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What to look for in an air purifier for your home or business

Tricia

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Mod note: Posts about air purifiers were pulled out of the AQI thread to make this information more searchable.

Are you getting any of the nasal passage/mucous membrane burning like from creosote or uncontrolled diesel fumes?
If we stay outside in this we would but we're staying inside and changing our AC filter regularly.


I'm thinking about getting one of those filters that @skibob posted earlier in the AQI and riding thread.
Wondering if it will do what we need it to do.

As a reference, we changed our filter July 2nd, and thought about checking it after a discussion we had at @Andy Mink 's house last night.
This is a new filter and the one we put in on July 2nd side by side.
The recommendation is to change this filter every 3 months. This is less than 2 months. :(
29A83E22-F310-49AB-9F55-71A218EAC524.JPG
354AFB82-B62B-44F6-8373-3D72F1A8F97C.JPG
 
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skibob

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If we stay outside in this we would but we're staying inside and changing our AC filter regularly.


I'm thinking about getting one of those filters that @skibob posted earlier in this thread.
Wondering if it will do what we need it to do.

As a reference, we changed our filter July 2nd, and thought about checking it after a discussion we had at @Andy Mink 's house last night.
This is a new filter and the one we put in on July 2nd side by side.
The recommendation is to change this filter every 3 months. This is less than 2 months. :(
View attachment 140502 View attachment 140503
I will say this. Everybody remember the "orange day" in the bay area last year? I have one of those filters at the office, and one at home. I felt great all day at the office. Driving home (15 minutes) I developed a splitting headache. When I got home I laid down on the floor in front of the filter output. 10 minutes later I felt fine. My wife and kids who had been home all day all felt fine. They are expensive, but, IMHO, worth it. We have a little detached building with exercise equipment--about 200sf. One of the Costco filters is fine for that room. But for a 2500 sf house you need 5-7 of those. About the same price. BTW, we keep the big filter on the lowest setting and leave it on constant. It can do more. I think the limiting factor is how the air flows in the house (sometimes we turn on the recirc fan) and how well sealed the house is.
 

cantunamunch

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^see if you can get one with actual display of separate pollutants. Including VOC and sulfides. Ours can tell that I'm polishing shoes in the basement.

LOL when we were fostering cats our HVAC filter looked like that once a month just from pet dander.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I will say this. Everybody remember the "orange day" in the bay area last year? I have one of those filters at the office, and one at home. I felt great all day at the office. Driving home (15 minutes) I developed a splitting headache. When I got home I laid down on the floor in front of the filter output. 10 minutes later I felt fine. My wife and kids who had been home all day all felt fine. They are expensive, but, IMHO, worth it. We have a little detached building with exercise equipment--about 200sf. One of the Costco filters is fine for that room. But for a 2500 sf house you need 5-7 of those. About the same price. BTW, we keep the big filter on the lowest setting and leave it on constant. It can do more. I think the limiting factor is how the air flows in the house (sometimes we turn on the recirc fan) and how well sealed the house is.
Our house is an open floor plan around 1900 sf. Fairly well sealed. The Garage is a different story. We need to replace the seal around the garage doors.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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I will say this. Everybody remember the "orange day" in the bay area last year? I have one of those filters at the office, and one at home. I felt great all day at the office. Driving home (15 minutes) I developed a splitting headache. When I got home I laid down on the floor in front of the filter output. 10 minutes later I felt fine. My wife and kids who had been home all day all felt fine. They are expensive, but, IMHO, worth it. We have a little detached building with exercise equipment--about 200sf. One of the Costco filters is fine for that room. But for a 2500 sf house you need 5-7 of those. About the same price. BTW, we keep the big filter on the lowest setting and leave it on constant. It can do more. I think the limiting factor is how the air flows in the house (sometimes we turn on the recirc fan) and how well sealed the house is.
I checked with my allergist office and they recommended this unit.
What are your thoughts on allergens and the unit you have?

