|
In 2009, the fourth year of publishing Air-purifier-power.com, the IQAir HealthPro continues as my top ranked product. Many inferior products reviewed here are referred to as "air cleaners." But the Health-Pro Plus will always be called an "air purifier." That IQ Air builds the finest quality air purifiers is not in question. But many consumers note the large price tag and wonder if IQAirs are right for them. The short answer is that two groups of buyers should consider the IQAir HealthPro Plus HEPA;
I fall squarely in group one, but still dislike low quality goods, especially when falsely marketed to the unwary.
Let's take a closer look at IQAir, the premium-class leader.
IQAir's list of accolades, awards, and number one product reviews is repeated at every vendor's website. Here is a brief summary.
Consumer's Digest chose the IQAir cleaner as a best buy in December 2004. Newsweek Magazine ran a HealthPro Plus in a moldy basement, noting that a musty smell disappeared.
Air Purifiers America and Allergy Buyers Club, web vendors who test the products they sell, rate the Health Pro the best. Discovery Health TV series measured HealthPro Plus exhaust stream particulate with a laser particle scanner, getting a zero particle reading just like everybody else.
ABC TV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition installs IQAirs in the homes they redo. Apartmenttherapy.com, a popular review site, granted the HealthPro a Best Product Award, after testing with a particle scanner.
IQAir air purifiers were selected by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority during the SARS outbreak. Test Magazine, a prominent German consumer journal, also rates HealthPro highest. IQAir is chosen by the American Lung Association as their educational partner.
Consumer Reports Magazine is the exception - they consistently rank air purifiers differently than every expert. The 2007 Consumer Reports (CR) air cleaner rankings, titled "Filtering the Claims," did little to mollify critics of CR's testing methods and evaluation criteria. Consumer Reports ranked the IQAir HealthPro Plus 20th, about the same as in 2005, again relying entirely on a heavily criticized 20 minute large diameter particle filtering test. CR's test is a virtual copy of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) CADR tests, also criticized here as inadequate and self-serving. These tests are designed to promote leaky sieves with strong cheap fans - the kind AHAM sells in big-box retail outlets. There is zero chemical and odor testing, no health-critical fine particle filtering test. Let's take a look at some of the air cleaners CR ranked above IQs. First, they chose the strong fan in the AP45030S from Whirlpool. While this particle-only machine was an adequate performer, try finding it today. Here today, gone tomorrow. Second, CR chose another Whirlpool, the AP510, rebranded as the Sears Kenmore Progressive 83202. AP510 is a pretty good particle remover, but has little chemical, gas, and odor filtration. Any machine which receives CR's blessing will experience a surge in market popularity. But Sears.com no longer lists the 83202. In fact, just try finding any Whirlpool AP510 air purifier, a $320 retail value, for under $1,500 today. Whaaat? Then CR ranked the NON-HEPA (filters .5-micron particles and above), Styrofoam-bodied, made-in-China, Hunter Permalife 30547 third overall. Yes, it did have a strong fan, but the "permanent" Permalife filters developed significant problems within 18 months, mainly mold growth. Intrigued by the permanent filter concept, I bought one of the last Hunter 30547's at Lowes. When I got it home, the filter was missing - Lowes employees had pirated it to mollify an irate customer. Lowes could not find another Hunter Permalife filter anywhere in Texas. Hunter simply discontinued the 30547 when replacement demand for the "permanent" filter depleted inventories. User reviews frequently mention Hunter Fan's abject failure to support this product. Hunter 30547 was refitted with a HEPA filter and now sells as Hunter 30525. Well done, Consumer Reports, what part of "only filters particles half a micron and above" didn't you notice?
Then there was 3M's inexpensive, Filterete electret filtered, also sub-HEPA performing FAP03-RS. This machine is furnace filter based - designed to collect medium sized particulate in the large 1-micron size range. It is an "air cleaner," not an "Air Purifier." Of 65 air purifiers reviewed in detail here, I rank the 3M Filtrete, which requires new filters every 90 days or less, 37th - merely acceptable. I recommend it solely for consumers with mild seasonal pollen allergies or large particle road dust intrusion. Without supporting documentation, CR saw fit to summarily anoint it with a 5th place ranking. For my 1,700 word complete review, see 3m Filtrete FAP03 Review Another market failure, the FAP03 went for as little as $29 at BigLots before it was over.
Consumer Reports continues to rank AHAM's cheap, short life expectancy, big box retailer models and questionable multi-level marketing (Amway's Atmosphere) above allergy-store-quality premium class gear.
Lookin' like 'ol Brer Fox done took over da hen house. Well, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but everybody else should completely disregard Consumer Reports on air purifiers.
