Hayfever sufferers - pollen filters

iaind · 13 Apr 2009 at 14:18

Quick question - I, like a lot of people, suffer from hayfever sometimes. My car (mondeo) has a pollen filter, but a few times I've found myself sneezing away when driving with the windows closed.

Does anyone else find this, how effective are the filters meant to be? Mine should have been changed at the last service, so its a new filter...

Lum · 13 Apr 2009 at 14:49

iaind said:
Quick question - I, like a lot of people, suffer from hayfever sometimes. My car (mondeo) has a pollen filter, but a few times I've found myself sneezing away when driving with the windows closed.

Does anyone else find this, how effective are the filters meant to be? Mine should have been changed at the last service, so its a new filter...

It will vary depending on the filter design used.

I'm not terribly familiar with the workings of Mondeos but see if you can get a HEPA filter to replace the standard cabin filter. This may involve a bit of bodgery and a visit to a vacuum cleaner spares supplier if no-one makes one for your car.

I'm currently working on the same thing, only my car has no filters at all so I'm going to have to find a way to bodge in something that will accept filter cartridges designed for something else, possibly a solder fume extractor, or maybe a Dyson vacuum cleaner.

blueboy2001 · 13 Apr 2009 at 14:56

On a hot summers day when the pollen count is high being in the car with the AC is the most comfortable place to be for me.

There are 2 types of filter available for the Mondeo - a standard pollen filter which is just a paper element and is normally fitted, but there is also an odour filter which is a paper element but with a layer of charcoal to filter out odours. I found the latter to be really good - they're about £25 instead of £14 for the standard one.

You'll never eradicate all the pollen from inside the car because it will get in when open the doors and they're never fully airtight anyway, and you'll also have pollen in your nasal passages when you get in which will continue to irritate you.

When my hayfever was really bad (used to get to the extent where I could hardly breathe and had to go on a nebuliser) I used to put a bit of vaseline inside my nostrils which helped.

iaind · 13 Apr 2009 at 15:01

I think bodging a HEPA filter would be a bit too much work, its not a serious problem.

Will look into the odour filter though, sounds like a good idea, maybe on the next sesrvice.

Dont think it was pollen inside the car or my nasal passages because I had driven from devon to essex without stopping, it was only when I got to essex with the flat landscape and lots of crops that it started to affect me.

I've heard about the vaseline trick before actually, might give it a go if it gets bad this year

BigglesPiP · 13 Apr 2009 at 23:39

I find them to work perfectly. Are you sure the filter is fitted?

Havana_UK · 14 Apr 2009 at 00:26

Hmm I get awful hayfever too - ruins my life for June / July

Last few years I've been going to the docs to get prescription anti-histamines. The stuff that's worked for me is Fexofenadine (there's lots of brands).

In the normal non-drowsy 1-a-day stuff you have Loratadine, which can be sold over the counter. Fexofenadine is basically a high powered version of Loratadine and is prescription only.

Sorry, I know this doesn't directly answer your question. Related to the OP I can say that the best experience I have had regarding not suffering hayfever in a car has always been in a Ford.

Hav

Kappa · 14 Apr 2009 at 07:41

I get hayfever pretty bad, though I must say I cannot for the life of me remember when I was in a modern car and had the symptoms develop while in the car. Must be because I'm not that susceptible to it, or the filters were all good and well in these cars.

laissez-faire · 14 Apr 2009 at 08:48

TBH the only solution is to go to your GP and ask advice on antihistamines. The OTC ones that claim to be 'non-drowsy' are generally telling fibs. 3rd generation ones don't cross the blood-brain barrier at all and so are massively more effective and don't interfere with your brain - which is good!

Do you have a/c? My GP seems to think a/c is the solution to all hayfever related issues....

laissez-faire · 14 Apr 2009 at 08:50

Havana_UK said:
The stuff that's worked for me is Fexofenadine (there's lots of brands). In the normal non-drowsy 1-a-day stuff you have Loratadine, which can be sold over the counter. Fexofenadine is basically a high powered version of Loratadine and is prescription only.

Wasn't sure that we were allowed to talk about drug names on here? But yeah I take Fexofenadine or Levocetirizine and both are great, pretty much no side-effects at all.

iaind · 14 Apr 2009 at 09:59

TBH Mine has never been bad enough to not be sorted by a supermarket brand hayfever tablet, I was just suprised it happened to me in the car.

The general concensus seems to be that it shouldnt happen, so I'm wondering if they havent fitted it properly when it was serviced - does anyone know where I mind find the thing on a MK3 mondeo?