already is. Even without this the color is close to the color of the wall it’s on and a quick glance you might not even notice it right away. It takes up significantly less space than my dehumidifier and also does not require any emptying of water or changing of filters, amazing!
I wanted to really wait on doing my review for this, I’ve had the unit now for 1.5 months and here is what I have found. After the first full day of activity, the smell in the basement was gone, and I was confused by the quickness in which it achieved this. Adjusting the dial on the unit, which if turned slowly you can gauge where your humidity level is, I deduced that I was still at 45%(where I was at with the dehumidifier running non-stop). So after a couple weeks we still had no smell but another check on the humidity level showed we were around 40%, awesome. A few more weeks pass, no smell and the air doesn’t feel as thick as before. Humidity check shows us around 30%!
All in all I am very impressed with the job that the unit is doing. There are a few things I need to point about this both positive and negative, though really not too negative. The unit itself running 24/7 will end up costing us between $2-$4 a month opposed to the dehumidifier running constantly costing around $20-$30. Speaking on the dehumidifier, it only works really to keep the moisture down where the E-Z Breathe removes harmful air contaminants as well. Also based on my listed observation above it does a much better job at controlling the moisture than the dehumidifier did, at a lower cost, with no need for dumping or removing water from the unit. Overall, once the unit was installed basement air maintenance became an afterthought. From all the research I’ve done and reading up on others views of the product there is only one downside, in my mind more of a side-side. In the few months during spring and summer when your heat and air are not used upstairs, which creates the dry air that is pulled and cycled through the basement by the unit, you may need to use a dehumidifier. This is documented in their literature and makes perfect sense. With open windows you would be replacing your air in the basement with the outside air, which could be humid. To me this is a non-issue as I still have the dehumidifier ready, and overall you are still going to see energy savings during the majority of the year.
From what it has done to this point I can only give the E-Z Breathe a ringing endorsement. It’s done wonders for my basement’s air to the point that I have been utilizing the space more and spending more time down there. Check the site for the full listings, scientific documentation, and other reviews regarding how this product works to improve the air quality of not only your basement but also your entire home.
I wish the organic onesizes with a bit of simplistic fontography came in adult sizes, but they’d probably call them t-shirts. Little Mateo is a new company that takes a simplistic artsy idea and makes it personal.
Pick your letter or number and color and you’re done. Babies that wear onesizes make their mom and dad’s lives easier for cleanup.
My friends got a special gift a few months back and I know Jacob loved it. Guess what letter he got?