CR's controversial ranking and testing procedures are the subject of a more detailed article Consumer Reports Air Cleaner Controversy where consumers are cautioned about placing so much trust in one source.
IQ Air HealthPros feature extensive electronics. The HealthPro's four key touch pad and liquid crystal display (LCD) shows users programmable timer status, filter life and status, and fan speed.
IQAir's LED indicators change from green to orange to red as filter elements age. A handy and trim remote allows stepping through the IQAir's six speeds. Missing from the HealthPro series are dust and odor sensors and automated fan controls. Many air purifier builders are cutting back on these, which I consider the new frontier. Sadly, IQ Air is following this trend to maintain price targets.
IQAirs are tough, built of 3 mm (0.125 inch) impact resistant ABS plastic. The housing is ultraviolet-stabilized to eliminate offgasing, and is heavy metal and halogen-free.
A set of air tight flanges eliminate bypassing - no dirty air leaks past the IQAir filter element as is so common in lesser air purifiers.
IQAirs allow independently changing the filters - no need to buy a whole set when only one is full. While getting the jaws open the first couple times is a learning experience, it becomes easy and requires no tools.
Healthpros inhale dirty air at the bottom, where much of the pollutants reside, and exhaust particle-free air gently all around the top. A balanced backwards curved centrifugal fan rolls on maintenance-free steel ball bearings. Fan motors are also individually balanced. When the Plus is running on high, there is considerable noise. But nearly all the noise is rushing air - no vibration, knocking, or transmitting sound to other rooms.
Air delivery with fresh filters is approximately; Speed 1 - 40 cfm,
The actual speed of every IQAir is measured at the factory and certified by the quality control engineer who tested it. Generally the certified numbers are a bit lower, and will decline as filters accumulate resistance with particle loading.
The IQAir HealthPro air purifiers have the most efficient prefilter on any air cleaner. Many cheaper air purifiers, considered as a whole, have less filtering ability than the IQAir running only the prefilter.
The Health Pro prefilter collects over 90% of the particulate load by weight, and is the first to need replacement. This prefilter needs a prefilter of its own!
IQAir offers an option, the IQAir PF40 Coarse Dust Pre-Filtration Kit, for $139.00. In homes with elevated levels of coarse dust, the kit mounts under the Health-Pro. A washable half-inch filter pad is sandwiched between two rigid retainers which attach to the frame. Replacement pads average about 10 bucks a piece, and extend the life of the $60 prefilter.
The "Plus" in the name IQAir HealthPro Plus refers to the Plus's chemical and odor filtering capability. Standard HealthPros and HealthPro Compact do not carry the IQAir V5-Cell Gas & Odor cartridge. A Standard HealthPro can always be upgraded with a V5 cell at any time. The V-5 has 5 pounds of activated carbon and alumina based potassium permanganate mix.
Potassium Permanganate is an oxidizer, but unlike many oxidizing air purifiers, the Plus' oxidation is passive - it occurs within the IQAir unit, not in users breathing space. User reviews note a slight chemical smell being emitted from the V5-cell filter during initial break-in. Some severe MCS victims may find a heavier carbon filter, such as the IQAir Multigas series, a better fit. Those installing the IQAir V5 odor cell in smoking, painting, pesticide applications, or other heavy chemical load environments should expect very frequent filter replacements to retain effectiveness.
The IQAir Cleanroom-Grade Certified H12/13 HEPA Filter ("HyperHEPA"), with 40 square feet of micro-glass fiber filter media, is guaranteed at least 99.97% efficient at 0.3 microns, the HEPA standard.
Projected filter life is; 6 to 18 months for the prefilter - my first one lasted over 2 years, and was replaced when the lamp went orange, not red.
Main HEPAs are expected to last 2 to 4 years depending on particle load - my first IQAir, purchased in 2005, still runs the original HEPA media. V5 Gas and Odor cells are projected to last 1 to 2 years. Although my MCS is mostly gone, I keep zero chemicals in my home as I urge readers to do. My 2005 Health Pro Plus ran in a contaminated Houston apartment for over 2 years. The original V5 odor cell began to emit subtle offgassing, just enough to make sensitive eyes water - nothing I could smell - so I removed it. Note that I also have a 2008 IQAir HealthPro Plus model, with V5 cell, running. Filter replacement costs are consistent with the IQAir's premium price, but have held steady as air purifier prices have risen. Using 9 months as prefilter life HEPA at 3 years, and a year and a half for the V5 cell, a typical user could expect $209 annually in filter costs.