I could get this one but I think its a bit overkill.
 

skibob

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I checked with my allergist office and they recommended this unit.
What are your thoughts on allergens and the unit you have?

I could get this one but I think its a bit overkill.
I think it boils down to two things: HEPA? Yes or no? There is no middle.

And air flow. The model I have is 550 cubic feet per minute (CFM). I can tellyou that is awesome. The one you link is a little ambiguous, but seems to be claiming 500 CFM (although they don't call it that). If that is true, then it seems like a pretty good price. And a helluva lot less ugly than ours!
 

cantunamunch

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The one you link is a little ambiguous, but seems to be claiming 500 CFM (although they don't call it that). If that is true, then it seems like a pretty good price. And a helluva lot less ugly than ours!

You must be talking about the MA-112 (950 m^3/h or ~560CFM); the spec on the MA-50 shows only 294 CFM.

HEPA filtration is a must, to be sure. Activated carbon for all the non-particulates.
 

skibob

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You must be talking about the MA-112 (950 m^3/h or ~560CFM); the spec on the MA-50 shows only 294 CFM.

HEPA filtration is a must, to be sure. Activated carbon for all the non-particulates.
Ah, thanks for that. I didn't look at the spec sheets, only the claim of rate on the main page. I didn't realize it was in cm/h. Thanks for that. Yes, I would go for the bigger one then. I mean, that said, we usually run ours on the slowest setting, not max speed. And their house is a little smaller. So, I would kinda think the smaller one could handle it. But the bigger one is directly comp to what I have.
 

skibob

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Are those filters quiet?
No! That is why we usually run it on low speed and leave it on always. On low it is just a quiet hum. But we still turn it off if watching TV (which is right next to it). On high it is very noticeable. Less than a vacuum for sure. But by no means unobtrusive. But man are they effective against wildfire smoke. Even when outdoors is 300ppm+.
 

surfacehoar

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The number to look at is CADR (m³/h). Clean Air Delivery Rating. It doesn't matter if the filter is HEPA, hyperHEPA, trueHEPA, mgHEPA, HEPAsilent or whatever buzz word they put on the box. CADR is a measurement of the filters performance regardless or branding or certification. If the air is clean that's what matters.

A MERV 11 filter is just as effective as a MERV 13 HEPA filter when the fan speed is properly matched to the filters specs.

Ideally you would find a smokeCADR rating. As smokeCADR tends to be the lower for most filters.

The best machine has the highest CADR while using the least energy (watts) while also being the quietest (-dB).

Tricia, I think you should get the smaller unit. It likely will be all you need and if it's not you can get a second one and then run them both on low so it's not so obtrusive. The big unit on full would be pretty loud and need to be positioned in the center or your house.
 
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skibob

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Intellipure market their units on being the quietest for the size https://www.intellipure.com/product/ultrafine-468/ - but for that 500CFM flow rate @Tricia would need at least two units (read: 7x the cost of the one she was originally interested in).
They can only be so quiet. A normal fan for moving air doesn't need much torque. These are much more powerful (even if moving less volume) because they have to pull air through a HEPA filter, which is a pretty darn tight barrier.

I should add that ours has a prefilter (standard HVAC style filter). This extends the life of the HEPA membrane. The HEPA filter itself is about $100-150 for a replacement. The prefilter is $5-10. We replace the prefilter once a year. Haven't touched the HEPA since we got them in 2017.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Tricia

Tricia

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They can only be so quiet. A normal fan for moving air doesn't need much torque. These are much more powerful (even if moving less volume) because they have to pull air through a HEPA filter, which is a pretty darn tight barrier.

I should add that ours has a prefilter (standard HVAC style filter). This extends the life of the HEPA membrane. The HEPA filter itself is about $100-150 for a replacement. The prefilter is $5-10. We replace the prefilter once a year. Haven't touched the HEPA since we got them in 2017.
There are a lot of things to think about.
  • Air quality
  • Initial cost
  • Filter replacement cost
  • Noise
  • what else?
 

