Therapure 201M Air Purifier by Ionic Pro - Review

Long ago in a galaxy far away, there were no Therapures.

Sharper Image Ionic Breeze was America's most popular, and profitable, air purifier.

CR pointed out that, despite being loved by millions of owners, the Breeze was ineffectual at particulate collection and had unacceptable ozone emissions.

I speculated that the main ingredient in the Ionic Breeze success story was in fact dangerous ozone - the faint smell of "fresh air" that many believed in.

A plethora of knock-off ionic/electrostatic/ozonator tower air cleaners soon hit the market, undermining Sharper Image's premium price position and marketing strategy.

When Sharper Image management saw the sharks circling, they instructed their legal department to sue every one in sight.

Many of today's success stories, including the Ionic Pro/Therapure, are survivors of the Ionic Breeze legal wars.

One of the imitators sued was Ionic Pro, a Breeze-like knock-off which was marketed, with an equity stake, by The Sylmark Group.

Sylmark is a direct-response TV infomercial marketing specialist firm headquartered in Lake Balboa, California.

Sylmark's genius is in using market psychology in very slick infomercials to position products in the big box retail space.

At this, they are very, very good.

I'd love to see this outfit get behind an air purifier that actually works.

Unfortunately, the ozone issue didn't go away, and Ionic Pro's lifecycle began to wind down.

My review of the original Ionic Pro resulted in an "unacceptable" rating.

So the Ionic Pro beach head was used for the global launch of two new brands, PurePro and Therapure.

Therapures are stylish, inexpensive, and offer technology - UV photocatalytic oxidation - formerly offered only in higher priced models.

Big box department stores - Costco, Target, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart, just for starters - have picked up the Therapure lineup despite the air cleaner sales slowdown in 2009.

Therapure 201 sports HEPA-Type filters, a germicidal UV bulb, and a photocatalyst to oxidize chemicals and odors.

Early consumer response to the 201 by Thearpure was positive, seventy five user reviews at walmart.com are very upbeat.

However, marketing geniuses often take liberties with the facts.

I find significant misuse of terminology, notably "HEPA" and "CADR," in Therapure web marketing.

CADR?

Therapure 201 is advertised as having "tremendous power," which is approximately 120 - 145 cubic feet per minute (cfm) on the highest of three fan settings.

There is no AHAM-certified Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) for any Therapure air purifier.

A 145 cfm air cleaner is far from "tremendous," it's pretty average.

"Medium to Large" 182 sq. ft. roomsize is a stretch.

Air intake is in the back and exhaust in the front, like mentor Ionic Breeze.

Therapure HEPA-type Filter

Although the box is clearly labeled "HEPA TYPE" filter, misleading marketing, implying that this is a True-HEPA, is repeated throughout the company's web copy.

Therapure 201 has a HEPA-type filter claimed effective in removing up to 99% of airborne particles as small as two microns from air passing through it.

True HEPA filters are rated by their ability to capture .3 micron particulate.

For readers unfamiliar with the distinction between HEPA and HEPA-type filters, I suggest reading this page before you buy any air purifier: HEPA-type filter - The Great Pretender

A filter like this is acceptable only for seasonal pollen allergy, where the offending pollen is above two microns. For every other airborne particulate situation, Therapure is a power of ten off.

A decimal point has been moved but few infomercial viewers noticed.

Particularly offensive is: "the permanent filter removes small visible and non-visible particles down to 0.1 microns in size."

Hey, while the above statement is true, it is also true of a screen door.

What percentage of .1 micron particles are captured by the Therapure 201? I'm guessing 5% single pass efficiency to be generous.

Buyers looking for air cleaners to improve their health, rather than to reduce visible dust, want better fine particle capture than the Therapures provide.

Removing 2 micron particles would be impressive for a vacuum cleaner, not an air purifier.

Many smokers buy into this, saying Therapures "clear the air."

Tobacco smoke has particles to .01 micron which stay airborne after visible larger smoke is gone and air looks, and smells, cleaner.

One advantage a HEPA installation has over electronic air cleaners is infrequent maintenance.

But Therapure's permanent HEPA-Type filter has maintenance frequency similar to an electrostatic model.

Vacuuming with a soft brush attachment at least once a month is recommended in the user manual.

Much more frequent cleaning is required in homes with smoke, pets, or high particulate levels.

Like other "permanent" HEPA and HEPA-type filters, replacements are sometimes required.

A user review at walmart.com:

"After using for six months, there are cracks,
holes in my filter.
I contacted the manufacturer, they said it is under warranty and I need to send them $40.00 for a replacement."

Smokers may find their filter darkly stained. This is normal in smoking environments and does not mean the filter needs replacement.

The replacement filter – TPP201FB - is not sold in the big box retail outlets.

After sale service in general, and replacement filters specifically, are getting real scarce across the room air purifier industry in 2009.

Germicidal UV in the 201m

Therapure 201 uses a 5 watt ultraviolet (UV) light bulb, pretty low powered.

