TRIED AND TESTED
Our review of the latest tech toys for your home
Pesticides, microbes, dirt and toxins on your fruits, vegetables and meat have always been a problem. With the pandemic in full swing, ensuring what you eat is clean and healthy has never been more important. Thankfully, tech giants have come up with products that do the cleaning for you. One such product is Faber’s Oxypure.
First Impressions
It’s a light body made of plastic, making it easy to carry and fairly portable. We got our hands on the sea foam model, which is a lovely shade of green. The lid is also made of plastic; the LED display screen at the bottom is clear and well positioned, while the middle portion of the body uses a translucent plastic so that you can see your food getting cleaned. It has a small drain pipe attached at the back, for easy drainage. The device came with a manual that was easy to decipher and follow. Even though it has a capacity of 10 litres, the machine has a compact design and fits well in your kitchen.
What is It?
Essentially Oxypure is an ozoniser, which removes pesticides, chemicals from fertilisers, bacteria, viruses and other harmful chemicals from the surface of vegetables, fruits, sea food and meat. (The model we were given to try out also had a tableware button to sanitise your daily use small utensils.) The ozoniser also removes harmful toxins through the ozonized water. What’s more, the cleansing process does not rob the food items from their nutritional benefits or flavour.
Finer Details
The devices comes with a preset times options. Fruits, vegetables and meat take 15 minutes to clean while tableware setting is at 20 minutes. The manual recommends not placing it next to cooking fumes and to leave the room if the active oxygen water smell/ fumes make you feel dizzy. The machine also removes odour (to an extent) from meat and fish. Active oxygen water not only helps in sterilisation and deodorisation function, it decomposes organic impurities and heavy metal ions, removes chlorine and odour in water, as well inactivates E. coli and staphylococcus aureus in water.
Our Verdict
This is not the first ozoniser we have tested, but it’s certainly one of our favourites. First up, it was really easy to use. The preset times help a lot. We tested it on fruits and vegetables. The cauliflower was looking a lot brighter, as were the oranges, tomatoes, spinach and capsicum. The mushrooms were cleaner than before but required manual rinsing to remove all the grime. The fish and chicken, however, released a foam indicating removal of harmful chemicals. Once you are through with the cycle, simply pull down the drain pipe and let all the water flow down. It was very easy to clean. While the price is a bit steep, but the feeling of eating clean produce is priceless.
By SNEHA SINGH
Ask any expert and they will tell you that the outside is as important as the inside. Let us explain. From the harsh sun to humidity and moisture, external walls and the facade face all this and more on a daily basis. And if you ignore it, apart from damp indoor walls and crumbling foundation, the overall look of the home deteriorates in no time. And that means an added pressure on your wallet.
The science behind it is that when surfaces are painted, the paint film creates barrier to water contact from rain and dew. But when moisture gets trapped between the surface and the paint film, not only the structural strength is impacted, the paint film weakens, film integrity, richness, colour and overall looks get compromised. Over a period of time, the continuous sun exposure, rain and dust, the life cycle of the paint film is reduced. Change in the overall appearance is a sign of deterioration. Further the heat of the summer and cold of winter makes the surfaces expand and contract. A good paint film will withstand the changes in temperature due to its flexibility properties. Dust, UV rays from the sun and rain play havoc on the outdoor surfaces leaving your home looking dull and drab in no time. Heavy downpour leads to leakages, damp walls, mold, algae growth and bacterial growth that may result into rotten smell. Dust on the other hand is a silent threat. Before you know it your home ages.
Thankfully it is not all doom and gloom. Asian Paints has launched Apex Ultima Protek, a superior exterior paint that will help you bid farewell to dampness, algae, cracks, colour fading and fungus on walls. Plus, it keeps walls looking vibrant even through the severe weather conditions—rain, dust or harsh sun. So, what makes this paint so special? This advanced exterior paint system is equipped with lamination guard and fibre technology, comes with a 10 years durability (both for film integrity and colour retention) warranty and a unique six year waterproofing and five year anti-algal warranty. The first of its kind, the warranty covers product performance against not just fading, flaking and peeling but also covers blisters, splits, tears and excessive weathering of the paint film and prevents external water ingress through vertical walls with adherence to the prescribed system.
Benefits of using a good quality exterior paint include an effective barrier against rain, dust and sun. Waterproofing keeps cracks and dampness issues away, and your walls have a rich sheen and anti-algae properties.