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Best Air Purifier?

Messages
16
I am looking for recommendations regarding the best air purifier for dust mite allergies and mold.
Thank you!
 

Dechi

Senior Member
Messages
1,454
Mold cannot be rid of with an air purifier. Mold needs a specific decontamination protocol. If you have mold, you should have an expert assess it and then follow their recommendations.

As for allergens, when I did my research many years ago, the Rabbit Air was above the rest. I don’t know if it’s still the case.

https://www.rabbitair.com/pages/min...hKk4ALgRdsYSaR51hKmp-5LI-7AJktXhoCiwYQAvD_BwE

The thing about air purifiers is you have to be really, really diligent with their care or else you risk making it worse. That’s why I never got one. Too much hassle and I would have been too worried about the air quality they produce due to that. (I’m the anxious type).
 

Shoshana

Northern USA
Messages
6,035
Location
Northern USA
I like the Aireox, model 45. It is expensive now, though. !

Mine works well for one room or area , (it does not go around corners into multiple rooms)
and i have had the same two , that I bought many years ago.

The replacement filter sets are easy to put in, and last a long while, and the motor is encased, so there is no chemical outgas or smell.....
And it makes a small sound, but is a quite quiet white sound. A soft sound similar to blowing air.
 
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Shoshana

Northern USA
Messages
6,035
Location
Northern USA
By the way, I DO agree with the above post, that any existing mold problem, needs to be specifically addressed, and perhaps a dehumidifier considered, as well as an assessment with testing and more specific remedies for any pre-existing mold, and for any possible ongoing sources of moisture and mold.
 

Judee

Psalm 46:1-3
Messages
4,461
Location
Great Lakes
We have one of those round Honeywell models which we bought when they originally came out about 25 years ago. That was excellent at removing dust. When it was turned on you could see the sun beam dust motes in the air being actively pulled towards it. Plus the coal filter did freshen the air. However, our electric bill jumped so we only use that one once in a while.

The ones we use all the time now are the Winix machines which don't seem to raise our bill. We have three of them--one down the basement and two upstairs--running 24/7. Two of them are this model and one is a smaller, more portable model they don't sell anymore. (I use that one when my mom goes into the hospital. Takes down some of those smells there.)

The filters get very dirty so I know they are working. Plus, if I burn something or someone comes in the house with perfume on, on Turbo setting, it pulls the odors out pretty quickly which helps a lot. (Turbo is loud though.)

Also they have sensors that work fairly well. When I smell something usually I look over and one or both of the sensor lights is on so it "smells" it too.

It has a Plasma Wave setting which is suppose to put out hydroxyls which I think is similar to ozone but we turn that off right away because I've read some bad things about both hydroxlys and ozone. The nice thing is you can turn that setting off.

Also, the antibacterial filters that come with it are more expensive to replace and have that antibacterial chemical smell that gets to us so we just use the two-part aftermarket filters--both the hepa and charcoal. They seem to work just as well without that added chemical smell or the higher price.

These machines would probably cut the mold issue down for you some too but I agree with the others that you will want to address those issues more fully. I use a dehumidifer in our basement. Both that and the Winix help when it smells musty down there.

Also, after you do that you might consider having a professional company come out and clean your air ducts. Make sure they are the kind of company that blocks off all your vents and vacuums the whole system out. Our whole house smelled wonderful after we had that done, plus we were able to lower our furnace thermostat 2-3 degrees from then on. The owner didn't think it would work that way for us but it did. Our ducts must have been pretty congested with dust. :eek:

One note: He offered to spray a special freshening sanitizer into the ducts too but we have chemical sensitivities so declined. If you are sensitive make sure you mention this before they spray anything.

Edit: At some point we bought the very expensive IQAir but it has so many layers to it's filtering system that I don't think it can really pull the air through. It pulls the air from the bottom and then blows the clean air out the top but when I put a piece of typing paper underneath it to test it, it couldn't even lift the paper so we sent it back. It didn't really do anything and was soooo expensive.

Edit #2: This seems to be one of their latest Winix models and seems less expensive. Plus Fellowes had an identical model so I think their purifiers work on the same principle with a very similar filtering system. This model by Fellowes automatically adjusts the fan speed when it detects something. I'm not sure if that would be a good thing or not.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. Hope some of the info is helpful and not too overwhelming. :(
 
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frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
I was recommended the very expensive IQAir, molekule, and Austin air. Unsure whether to go with one of these, which claim to filter even viruses, or just one of the normal ones with small hepa filters
 

Hd-x

Senior Member
Messages
244
Mold cannot be rid of with an air purifier.
Yes, mold spores which pass through a Hepa filter cant be killed, because mold spores need longer UV/C contact to get killed. Otherwise Hepa filters have different classes, a good Hepa filter may perhaps be able to catch mold spores?
Certainly catching mold spores didnt kill them and obvisously they would start to grow + spread on the outside off the Hepafilter.

However, so the question is what happens if you place a UV/C lamp before and behind the Hepafilter?
If the spores could be catched by Hepa, they would get in such a case enough UV/C expossure.

I have a room where the mold test kit shows mold spores.
If I have the time, I will try what happens by installing 2 UV/C lamps into my air purifer and will then redo the mold test.
 
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consuegra

Senior Member
Messages
176
I have bought two Molekule filters. They are expensive and the replacement filters are expensive. Molekule appears to me to be better than Aireox and Austin, although Austin is pretty good. Molekule claims that it kills mold and viruses. I have no way to actually test this, although I am happy with the machine and might buy more. Recently they have introduced a smaller machine that can be used in a 250 square foot room. It is significantly cheaper.

Chris
 

frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
There are no air purifiers which actually filter the mycotoxins themselves --not just spore fragments. It's all expensive and useless