For many of us, the chill of winter makes us long for the snap, crackle, and pop of a cozy fire. However, installing a fireplace in our homes isn’t always an option due to financial reasons or property constraints (i.e., condos and apartments). Luckily, Sylvane has the next best thing (which, in some cases, may be even better). This week, we added a group of stylish and economical electric fireplaces to our extensive collection of portable heaters.
Electric fireplaces, like those manufactured by Southern Enterprises, are quickly becoming safer, low-hassle alternatives to built-in fireplaces. With traditional fireplaces, you have to consider what type of fireplace and features you want, where it will fit in your home, who will install it (Will you install it yourself or hire contractors?)—plus, you may need a building permit, which could take weeks to get! Read more about electric fireplaces
Do you want to learn more about IQAir’s number-one-selling air purifier for allergy and asthma relief? Great! We’re happy to teach you. Now, you can get an up-close tour of the IQAir HealthPro Plus by watching our new HealthPro Plus video.
This first installment marks our jump into the world of online video. In the coming months, we’ll be bringing you lots more videos about some of our bestselling indoor air quality products. Be sure to visit the Sylvane YouTube Channel regularly to catch our new additions and to learn more about crafting a healthier indoor environment.
Here in metro Atlanta, many residents are in clean-up mode after a historic eight days of continuous rainstorms plunged parts of the city and the city’s suburbs underwater. State officials estimate that Georgia flooding has caused an estimated $250 million worth of damage. While watching the news coverage, I was astounded by videos, photos, and stories of the damage done to homes, schools, businesses, and roadways. These telling snapshots stick out most in my mind:
• On the west side of the city, a stretch of Interstate-20 was completely flooded with water – and schools of fish – after floodwaters of the nearby Sweetwater Creek overflowed onto each side of the highway.
• Clarkdale Elementary School in the northwestern Atlanta suburb of Austell became submerged as floodwaters reached the roof of the 46-year-old school.
• Scores of Atlanta city residents had to take boats into their neighborhoods to survey flood damage done to their homes.
• A total of nine people died after being swept away in rushing floodwaters. Read more and learn how to recover from a flood
The summer of 2009 has officially begun. To help increase your comfort level this season, we have introduced another option for weathering those toasty – and often unforgiving – temperatures. Along with our wide variety of freestanding portable air conditioners, we offer a great selection of highly efficient and economical window air conditioners.
Window AC units are room air conditioners designed to cool areas in your home, office, or business evenly and comfortably. These self-contained appliances are most often installed inside standard double-hung windows, but some units can be configured to install through a wall if you don’t have a window available. Read more about Sylvane's new line-up of window air conditioners
Drip…drip…drip. Does this situation sound familiar? You open your refrigerator, longing for a tall glass of clean water – only to be met with an empty water filter pitcher. Now, you’re going to have to refill it and wait for what seems like an eternity while your tap water slowly drips through the purifying filter before it’s ready to drink.
Drip…drip…annoying drip.
Well guess what? The time you have to wait for that satisfying glass of agua has been drastically reduced with the Clear2O Original Water Pitcher. Nabbing a 2007 “Good Buy” award from Good Housekeeping magazine, the Clear2O water filter pitcher puts clean, contaminant-free water at your fingertips in a record time of 34 seconds. Read more about the Clear2O Original Water Pitcher
Electronics-giant Sharp has introduced 2 super-quiet yet very powerful models into its series of sleek and attractive portable air conditioners. The new units – the Sharp CV-P12PX and the Sharp CV-P13PX – have loads of impressive features. They are equipped with four operating modes, three fan speeds, automatic draining technology, and advanced airflow louvers, to name a few. However, one quality that makes them stand out from the rest – and not to mention from similar models in their class – is that they are incredibly quiet. We’re talking “library quiet.”
When running on their lowest fan speeds, these units emit sounds that are only slightly louder than a whisper. At 41 decibels and 43 decibels respectively, the CV-P12PX and CV-P13PX can be operated in your bedroom, office, or living room with virtually zero disruption. That’s a long way from many first-generation portable AC models that, when operating, you swear sound like a plane shooting down a runway. Read more about our new Sharp air conditioners
Swedish manufacturer Blueair certainly has you covered, now that it has added five new manual models—spanning a range of room sizes—to its brood of allergen-zapping and smoke-stopping air cleaners. The newest Blueair air purifiers are the 203, 303, 403, 503, and 603 models. The smallest unit, the Blueair 203, covers a space of about 175 sq. ft., and the largest, the Blueair 603, cleans an area of 640 sq. ft.
Each new air purifier is equipped with Blueair’s patented HEPASilent Technology, which performs both mechanical and electrostatic filtration to achieve an extremely high efficiency of 99.97% of particles sized down to 0.1 microns. That’s actually better filtration performance than True HEPA units, which remove the same percentage of particles down to 0.3 microns. Moreover, each unit received exceptionally high CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) scores for tobacco smoke, pollen, and dust. Read more about Blueair's new air purifier models
All right, I didn’t actually list 101 here (just 21), but there are seemingly endless uses for our brand new Ladybug Tekno 2350 Vapor Steam Cleaner. Manufactured by Advanced Vapor Technologies, this system is the most powerful Ladybug steam cleaner available. The EPA-qualified Tekno 2350 makes use of the patent-pending TANCS disinfection system—TANCS stands for Thermo Accelerated Nano Crystal Sanitation—to create super-heated dry vapor steam that is lethal for germs, bacteria, allergens, and dirt.
