Before You Buy the Wrong Air Purifier

Do you need to buy an air purifier?

Got new carpets, pesticide foggers, or a “mystery smoker” in your apartment building?

Shared ventilation ducts in older construction?

Significant other just hadta have a new “clean” polyvinylchloride shower curtain?

Awwww, new kittens.....Oh boy, get ready to pay.

Vendors of every type are at your service.

I recommend caution.

With estimated sales near 4 million units sold in America last year, room air purification is a $100 million business.

If you study this industry, one thing becomes obvious: the big money is flowing through slick marketing of air purifying products like the best selling Ionic Breeze air cleaners from Sharper Image.

I think we could start by choosing which air purifier(s) to avoid simply by evaluating marketing tactics!

Many Choices

A shopping.com search for “air purifier” produced over 800 purifiers, with a plethora of makes, models, and air cleaning technologies. From personal air purification devices worn around the neck to multistage stacked technology behemoths, the choices confronting potential customers are overwhelming.

Searching Google yields in excess of 6 million air cleaning web sites, employing an incredible range of sales tactics. Now I know why they say not to trust the internet!

Incredibly, a majority of web pages purporting to concern air purifiers are fraudulent, just keyword squatters selling ad space for irrelevant products.

Many legitimate air purifier sites will incorporate “consumer reports” in titles and names to imply they are someone they aren’t.

Then there are the merely incompetent “reviews”, which would be comical if the issue wasn’t so serious.

Home Air Cleaner Evaluation Criteria

Understanding the Residential Air Purifier Market

Long-Term Air Purifying Performance

Both institutional testers (Consumer Reports and AHAM) evaluate and rank air purifiers on the basis of very brief airborne particle filtration tests.

This is very misleading to consumers.

Would you buy a new car solely on the basis of a single quarter mile drag strip performance?

"Yeah, wanna race?"

Ok, males under 21 are excluded from the sample.

The real test for purifier air cleaning effectiveness comes long after the purchase is made.

Many builders cut costs in areas that affect long-term performance, knowing these are concealed. Electrostatic models require careful cleaning and maintenance to maintain the same efficiency as the day of the sale.

Air purifiers with cheaper HEPA filter installationsmay bypass when air filters get dirty.

I say test them under real world conditions, using actual air impurities, monitoring air filtration performance until they fail.

Quality would stick out in such tests, but don't count on seeing any real soon.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), an industry trade group, conducts and publishes annual Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) tests.

AHAM and the CADR rating

AHAM also rates air purifiers by room size, helping consumers decide among models.

Room Air Purifier: Room Size Ratings

Air Changes per Hour Calculations Simplified

Consumer Reports tests selected air purifiers about once annually. Their rankings can make consumers purchase air purifiers in droves, and are therefore controversial.

The Consumer Reports Air Purifier Rankings Controversy

Market Consolidation

I have watched this industry grow ever since ordering my first ion generator, (it came from Sharper Image), in 1977.

A few years ago there was a surge of interest in Indoor Air Quality (IAQ).

A global flurry of activity took place from 1995 through 2003. This burst was known by consultants and engineers as the “mold rush.”

As the IAQ rush worked its way down into the residential air cleaner market, thousands of air purification products emerged worldwide.

While IAQ will continue to be a growth arena, I think the residential segment is overbuilt. Today, with growth rates stabilized, novice air purifier makers, many from China, continue to flood the market.

Many good products are now struggling in a crowded market. Market share leaders, whose products may not necessarily be the best, are also struggling.

Those with financial background might want to run a chart of Sharper Image (Nasdaq:SHRP), to see if it has bottomed yet. Maybe then we'll see a lower price on the Ionic Breeze air cleaners.

Air purifier builders are caught, like everyone else, in the unstoppable global convergence, which will crush many small companies.

As manufacturers discontinue many models, some filter replacements will become scarce.

For example, I own a Honeywell 12520, which is one of many 14 inch circulars on the market recently discontinued by the manufacturer. They went to a less desirable stacked set of filters, affecting my 50250 as well.

To me, this says avoid air purifiers from small or startup firms.

Staying power is important.

Lemons

Anyone who is not yet convinced that this area is a minefield for consumers (and manufacturers) should see my review of the Bionaire BAP1300. Please pay particular attention to the consumer complaints which form the majority of the Bionaire document.

Mock Bionaire Air Purifier Review

Products with the highest market share are those with marketing muscle behind them, seldom the most effective at air cleaning. Cheaper brands can be found at discount department stores and home improvement retailers.

I use a few of these cheaper air purifiers and find them convenient for reducing my vacuuming schedule. I would not use them as my only line of defense.

The two Holmes model HAP 240s in my office run about $30 at Wal-Mart.

I paid $20 some years ago, and still run them. Modified with substantial extra filter material, they keep dust out of my more expensive machine's prefilters.

I was broke, had symptoms, and bought several cheap purifiers over the years. If you are broke and have symptoms should you get a cheap one? Air purifier hype aside, anyozone free air purifier is better than nothing. It is more cost effective to purchase quality at the outset than to risk your health with cheaper models.

In my opinion, the higher priced units, which can reduce toxic gas molecules, are much more likely to improve health.

Evaluate Air Purifier Vendors

Some manufacturers sell direct, operating their own web sales.Beyond that, there are four basic marketing channels selling air purifierson the web;