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-   -   The Home Air Purifier Thread : Reviews & Comparisons (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/228686-home-air-purifier-thread-reviews-comparisons-4.html)

Thanks I appreciate the suggestion. Great to gain perspective from someone who owns the product that too four of them. Any reason apart from the pm 2.5 monitor to suggest the Xiaomi? I am currently leaning towards the Sharp FP-J40 since their range is the only one I could find that uses an H14 class HEPA filter in India. The ion discharge function is a bonus too. Am I giving the class of HEPA filter used too much weightage in my decision making?

The main reason is the overall design of Xiaomi. It is made like a cylinder and is open on all sides. This leads to much better air flow and better purification compared to traditional designs like the Sharp where air is pulled from just one direction. That’s why the CADR (clean air delivery rate) is 240 on the Sharp model you mentioned and it is 320 on the Xiaomi. In addition, as I stated earlier, Xiaomi comes with high precision laser sensors to detect the air quality and adjusts automatically while most other purifiers come with infrared sensors which are totally useless. A high quality pm monitor like the one present in the Xiaomi costs at least 5k and thus you are practically getting the purifier for free. I have several air quality monitors and I can say the Xiaomi performs super well as I often measure the air quality in the room before and after usage. I have another purifier that looks like the Sharp but it’s performance is way inferior and now we never use it except when traveling.

My wife suffers from a dust allergy and even a small amount of dust makes her sneeze. She doesn't suffer from asthma but has a very sensitive nose. After raking my head about what can be done about her constant sneezing in our bedroom, I think buying an air purifier may be the solution to her problems. But before I take the plunge, can I please get answers to these questions? (I am a total noob when it comes to air purifiers and no one in my circle owns one, hence the mundane questions)

1. Can an air purifier keep the air clean from all dust particles?

2. If yes, how do I actually use it? We keep the window closed, but the door open, during the daytime. Should I close the door of the bedroom door, say 30 minutes before we go to sleep, and keep the purifier on? How much time does a purifier take to clean the air in a 14X12 ft room?

3. Do I keep running the purifier from night till morning? Or do I run it for an hour or some X amount of time and then switch it off?

4. How much electricity does it take?

5. Can I use a ceiling fan \ AC along with the air purifier? If I use AC or a ceiling fan, does it bring down the efficiency of the air purifier to keep the air clean?

6. Which one to go for? After doing some research and going through this thread, I am gravitating towards either Sharp or Smart Air-Chemical Warfare , but I am ready to look for other options too.


--Anoop

An air purifier would remove all "dust" particles but some other airborne particles like viruses won't be removed. The reason for your wife's dust allergy would most probably be dust mites or mold spores and both of those would be cleaned by any good air purifier.

You can leave the door open. It would just affect the efficiency of the air purifier slightly an you wouldn't face any other issues.

It is best to leave it on since most modern air purifiers are designed to run 24x7. If it is turned off, more dust would be accumulated in the room from open door, dead skin, etc.

The sharp air purifier that you shortlisted is rated at a peak capacity of 31W while running in haze mode with plasmacluster on. So under normal usage in auto mode, it would be running at roughly 20W which would need 50 hours to consume 1kWh.

Using a fan doesn't affect the efficiency. Since more air circulation is provided, the air would be cleaner. Some modern air conditioners have HEPA filters. In case yours has one, you wouldn't need to run the air purifier simultaneously with AC, provided the AC is servied regularly. If yours doesn't have a HEPA filter you could either run the air purifier simultaneously or use a 3M filtrete air filter in the AC and turn off the air purifier while the AC is in use.

I have been using the sharp air purifier for more than a year and haven't faced any issues till now. The plasmacluster technology, which is its major difference from other air purifiers, has received amazing reviews, but since it hasn't been independently reviewed or audited, I can't comment on its advantage.

Smartair purifier also seems good with good reviews. The only issue I found was that it didn't have a pre-filter mesh before its HEPA filter. This would make more dust accumulate on the filter. HEPA filters don't result in worse cleaning when dirty, but electricity usage will be higher if the filter is clogged. Dust can be cleaned using a vacuum cleaner at low suction power and sweeping parallel to the filter folds.

I feel that you shouldn't go wrong with both and these would be definitely better than the smart air purifiers available at this price range.

Thank you, Akhil for your inputs - much appreciated. You have put to rest most of my queries\imhibitions :)

Thank you once again, as of now, I am also leaning towards the Sharp air purifier.

--Anoop

In case anyone wants to buy a Coway Air Purifier, the AirMega 150 is available for 11,990/- on Amazon.

I chose the Coway over the Sharp and SmartAir because it has a washable pre-filter which supposedly captures pet hair and dander.

What an informative thread! I want to get a couple of air filters and saw that Mi is selling a pair on their website for a good discount, they cost around 7.5k a piece if bought in pair. The problem is that i saw quite a few complaints of them going kaput after one year on amazon.
So can someone suggest me a purifier for under 10k which is not too expensive to service and can last? Would’ve went for the entry level sharp but the filters are a cool 4.5k which is a lot.

I have 4 MI purifiers now, 3 of them clearly over an year old (1 about 3 year). All are working fine for me.

The only problem I encountered was the blockage of its sensors, which can be opened and serviced (including a small fan, which may need some tiny lubrication). Without the sensor working fine, the purifier will sense everything to be green and barely work.

I have set-up some smart routines to control the filters, so that if the air is clean at lobby + master bedroom, all 4 completely shut down. But when lobby AQI is over 85, they all turn on. Practically a set-it forget-it mode.

Here's a screenshot from the app.

Hi SLK,
Thanks for your informative response. A few more questions on the Mi;
How often do you have to replace the filters on them? Do you clean them with a vacuum cleaner too? Also does the Mi run even if the filters are at 0 percent as per the machine?
I suppose the rfid would ensure that you have to use the Mi filters only. Also, did you try to remove the rfid and see if the thing works?
lol: hopefully this isn’t too annoying.

It works after 'taping' the RFID. It will show an error for 20-30 Seconds at start. Filter can be reused 2-3 times.

Filters are good for 6-8 months, in theory, but I've been running them beyond their life. I'm on my 3rd set of filter for the oldest purifier.

Yes, have to do that once in a 2-3 months.

Yes, as long as you want :)


The MI filters aren't that expensive 2k or so. I did not try removing the RFID tag, but I did wash a filter once, in a bucket of water with lizol rl:, it continued to work post that too. However, I felt it was slightly slower to clean up the air and get the rating down.

Has anyone used Honeywell air purifiers? Specifically the v4 model? Have been recommended this by a friend but completely confused for what purifier to get in the 10-15k range.

Please could you provide your feedback on the Sharp? I’m keen on this one but the cadr seems quite low compared to the competition indicating a slow air flow rate. Your thoughts on this compared to the competition?

Feedback on the Coway unit?

Do you still recommend the Mi 3 unit? You had mentioned the sensors need cleaning occasionally. Is that internally or externally? Easy to do DIY?

Here is a video for everyone who is looking to purchase a budget air purifier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6yq...nnel=TechWiser

I did not buy the air purifier. Instead, I did a deep cleaning of the room (including removing the cot and cleaning under it) and it did wonders. So, never went ahead with the purifier purchase.

--Anoop