This Ladybug vapor steam cleaner is excellent for residential cleaning tasks, but it’s also a great economical tool for workers in many commercial sectors such as car-detailing, the food and hospitality industries, and janitorial departments in schools, universities, and on corporate campuses. Come to think of it, almost any household and industry would benefit from the Ladybug’s safe and chemical-free approach to cleaning. Read more about the many uses of Ladybug steam cleaners
Are you dreaming of a powerful portable AC that requires only minimal maintenance, features a savvy design, and can actually help you save money? Well, it’s not just a dream. Feast your eyes on our latest portable air conditioner (PAC) from New Jersey-based manufacturer, Amcor.
The Amcor NanoMax C14000E is the newest model to join the award-winning NanoMax line. Like its counterparts, this unit uses the company’s patented AutoDrain NanoMist Technology to automatically drain condensation from the unit – and to free you from ever having to empty a water bucket again. With 14,000 BTUs of cooling power per hour, this model is also the most powerful in the NanoMax series. It covers up to 500 sq. ft., which makes it the perfect supplemental spot cooler for a living room or other large room on hot summer nights. Read more about the Amcor C14000E
Today, millions of people across the globe are celebrating Earth Day. In honor of this nearly 40-year-old celebration, I pose this question to you: Do you know your carbon footprint? Thanks to the Earth Day Network, I know mine. I calculated it using their Ecological Footprint Calculator, and I’m a tad embarrassed to report these results. If everyone on Earth lived exactly as I do currently, it would take 4.9 Planet Earths to provide enough resources to sustain our daily lifestyle.What?!
Here I thought I was doing as much as I realistically could to help our environment. I recycle what can be recycled; I shop with reusable bags; I light my home with compact fluorescent lights; and I’ve started composting. And yet, these actions, while helpful, don’t seem to be enough. I – we – could be doing so much more.
At Sylvane, we try to do more every day. For example, we work hard to adopt greener habits around the office. Along with using recycled product cartons and recyclable shipping boxes, we use 100% biodegradable packing peanuts when packaging our products. We feverishly recycle everyday trash, turn off lights when they’re not needed, and use plant-based cleaners.
We also strive to pack eco-friendly solutions into our product catalog. New this week are a line of Earth-conscious Blueair air purifiers, including the 203, 270E, 303, 403, 503, and 603 models. Here are some additional products that can help to reduce our collective carbon footprint: Read more about Sylvane's eco-friendly products
Yesterday afternoon, President Obama and the First Family welcomed their new furry, four-legged canine “Bo” to the White House. Bo, a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog, is a curly-haired, black-and-white puppy with a lion-cut tail and lots of appeal. Aside from his penchant for being a gentle companion, obedient, agile, and easily trained, Bo is considered to be hypoallergenic – a must for 10-year-old Malia Obama, who is allergic to dogs. But is there really such a thing as a hypoallergenic dog? Many allergists say no.
According to the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America, Portuguese water dogs – or “Porties” – are considered hypoallergenic because they are single-coated and shed less hair than other breeds. However, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) says that the amount of hair a dog actually sheds is not the issue for allergy-sufferers. It’s not a dog’s hair that causes allergies. It’s a dog’s dander, or dead skin cells. Read more about hypoallergenic dogs
Spring pollen is back – and it’s in full force. As reported by CNN, ABC News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – and quite possibly, that thick layer of yellow powder on your car – this year’s spring pollen is apparently going to be worse than ever. (Let’s all let out a collective groan.) According to countless reports, we can expect higher than normal pollen counts in many parts of the country.
For instance, if you live in the Northeast, you can expect heavier pollen levels as a result of the area’s high population as well as the large number of pollen-producing plants in the region. The Midwest will also likely see a more severe allergy season, stemming from the late winter flooding and snowstorms, which have made the ground ripe for tree and grass growth. In the Southeast, there are conflicting predictions. While some numbers predict a less severe allergy season, allergists at the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic, say residents in the region should hunker down for a particularly tough season, based on recent pollen trends and weather patterns. Read more about the spring pollen forecast
Last Friday (the 13th), one of our employees – with a particularly keen sense of smell – detected a potentially deadly problem with our office’s air quality. Walking back and forth from the warehouse, our warehouse manager, Drew, (and his bloodhound-like olfactory sense) sniffed traces of gas that seemed to be emanating from the Sylvane break room. As an initial step, we confirmed the presence of a dangerous gas using our trusty Safety Siren Pro Series Combination Gas Detector. But when it was clear that the odor was growing stronger, we thought it was best to call in a natural gas expert to diagnose the problem and advise us on how to handle it. A half-hour later, we identified the scary pollutant – carbon monoxide. The culprit? More on that in a minute. Read more about carbon monoxide
For the past few months, all of us here at Sylvane.com have been working on a rather top secret project. Well, maybe not top secret, but we have had something very special up our sleeves. Now, we are ready to make the big reveal. (Drum roll please…)
Bedding, air purifiers, HEPA vacuums, Loratadine – I use it all in the battle against my allergies. But a neti pot?
I must admit that even amidst positive reviews from our customers, I was very hesitant to pour water through my nose. Visions of gasping and coughing from accidentally swallowing water while swimming as a child flitted through my mind. To add insult to injury, adding salt to that very water didn’t seem like a terribly comfortable idea. Wouldn’t it burn? Read more about using a neti pot
For many of us, the chill of winter makes us long for the snap, crackle, and pop of a cozy fire. However, installing a fireplace in our homes isn’t always an option due to financial reasons or property constraints (i.e., condos and apartments). Luckily, Sylvane has the next best thing (which, in some cases, may be even better). This week, we added a group of stylish and economical electric fireplaces to our extensive collection of portable heaters.
