You Hadta Say "Cheap Air Purifier"

With the housing removed, here is an exhaust port. The red arrow points to accumulated dustthe 242 has bypassed over the years.

This bypassing would disqualify most larger or more expensive air cleaners.

The blue arrow calls attention to the 4 ionizing pins.

Also visible is the squirrel cage fan. In the user reviews listed below, there are complaints of rattling noises from new units.

These soft plastic fans sit in the factory in big bins and are sometimes bent out of shape. Often a defective air purifier can be salvaged simply by bending the fan back to a circular shape.

Next photo shows the little hepa type air filter, removed from the case, showing pleated paper folds and soft plastic seals around the edges.

Here are a number of user comments collected from the web:

1. Like many others who have reviewed this air "purifier" & I use that term loosely.I should have done my homework before purchase....I don't see much difference in the air quality in the rooms these are placed in.I leave them running 24/7....I have dogs and these filters need replaced at least once a month.I'm tossing them out and springing for a decent one with a removable and reusable filter

Suggested fix: You can lower filter costs by replacing the too-small factory prefilter with a piece of 3/8 inch thick urethane foam, - $2 for a big bundle, air cleaning aisle at Wally-World.

The Holmes prefilters do not cover the entire frontal area and have big gaps around the edges.

If I didn't know they were real good guys, I'd suspect they intentionally left this gap to increase filter sales.

I remove the decorative plastic grill and jam the gaps with this prefilter material. A double thickness is taped around the edges to prevent bypassing.

I wash these every couple months, (with dogs & ect do it monthly), and never replace the hepa type filters.

I just don't subscribe to the replacement-filters-cost-more-than-initial-purchase plan.

More user comments;

2. I don't know what it is, but this air purifier just doesn't seem to work worth beans. I've got another, slightly older Holmes purifier (HAP-240) that for some reason seems to work a lot better, although significantly louder. With this one, the air goes through the filter and comes out the other end as designed, but you just don't get a sense of cleaner air in the room -- there's almost zero odor removal. The filter appears to fit tightly, so it just doesn't make much sense. Could be this model uses a different, less effective filter than the aforementioned model.Either way, I don't recommend this product at all -- despite the fact that it runs very quietly on its lower settings -- it just doesn't really do what it was designed to do. Very disappointed

3. It's affordable, does what it's supposed to (clean the air) but in the process gets itself filthy. It's almost impossible to clean, so unless you don't care about having a dirty appliance in the middle of your room all the time, I would suggest finding an easier to clean model. Also, the filter seems to get clogged up pretty fast.. maybe I just live in super dusty conditions or something, but plan on spending just as much on filters every 3-6 months as on the unit itself.

Suggested fix: This is common with a cheaper purifiers, probably caused by an incorrectly installed filter.

The filter must slide into the aperture at about a 45 degree angle and then rotate into position. The assembly line is kept moving too fast for an insertion error to be corrected before the next unit arrives at station. To America it goes.

Also, the piece of foam that is supposed to seal the bottom edge is often glued too far from it, allowing a loose fit.

Carefully, gently, very carefully and gently, remove the filter and inspect the alignment, foam strip location, and fragile latex seals on the filter.

A common problem concerns breakage of filter seals.

In the photo above, the arrows show a latex seal broken in two spots. I repaired it with scotch tape, vacuumed thefilter without ever letting the vac nozzle touch the paper, and carefully replaced the filter.

4. The first unit we bought was a Holmes HEPA Air purifier Model # HAP240 which we purchased from Wal-Mart for only $29.84. We took it home, put it in our son’s room and turned it on. BINGO! It was supper quiet, and dirt-cheap. Obviously, we thought we’d found the model we’d be getting for our room. A few days later, we bought another Holmes model# HAP240 and put it in our room. As soon as we turned it on, I knew it was going back to the store. There was an obvious grinding sound that could be heard coming from the fan motor. It sounded like a bad bearing or something. Anyhow, we returned it to Wal-Mart and brought home another one just like it. DANG! Same stupid sound.I guess with an inexpensive unit like that, you may get lucky and get a good one (like in our son’s room) or you get a bad one. It’s a gamble.

Suggested fix: Probably an out of round squirrel cage scraping the housing, see explanation and photo above.

Each of ten factors gets up to 10 points, 100 is perfect and very unlikely.

1. First do no harm; minimal out gassing, no ozone. Score: 10 of 10, ionizer should be off for ozone free operation.

2. Serious gas and odor removal is a requirement if health benefits are expected: Units with real carbon VOC capability rank higher. Score: 2 of 10, no chemical and very little "odor" removal.

3. Quality construction; case, gaskets, seals, and precision fitting eliminate bypassing and assure high efficiency at filtering sub-micron particles. Score: 3 of 10

4. The air cleaners design maximizes the lifespan of each filter stage by allowing independent filter replacement. Ideally this is combined with electronic air filter monitoring. Score: 10 of 10

5. Air cleaners have long filter life, low maintenance requirements, and reasonable operating costs. Score: 6 of 10, see user complaints about short filter life above.

6. Purifier produces low noise levels and meaningful air flow rates relative to noise.Score: 8 of 10,

7. Manufacturer has a track record, with many units in the field and a reputation for supporting what they sell.Warranty period and average service life are long.Score: 6 of 10, warranty not a meaningful concept here, disappointed users visit dumpster.

8. Purifier is a value in terms of price/performance ratio. Every price range should be included, “models above $1,200 are best”, while true, is not useful to most consumers.Score: 9 of 10, worth the money for the mechanically inclined, but only at the lowest price (I paid $19.99 each for both units years ago), and usingthe "zero maintenance cost" doubled prefilter strategy stated above.

9. No dirt; unit and manufacturer should be devoid of class-action suits, high returns, recalls, consumer complaints, and legitimate negative consumer reviews. Score: 4 of 10, not for the phillips screwdriver challenged.

10. Air purifiers are stylish, portable, comfortable, and convenientfor consumer use.Score: 8 of 10, no remote or electronic interface.

Air-Purifier-Power Numeric Rating;68, the essence of inexpensive: air purifier, cheap, cheap. Recommended only for those who are financially desperate and mechanically inclined. But please don't make the mistake of believing your health problem has been solved with a $40 purchase. I urge you to read this site, especially sections dealing with toxic chemicals and the need for systematic evaluation of home air quality.