Homedics BRT-150 Brethe Air Revitalizer
October 4, 2009 by admin
Filed under Aromatherapy Products
Product Description
This air revitalizer neutralizes up to 99% of odor causing bacteria and removes odors caused by pets, smoke and other odor causing bacteria. The unique vortex cleaning action uses an intense “rainforest” mist to wash incoming air with an emulsified botanical solution. This 100% natural botanical solution comes with a choice of 3- 2.03 fluid ounce scents. Refreshing citrus, energizing lime and soothing vanilla. No bacteria filled wicks or filters are required and the air revitalizer also helps to maintain optimum humidity levels while the soothing blue light adds ambiance to any environment.
Buy Homedics BRT-150 Brethe Air Revitalizer at Amazon
It works – I’m not sure why, but it does. The water will even appear dirty when you empty it. And it looks cool. The problems are…
– it’s loud. not really loud, but somewhere between my computer and my dishwasher.
– the smell is too powerful when you first fill it and fades after just a few hours.
– it’ll help oders for up to 24 hours. You have to dump and refill it (water + a few drops of the scent) every day and rinse every few days.
If the price of the unit and scent accessories was lower I would have given five stars.
The supplied scents do a good job of ‘freshening’ (actually scenting) the air throughout most of my 1500 square foot house.
The fan noise is noticeable, I usually run it five or ten minutes at a time to achieve the same effect as spraying an aerosol air freshener. The blue lights in the tank are good for a ‘mood’ effect and can be switched off if desired. If you just want to ‘tune out’ for a few, this thing is excellent. My spouse smokes cigarettes several times a day and the BRT-150 does a good job of covering up the odor from a cigarette.
I would not say that this unit is a humidifier. It will run for three or four hours continuously and maybe only use a cup of water. I would also not call this unit an air cleaner as such. It is an effective air freshener. The air coming out just smells and feels good.
I, honestly, purchased the BRT-150 so that I could disburse essential oils without having to use heat, nebulizers just seem way too strange and complicated to me.
My wife thought the citrus scent was a little overpowering so I experimented a little and came up with a fairly good recipe for using essential (fragrance) oils. My recipe will only freshen up the air in the room it is in, not the whole house (I don’t know how they get that strong of a scent from the supplied material).
I borrowed/modified this from a perfumers recipe for making a spray-able air freshener with essential oils.
1/4 teaspoon Polysorbate 80 (an emulsifier derived from natural oils). You can get this from a soap maker’s supply store.
30-60 drops essential oils, some oils are stronger, experiment for the best amount for your choice. I used 30 drops of pine needle oil and that worked fine for me.
1 tablespoon of cheap vodka (for low smell alcohol). This is optional but I found the oil’s scent was more intense with it.
Mix the ingredients with a few ounces of water and add to the water to the freshener’s filled tank. You will see the familiar white bloom in the water as you add this mixture.
Have fun!
Ken
This unit does exactly what it says it will (+ humidifies), tho I use essential oils (as suggested by another reviewer) in mine instead of the not to pleasant smelling to my nose (plus expensive) scents Homedics sells … In Autumn to Thanksgiving I use Clove, Cinnamon, Orange and Pumpkin Spice oils and the aroma is great … I used Black Spruce oil during the Christmas holidays (3 drops in this unit will make your home smell like Canadian Balsam) … The only drawback is the loudness of the motor (which is conciderably louder than a computer), but it does the job and so I’ll keep it … Oh, and it’s also suggested that you use distilled water (not hard tap water) which is not mentioned in the commmercials … (***ADDED NOTES: Tho essential oils provide a nicer room aroma, the dark oils (such as clove, cinnamom, etc) will chemically react to plastic resevoir and irrevocably mar/stain it … If you don’t care like me it’s fine, if you do don’t use them … I also use fragrance oils as well and those (you can get from craft or dollar stores) used in soap stone warmers work also … Liquid Smoke (from the grocery store) can be used in it also if you have a Gas Fireplace and you want a smokey smell).