I don't know if I was having respiratory problems because of some other reason but there is one thing that is definitely a problem in almost all condos here in Da Nang and that is moisture accumulation.
I live in what would be considered a mid-level condo / apartment. It is't that great, but is isn't bad either. I have a good landlord, probably better than most but there are some things she has no control over such as the build being less than perfect and there are leaks in the building or something. I don't know for sure but I do know that other people's buildings are much worse than here.
After a rainy season of waking up with strange respiratory problems that I didn't feel like I deserved since I live a relatively healthy lifestyle, I decided to go ahead and just do something about it and buy a dehumidifier.
She loves posing for pictures so you can get a better idea about the size of the thing, especially when she gets temporarily blinded by the flash
This is the Xiomi Youpin H2 and the only reason why I chose that one is because I have several other things made by the company and I have been pretty happy with the quality. I don't know nothin' about dehumidifiers and one is the same as the next to me. This one was 1.5 million VND, which is about $60. I wasn't expecting the world.
It is lightweight, quiet, and unless there is some sort of voodoo magic going on there, it is actually pulling water from the air around it.
After a couple days there is about a liter of water in there so I guess that is just a lot less water to be seeping into my walls, which is definitely something that is going on as can be exhibited by this photo.
This sort of bubbling paint is all over mine and everyone else's apartment in this building. The landlord solution to this is to have someone come by, scrape the paint off, then paint over it... but not the entire wall... just that one spot. So you then have the added bonus of having a paint swipe across just one part of your wall, which always impresses the ladies.
If the moisture is doing that to the wall, it can't be good what it is doing to my sinuses and lungs. I'm more sensitive towards these kinds of things as I get older and in the rainy season, everything just kind of feels damp all the time in my closet. I don't think it has been activated long enough for me to notice it that much, but I have noticed that I haven't had any surprise respiratory issues ever since I plugged it in. This could just be a coincidence though.
They claim it also is an air filter but I don't see how that is possible since there is no accessible filtration unit. There are some screws on the back but I'm not going in there.
This situation came to be by a rather humorous chance encounter.
I returned home one night to see this unit outside my door. I sent a message to my landlord (she is my only neighbor on this floor) asking what it was. She responded in a kind of panic saying "that is mine!"... I sent a laugh emoji stating "I'm not going to take it, I just want to know what it is."
So it turns out she uses a dehumidifier in her own unit and that lets me know that she is very aware that the moisture is a real issue in this building. I don't fault her for this, it is an issue in every single building I have ever been in here. Her's is of significantly higher quality than mine is. I could tell merely by the weight.
Some people say things like "just turn on the air con, that will deal with the moisture" and yeah,I get that this is the case but I'm not trying to run my AC year round and have a massive electric bill buddy.
So if Xiaomi is in fact collecting data about customer usage, China now knows how much moisture is in the air of my apartment I guess. Whatever! you can have that information. I'm just glad that I have it now as well.