Air purifiers, filters, & dehumidifiers

We’ve reviewed dehumidifiers (member content) for those interested in this appliance.

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Asthma Foundation has tested air purifiers.
I got late onset asthma in my 60s. Given seratide drip while in a seriously allergic situation, having panic attacks so given seratide puffer which exacerbates lung irritability and so it goes. Being in Melbourne and exposed to tram dust…plastic bogies.add to it, I have suffered badly. Now on Intal with zero side effects but was struggling.

I looked at choice for airpurifier reviews, found none.0

On impulse I found the asthma foundation has a Sensitive section dealing with products. . Clearly better for Choice to let people know this have been tested rather than Choice repeat the testing.


I looked carefully and decided on the zero pro 5 stage air purifier.
There are others cheaper which do a smaller area. https://www.ausclimate.com.au/products/air-purifiers/range
There are specials and cheaper if buying two.
The pro 5 bought is exquisite almost silent, can do extreme to low level flow. Is light enough to carry from living area to bedroom overnight which I do and heard others do the same. It is a very pretty machine.Very easy to open, the front panel clips down, can vacuum a gross filter and easy to replace filter yearly.
Previously I was waking going to bathroom then asthmatic symptoms, using too much product trying to calm my lungs as I recover in my new protocol. First night, on sleep mode could feel air movement, no symptoms, next day no symptoms and so it’s been, Have used ventolin rescue a couple of times…small puff…per week. Outside walking I have not had asthma symptoms at all. This is a miracle for me. Life saving.
Please tell anyone you know of the Asthma Foundation Sensitive Range, wish I had known years ago, would have saved me from a hospital admission.

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I urchased the Winex pro…a review is down the page because of dust, dust mites and allergens. It has a hepa and plasmawve to kill fungi and spores etc. read and consider. If you run the risk of breathing mould spores indefinitely its better to choose otherwise. one like mine does 50 to 100 metres…it’s great. They underestimate its coverage. The air quality is lovely, I have it on and feel a tiny air movement of clean air.

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Hi Glo, is that the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ? I couldn’t find any product recommendations at Asthma Australia. Their endorsement policy is here:

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It does not exactly look like a test, but a referral, linked to the national asthma council org site not the asthma org site.

Sensitive Choice is a community service program that identifies asthma and allergy-aware products.

with the onward link to

Ferreting out how they ‘approve’ products, it more resembles a trade group than a testing group, although well intentioned.

https://www.sensitivechoice.com/about-us/prospective-partners/panel-review-process/

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Which is the best air purifier please.

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Hi @nads, welcome aboard.

I have moved your post to this thread as it could have some information to assist you. If you have any specific questions about some of the air purifiers others in the forum have purchased, you can make addiitonal posts here.

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As far as I know CHOICE has not conducted a review yet. Some models are quite expensive but as to their performance it is unclear. Products vary widely on room size they are suitable for, they also vary as to whether they have HEPA filters or not (there are differences re HEPA claims so be careful here as well)
From a ausclimate company FAQ (Please note this is not a recommendation of the business or their products it is purely for information re HEPA) "

  • What are HEPA filters?

HEPA filters are the most efficient filter for removing tiny particles which can otherwise penetrate deep into the lungs causing many of our well known and other lesser known health problems.

HEPA is an acronym for High-Efficiency Particulate Air.

The Australian Standard AS4260-1997, defines the HEPA filter as a disposable, extended (concertina) media having minimum filtration efficiency of 99.97% of particles that have a size of 0.3 microns.

  • Are all HEPA filters the same

No, research suggests some air purifiers won’t effectively remove the amount of airborne pollutants as needed, yet they may be sold as having HEPA filters or having HEPA-like filters. It is important that the HEPA filter in your air purifier is a ‘true’ HEPA filter as defined by the Australian Standards, or other international Standards such as the US Dept. of Energy (DOE) and the European Standards (EN). To meet these Standards, they must have minimum filtration efficiency of 99.97% removal of tiny particles that have a size of 0.3 microns."

If you visit Product Review they have some listed but some have very few comsumer/customer/user reviews to provide actual guidance and cannot then be held to be reliable (that is “please tread with caution” when using the information)

https://www.productreview.com.au/c/air-purifiers

Whirlpool forum has a discussion on air purifiers that also may be helpful

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1920809

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Hi all. We’ve just published an air purifier buying guide, and have a product review in the pipeline - look for that in early 2020.

