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Simply Cozy Consumer Report
Save time, and money.
Find out which air purifiers work in today's world. Despite claims of many companies that theirs is the best at air filtration for the best price, the air purifiers in this report have been proven by technicians and homeowners to work!
Simply Cozy
Texas, USA
The air purifiers in this report have been tested in person by Simply Cozy experts. Consideration was given to air cleaning efficiency, pressure drop, how frequently maintenance is required, ions, ozone output and price. For those of you not familiar, ozone smell is that smell the copier at work makes when you've been running lots of copies. So not only is producing ozone bad for the environment, but it generates a scent that can linger in your home.
An ionizer can be just as bad for you. Ionizers like the Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze have great filtration results, but what a lot of people don't know is that those collection plates that are supposed to attract those ionized particles sometimes don't. If you don't take the plates out to clean them every week, or if you've had the unit for awhile and it loses efficiency, those particles will still be ionized. Instead of sticking to the plate, though, they stick to the walls of your home, your tabletops, counter tops, and the EPA says they stick to the walls of your lungs, too.
We performed two tests on each machine, the first being a simple particle count to determine how many particles the systems truly eliminate and the second being a pressure drop test to determine how much air flow we lost while using the machine. High filtration is great, but if you're losing air flow because of that filter your A/C is not going to cool down your home. You'll have to turn the A/C up, blasting more air through to get the same cooling you did before-- which costs you more money.
A lot of systems claim to have a 99.7% filtration rate or higher, but we found that a lot of these claims don't take the unit's housing into account. A poorly constructed unit will allow for air leaks at points all around the housing. The filter itself may well eliminate 99.7% of the particles that pass through it, but no matter how clean your filter makes the air that passes through it can't filter what doesn't pass through what leaks out around it! So we decided to figure out which one really is the best. Which unit can deliver the cleanest air available into our homes without costing an arm and a leg to run?
Below are my recommendations and reviews
for air cleaners that actually work.. and those that don't.
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True Blue Fiberglass Filter
Will only filter out large plumes of dust, which is what makes it turn grey eventually. It has no apparent particle filtration, though on the plus side it does nothing to restrict your system's airflow. You need to replace it once a month.
Filtration Efficiency: 0%
Cost: $ |
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3M 1250 "Purple"
This provides a little more filtration than the one above, but not much. Unlike the True Blue Fiberglass though this one will restrict your system's airflow a bit. We measured the pressure drop at .21". This item used to advertise itself as having a MERV 12 rating, though they've had to remove this claim (since it's not true). Replacement on this one is needed once every three months.Filtration Efficiency: 31%
Cost: $ |
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Honeywell F200 E
The Honeywell F200 E uses an electrostatic media filter, which loses efficiency the longer you use it. We recorded the pressure drop for this one at .35", and the filtration rate is pretty low. The only real plus to this model is that you only have to replace the filter once every six months, but honestly for it's filtration rate alone you're better off going with the 3M Filtrete.Filtration Efficiency: 24%
Cost: $ |
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Honeywell F300 E 
This one is an ionizer, which always make me wary. As it get older the plates stop collecting as easily but the particles are still being ionized, meaning they're sticking to your floors, walls and lungs as the plate fails to collect them. You could smell the ozone pretty bad with this one, and there was a delay. When there's a delay, all the particles that have rested and collected are blown out when it is finally switched on. This unit also has to be plugged into an outlet. A very high maintenance machine, and we even observed some sparks during it's operation. The pressure drop isn't too bad though at only .25".Filtration Efficiency: 65%
Cost: $$ |
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Trane Clean Effects 
Another ionizer. This was tied with the Honeywell F300E for the worst ozone smell. It's difficult to clean this one out, requiring manual rinsing, and this has to be done every two months. Pressure drop is .35". After two weeks, the efficiency on this model dropped by a terrifying 70%. Filtration Efficiency: 94% (New)
Cost: $$$ |
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Lennox PureAir
Uses an UV light to get rid of odors, so it produces a decent amount of ozone. It has one of the worst pressure drops of all the items we tested at .40". It does have a long filter life, though, and the filters only need changing twice a year. Filtration Efficiency: 75%
Cost: $$$$ |
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Carrier Infinity
Another ionizer with an electrostatic media filter. The ozone smell wasn't as bad as the Honeywell F300E or Trane CleanEffects, but it was definitely noticeable. Overall an alright system. Pressure drop was average at .29".Filtration Efficiency: 78%
Cost: $$$$ |
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Broan NuTone Guardian
A bypass system. It filtered out 80% of the particles that went through it, but the fan only blows at a rate of 270 cfm. the average household fan blows at 1000 cfm. Only 20% of the air going into your home is being cleaned! A waste of both energy and money. Filtration Efficiency: 20%*
Cost: $$$$ |
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Aprilaire 5000 
A decent machine for it's price. It's got a pretty good pressure drop of .27" and a pretty good filtration rate. Another ozone producer, but not near as bad as the others we've tested. One thing to note is that it doesn't come in different sizes; you'd use the same machine for a 3 ton system that you would for a 5 ton which would, of course, lower the filtration rate and increase the pressure drop.Filtration Efficiency: 74%
Cost: $$ |
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Honeywell Enviracaire Elite
Another bypass machine, this one operating at an even lower cfm of 250. It did show better filtration than the Broan-Nutone Guardian though, and at a lower price. If your heart's set on a bypass system, this is probably your best bet.Filtration Efficiency: 24%*
Cost: $$$ |
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Envirosept Electronic Air Cleaner 
Not only was the filtration rate even less than that of your basic 3M Filtrate filter, but it produces large amounts of ozone smell and sparks to boot. The pressure drop is an abysmal .42", making it the most inefficient machine we tested. Filtration Efficiency: 7%
Cost: $$ |
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 IQAir Perfect 16 
The filtration rate on this one was amazing, and the air flow was better than almost anything we tested at a .11". Try as we might, we couldn't find anything to complain about. Easily the best unit tested.
Filtration Efficiency: 97%
Cost: $$$$* |
* Both the Broan NuTone Guardian Plus and Honeywell Enviracare Elite operate at only 270 cfm and below, which constitutes approximately 1/4th of the air actually processed by your home's air conditioning system. Were these systems to operate at 100% accuracy for all air processed by them, they would still only be cleaning 25% of your home's air.
** The IQAir Perfect 16 is the only product whose price includes installation. All installers are authorized and approved by IQAir to ensure proper installation.
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