Steve Henderson wrote in message ...

I really like this thing, and it's great for my elderly mother's
apartment. However, we've had several thunderstorms in the are lately,
and EVERY time, afterwards, the next time I visit mom (she lives in an
assisted living facility) it's just sitting there in the "off" mode.
Turns out that you have to push the botton on top to tell it which
"mode" you want (lo, med, hi) before it will start after a power outage.
I wrote sharper image, and they just confirmed the operation, and
advised me to go up to "professional" model which has an actual 3
position switch (not a push button that selects the modes the more times
you push it.) Anyway, I don't want a pro model -

The Ionic Breeze is not great for your mother. If anything it's
damaging her skin and nasal tissues slightly and may also irritate
eyes because the ozone it generates is a toxic substance with no known
health benefits, except to kill mold and bacteria at much higher
concentrations than is safe for people. Simple air ionizers are not
air cleaners and are useful only in preventing static buildup, such as
when working with photographic films or electronics chips. True
electronic air cleaners generate ozone, but they also neutralize it
with a second set of internal electrodes before the air reenters the
room.

Very likely her Ionic Breeze is simply resetting and defaults to the
"off" condition rather than "on" condition, a common occurance with
any device controlled by an electronic switch rather than a mechanical
one that handles the 120VAC directly.