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That’s great news! Can you please give us an indication when the test results will be published? Is early 2020 January or more like March or April?

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Welcome to the Choice Community Forum Fleur :slight_smile:

Results from a limited number of models have already been posted, see: How to buy the best air purifier

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Just noticed this bit on air purifiers. I purchased one around 3 weeks ago and it was not a cheap item. I did a search of the web to see what’s available and ended up buying WINIX ZERO+ PRO 5-stage air purifier plus pet hair filter ( 5 dashounds that spend more time inside then out ) from ausclimate. So far its been good, with the smell of smoke outside and inside the house before our purchase. Now we can tell the difference when walking back into the house, no smell of smoke. Another reason for the purchase is for the red dust storms out west ( Forbes NSW ) Today is extremely dusty and you can taste it in your mouth when outside. Normally we use our evaporative cooler to sort of filter the red dust from the air. Time will tell when I check the air purifier filters in about 2 months time.

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Similar to when I purchased a Breville Smart Air Plus, which seems to perform quite well in removing smoke smells and dust. The PM 2.5 display is quite sensitive, just walking past it stirs up a bit of dust from the floor (but yes, I have been slack with vacuuming, its been a losing battle in recent months, so we’ve just been putting up with dust and smoke fallout on everything).

My personal air purifier- a mask with P3 replaceable filters that cost $96 also works very well, but I notice that after wearing it for most bike rides over the past couple of weeks that the filters are becoming harder to breath through. I tried giving them a quick wash in water yesterday to see if there was any improvement, but today isn’t really smoky enough to wear it on a ride, given how hot it is.

The P3 filters appear to be treated paper of some sort, so the wetting was just quick, followed by a good shake-off and placing in the sun to dry.

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My experience with filter mask was that when they became hard to breath through they were to be replaced with new filters but they were expensive and also supplied by the company I was contracted to. I was unaware that they could be cleaned but my thoughts were that the filter would then be compromised. When I retired I moved from Wollongong to Forbes for the cleaner air and the occasional dust storm.

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I wore the mask with the washed filters on a ride this morning,and it was obvious that the quick wash had no effect, so I’ll have to fit the replacements I purchased with the mask. However, I wont dispose of the old ones for now, as they are still fine for wearing around home when the smoke is thick (several large bushfires burning for weeks in various directions).
For normal activities that don’t raise the heart rate much, they are easy enough to breathe through, it’s just when breathing hard that it becomes difficult.

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Are you able to get get pre-filters for them? This may improve the length of time you get from each P3 filter before having to dispose of them. Dust from the road etc would be captured before the ultra fine particulates had to be stopped by the P3 filters rather than filling the filters with the more gross sized particulates. The pre-filters are much cheaper and easy to replace as needed.

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The only pre-filter would be a DIY arrangement, there is no provision for mounting anything over the P3 filter, which itself clips over the painting filter.
Some cloth or foam held in place by rubber bands would probably work.
I don’t think there is a huge amount of coarse dust clogging it up though, as I generally try to stay out of vehicle dust plumes, as even if I can filter the dust out of my nose, it still irritates my eyes.

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Ahh ok some are just clip on frames that may be a better hope at mounting them but if you buy the pre-filters themselves you could probably rubber band them on. The dust they filter is coarse compared to P2 or a lot of P1 stuff but a lot is still fairly “invisible” to the eye.

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When (hopefully some time soon!) smoke isn’t so much of an issue, I may just get some P1 or P2 filters instead for when dust is the main problem. With my current summertime early departure times from home and mid morning returns, I’ve been avoiding most of the traffic. In cooler weather I leave a bit later, and that’s when dust if a greater problem with all the traffic heading to town and out to farms.

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Typically filter media relies on entrapment at depth within the fibres of the media. This creates a greater effective surface area than a simple flat layer, such as we are used to seeing with a wire kitchen sieve or colander. The down side is the filter media tends to hold the collected particles no matter what.

It’s great to hear of your success with the mask and filters. My supply of P2 masks and P3 cartridges is running low. Supply and demand suggests the P3s might be a little more expensive next time.

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