Ron

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we run Medify aIr purifiers, MA-112 for the main portion the house and a MA-25 for our bedroom. They are HEPA level filters however, for smoke particle, 2.5pm, you dont need HEPA filters.. Medify was incredibly helpful in determining how many units, what size and where to place the systems. We sent our floor plans to them and they came back with setup and placement suggestions. They are reasonably priced and do a excellent job. FWIW, I dont ride when the "US EPA" readings exceed 75. Riding hard for 2.5-3.5 hours, really affects me.

Not sure this was discussed earlier but probably worth mentioning again.

AQI sensor readings that most are quoting here are based on Purple Air readings, the Govt also has sensors that are much more accurate,(use AIRNOW) if you are looking at Purple Air or other sites that use those sensors, please be sure you are using the "US EPA" conversion algorithms that are found in the lower left hand box, beneath the "CONVERSION" drop down box, Also, select, "US EPA 2.5PM AQI" inside the box to the right under "MAP DATA LAYER". You can also use a 30 minute or longer average for a better idea of the AQI levels over time. The purple air sensors are not very sophisticated or accurate so they can be greatly affected by any air-borne particles like dust, pollen and any particles found in heavy smoke as well as humidity. The EPA formula (all of this info can be found in the FAQ's btw) adjusts for this. In most cases, the Purple Air AQI is higher than what the more accurate sensors will read. I learned about this while investigating Air Quality for our Bike tour event and had extensive email conversations with the EPA on this.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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The number to look at is CADR (m³/h). Clean Air Delivery Rating. It doesn't matter if the filter is HEPA, hyperHEPA, trueHEPA, mgHEPA, HEPAsilent or whatever buzz word they put on the box. CADR is a measurement of the filters performance regardless or branding or certification. If the air is clean that's what matters.

A MERV 11 filter is just as effective as a MERV 13 HEPA filter when the fan speed is properly matched to the filters specs.

Ideally you would find a smokeCADR rating. As smokeCADR tends to be the lower for most filters.

The best machine has the highest CADR while using the least energy (watts) while also being the quietest (-dB).

Tricia, I think you should get the smaller unit. It likely will be all you need and if it's not you can get a second one and then run them both on low so it's not so obtrusive. The big unit on full would be pretty loud and need to be positioned in the center or your house.
CADR is the reason my allergist office recommended the Medify brand.
Screen Shot 2021-08-24 at 8.27.36 AM.png

She actually recommended the 112 for the whole house, but I was thinking the 50 would be enough if I put it on the loft which overlooks the main living area but is also close to our bedroom.
If that isn't enough then I can get a second one.
 

Ron

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thats not going to be large enough. theres a HUGE difference between running the unit on high VS a more reasonable speed of 2-3. on the 112, we run it on 3 almost 24/7. I would email Medify for their expert advice. they know what will work. Ask them about where to place and speed of fans. we run the MA-25 on level 2 24/7. its quieter than a typical fan on 2. I like white-noise so there's always a fan running at night
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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thats not going to be large enough. theres a HUGE difference between running the unit on high VS a more reasonable speed of 2-3. on the 112, we run it on 3 almost 24/7. I would email Medify for their expert advice. they know what will work. Ask them about where to place and speed of fans. we run the MA-25 on level 2 24/7. its quieter than a typical fan on 2. I like white-noise so there's always a fan running at night
Thanks. I'm in a chat with them now.
Ugh, he's recommending that I get multiple smaller units to have one in every room of the house. That's nuts.


As for the AQI numbers...
I've used Purple Air, NOAA, and Apple Maps. Honestly none of the numbers matter when you look out the window and see this. All you know is, its bad.
983E3201-F827-4B65-839F-4DF77B7F3E44.JPG
 

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