Let's see what has been measured in tests. Reviewboard Magazine awarded the HealthPro Plus from IQAir its 2004 Editor’s Choice Award for Best Air Filtration System. In 2005 the editors had this to say:
“We have had a first here at Reviewboard. In the 8 years that we have been doing this no product in any category has ever won an Editor’s Choice Award two years in a row.” Reviewboard took a Health Pro Plus and a top of the line laser particle counter to a dusty farm house where a barn had been converted into a bedroom. They took a reading and found 1.8 MILLION airborne particles per cubic foot.
The IQAir HEPA Air purifier reduced the reading from 1.4 million to 150,000 in 3.5 hours. After leaving the air cleaner running overnight, the next day the reading was 67,000. A Blueair 601 or Airgle 750 might have been a valid competitor over the 24 hour particle cleaning test. But neither of those powerful air purification machines offers the degree of critical toxic VOC gas removal that the Health Pro Plus does. From aircaresystems.com: “Using our Met One Laser Particle Counter, the IQ Air tested at zero particle exhaust at .3 micron. That's 100% efficiency!” Reviewboard's current (March 2009) review gives the HealthPro Plus HEPA five of five stars. Air-purifiers-america.com tests the products it sells, and ranked IQAirs at the top, citing "99% of particles removed."
As we have seen, air cleaner testing is a controversial process. Consumer Reports and AHAM, the leading organizations involved, appear to be compromised. Others testing air purifiers are vendors, and may have reason to puff.
Testing with a laser particle counter (very expensive - loaned by IQAir for 30 days), we can attempt to replicate actual household conditions in extended tests.
And hey, I gotta barn too. Well, it's actually the 16 by 22, (350 square foot) living room in my country cabin. It has a 16 foot cathedral ceiling for summer chimney-effect cooling, with plenty of convection currents to lift dust up there. The open floor plan loft cabin has interconnecting kitchen and office areas totaling another 350 square feet.
The handy particle scanner, visible in the photograph on a small glass end table to the right of the IQAir, measures particulate equal to or larger than .3 micron. Readings are in particles per cubic foot.
After leaving all purifiers off for 2 weeks, measurements in different areas of the open cabin yield a baseline average reading of about 200,000 p/cu ft - the device gives high and low range readings which fluctuate and are therefore averaged. It makes a considerable difference where the reading is taken, measurements right on the floor ran in the low 400,000 area. On a windy day, readings are much higher in my self-built drafty humble abode. Now let's have a dust-up. I jump on the pretty flowered dust-magnet couch my wife can't part with. I bang a few cushions together, and run the big-box-department-store HEPA-less vacuum across the throw rug. I shake the 31-year old family heirloom stuffed toy bunny rabbit - he sheds dust. Now we got a barn: short term readings rise to 460,000 p/cu ft., but subside to the baseline 200k in a few minutes. Next we center the HealthPro Plus in the room and turn it on full power. Within 15 minutes, to my surprise, particulate readings fall to well under 50k. After one hour, it's 27K. Here are the results of the initial 24 hour full power (level 6) test;
After 24 hours, power was reduced to level 3, as most users would do. The surprise came when particle counts fell in other parts of the house, the adjoining kitchen and office.
Before returning the borrowed particle counter I decided to perform another experiment. By now everybody has seen the photos of IQAir air purifiers with the particle counter measuring zero right at the exhaust outlet. I did the same on the other air cleaners sitting around my home. My 3-year old IQAir HealthPro, with its original HEPA still in use, amazed me with continuing zero emissions. But some cheaper equipment didn't measure up to my expectations. My Honeywell 50250 emitted 25,000 p/cu ft. A brand new Hunter 30748, a smaller version of the Permalife 30547 ranked number 3 at Consumer Reports, spewed 120,000 particles per cubic foot! And my cheap Holmes HAP-242 desktop, a notorious particle bypasser, blasted over 200,000 particles when background levels were 250,000. This is what is meant by "getting what you paid for."
Noise tests are pretty subjective, sound is greatly attenuated just a few inches from the emitting device. So many builders quote noise specs measured some distance away, while others just assert "whisper quiet" without evidence.
Measurements with a handy-dandy Radio Shack sound level meter, held 6 inches from the IQAir's exhaust, confirm these numbers. Beginning at the meter's threshold of about 50 dB(A), speed 3 gives me 56 dB(A), 4 reads 61, 5 does 66, and speed 6 72 dB(A). While 72dB(A) on high is pretty loud, the noise is a whooshing sound, there is no vibration. Speeds to 3 are quiet enough for the bedroom.
Weighing 35 lbs and measuring a boxy 28" high by 15" wide and 16" deep, IQAir's "Plus" takes up some space. It is not easy to move up stairs, but I routinely drag mine from room to room.
Energy use on high is a considerable 215 Watts. 85 Watts on low is higher than many BLDC motor designs now coming from Japan.
The IQAir HealthPro Plus is certified by the IAACM (International Association of Air Cleaner Manufacturers) to be 100% ozone-free.
IQAir Purifier is a global corporation with a 45 year air purifying history in hospitals and industrial clean-rooms, reaching down from above to market consumer level pure air products. Iq Air Purifier is a sharp contrast to many producers of room air purifiers who may be reaching up from a manufacturing base of nonpurifier consumer goods. Lacking filtration engineering experience, customer support depth, and marketing connections, they may also lack staying power in a competitive air purifier market. I strongly identify with the IQ Air company holding the high ground in this moral minefield (internet marketing of health devices). With the uninformed lining up like sheep to pay up to $700 for useless and dangerous frauds, their product is an obvious choice. IQ Air products are sold and serviced through a network of authorized purifier dealers at retail locations nationwide. I am still hunting for my first dirt on IQAir; no real complaints, no lawsuits, almost no returns, nothing.
Made in Switzerland, IQAirs are individually tested and certified, and covered by a 5-year warranty. They last much longer than typical department store air cleaners.
After 3 years continuous operation I have few complaints. But no product is perfect. Here is what I have found not to like. 1. The machine is very large, boxy, decor-unfriendly, and difficult to move. 2. Filters are quite expensive. 3. There are no air quality sensors, this is a manually controlled air cleaner. 4. High speed operation is not quiet, I use lower speeds at night. 5. IQAir upgraded the mounting gear for the plastic wheels, but I still leave mine off.
First, IQAir Plus is a premium quality HEPA air cleaner, but it is not superman. If HealthPro were CADR certified, I estimate it would do about 235, about midway in the pack.
Many people misunderstand this.
They expect the large price and large size to equate to the power to sweep through their entire 2000 sq ft house faster than a bottle of "Mr. Clean." IQAirs have airflow rates comparable to many much cheaper machines, many of which score in the low 200 CADR area. Installing any 234 cubic foot per minute air cleaner in 2000 square feet of tobacco residue, pet fur, dander and droppings, formaldehyde vapors, and fresh shellac will lead to disappointment. I recommend the Plus HealthPros for a 700 square feet maximum room size. The reason to buy IQ Air is to get truly clean air, which means accepting responsibility for removing pollutant sources first!
Then there is the expectation of immediate health benefits. Many allergy victims will notice immediate benefits, often within hours. But most health conditions are caused by complex lifestyle factors of which indoor air quality is only one.
IQAirs excel at fine particle removal - by fine I mean .1 micron and below. The particulate tested by AHAM and presumably Consumer Reports is .9 microns, 9 times as large. Many users main problem is pollen allergy, provoked by relatively large sized grains in the 0.35-250 micron range.
Mold spores are also relatively large (1 to 75 microns). Mold allergy and seasonal pollen problems do not warrant the higher price of IQ Airs. Particles this big will collect in an IQAir's prefilter. A much cheaper machine could also do this job. But pet dander and saliva proteins can be very small, to .1 micron, dust mite droppings can be sub-micron sized, as can suspended house dust. Increasingly, super fine particles are being implicated as a main threat to health. Users with mild chemical sensitivity could benefit from IQAir Plus' chemical filtering.
A dozen authorized internet dealers lead a pack of hundreds. You can also buy direct from the company. See link below. Many internet orders are drop-shipped from the factory. Support for this product is both deep and broad. IQAir is not going away, and uses a standard filtering architecture throughout the product line. You will not be searching for filters or parts in the internet closeout bin. HealthPro Plus Air Purifier is IQ Air’s best-seller. Despite a very soft air cleaner market in 2009, there is not much price cutting on these premium machines, but watch for hidden shipping charges. Standard pricing; IQAir HealthPro Plus with V-5 Gas and Odor Filter: $899 Replacement Pre-Filter: $59.00 Replacement V-5 Gas & Odor Filter: $89.00 Replacement HEPA filter: $189.00 I have seen internet specials with limited supply to $849.99, but these may be combined with shipping charges which negate the "savings."
This is the top air purification product reviewed here. Contenders are coming, mostly from Asia, which could eventually rate as high as HealthPro series from IQAir. Read my reviews; I am very picky and critical of most products, companies, and institutions in this business. Air-Purifier-Power Numeric Rating; HealthPro Plus Still #1 at "94", highest ever, see LINK below to rating for details.
There are seven more pages on IQAir;
Below is a direct link to the company: Air Purifiers &
Air Cleaners
End IQ Air Purifier - IQAir HealthPro Plus HEPA Review, try Sitemap for navigation
|
The "IQ" company provides noise spec quotes;