Airborne microorganisms must be exposed tor several seconds to strong UV to have their reproductive machinery (DNA) damaged.

Low power installations will reduce airborne germs, but not eliminate them.

Therapure's germicidal lamp is separately controlled by the UV/VOC button.

This a standard low pressure mercury-vapor lamp, emitting about 86% of it's energy at 254 nanometers (nm), the antimicrobial wavelength.

But a wider band of ultraviolet wavelengths, clustered around 385nm are need for photocatalyst excitation.

Running the germicidal chamber and photocatalyst on a single low powered bulb means the Therapure 201 is more promise than power.

Therapure's UV lamp life expectancy is up to 18 months of continuous illumination.

UV bulbs lose effectiveness without going out, so the bulb should be replaced at least every 12 months, at a cost of around $26.45 with tax/shipping.

Therapure® replacement lamp part number is TPP2010 (5w). The bulb is advertised only at the Therapure website.

Price gouging on bulb replacements is the industry norm, and availability could be an issue later.

A user review at www.walmart.com mentions availability issues:

"My problem arose when the UV lamp quit working.
I first called to order the lamp direct from the company.
They kept saying it was on backorder.
Several months later I called again and was given an
answer that it had been shipped. Supposedly my customer
number was incorrect and it was sent to another address.
When I e-mailed the company direct with a complaint,
I got no response. I was also disconnected twice while
being on hold for extended periods of time. It was also
very hard to understand anyone in customer service.
The companies customer service is at the bottom...."

Therapure's UV lamp must be allowed to cool for 15 minutes before removal and handled with extreme care.

Fluorescent UVC lamps produce radiation by running electricity through low-pressure mercury gas.

Breakage could release toxic mercury.

Better air purifiers use safer quartz bulbs to emit UVC radiation.

Never look directly at the UV lamp while it is lit.

Photocatalyst Grid

Therapures have photocatalytic oxidation grids, advertised thus: "removes VOC's such as toxic paint, carpet fumes and household chemicals."

I think this low powered 5-Watt photocat "partially removes" toxic paint, fumes, and chemicals.

WalMart users do give the 201 by Ionic Pro good marks for clearing common household odors:

"...when we vacuum the funky smell that emits from the sweeper doesn't linger"
"nor does the smell from diaper changes"
"gets stinky smells out of the air!
but as far as if it's helping with my allergies I cant really tell a difference"
"If you use air freshener, it will suck up that fragrance too"
"works wonders neutralizing my dog's smell"
"There's just no smell (doggie, chemical, perfume...) in the house"
"no trace of cat in the air"
"cigarette smell out of the air"
"removes litter box smell"
"We painted the living room and after an hour or so of
running the purifier we did not smell the fumes..."

It looks like this low priced Therapure does reduce odors without expensive activated carbon filters.

Very few $100 air cleaners can do much about odors.

But is the weak photocat the sole cause?

Ozone?

After the Consumer Reports "Ionic Air Purifier" hatchet job, efforts were made to bring ozone emissions down below an arbitrary limit of .05 parts per million (ppm).

This required clumsy tack-on catalyst grids on electronic air cleaners, raising costs just as margins were disappearing.

Ionoc Pro "Turbo" was the catalyst version of the Ionic Pro.

Clever marketers recognized that UV-generated photolytic ozone, with emissions ranging from .02-.04 ppm, could help fill this market gap.

Most people can smell ozone at .01 ppm, but to a majority it smells like "fresh air."

It ain't fresh air.

Until Therapure air purifiers are lab tested and certified ozone-free, I will continue to suspect photolithic ozone is at work in the Therapures.

201 Utility

Therapure 201 tower is just under 29 inches tall, with an 11 by 8 footprint. It weighs slightly more than 12 pounds.

A larger tower, it is still easily portable with a top handle, and fits in handsomely almost anywhere.

Therapures have no automatic functions - no sensor driven auto mode.

Therapure 201 uses 66 watts on high speed, not real frugal.

201 is EPA energy star qualified, but just barely scores the minimum 2.0 Dust CADR per Watt required.

There are no noise specs for the Therapure tower, but users report it runs almost silently on low, is loud on the medium and louder on the high settings.

Corporate

Therapure 201 is warranted for one year from the original purchase date, excluding the UV lamp.

Due to the equity stake method of financing the infomercial marketing, there are several corporate shells involved with Therapure air purifiers.

Therapure
P.O. Box 4135
Hollywood, CA 90028

www.therapureair.com
customer service center toll-free at 800-554-6168
email; customerservice@therapureair.com

Therapure, Ionic Pro, and Pure Pro are under the Envion name.

Envion, LLC
7821 Orion ave, Suite 200
Lake Balboa, California 91406

Envion is closely affiliated with Ideal Products, LLC, at the same address.

Ideal Products is itself affiliated with The Sylmark Group, also at the same location.

http://www.sylmark.com

Conclusions

Recommended for seasonal pollen allergy only, the Therapure 201m is a significant improvement over the original Ionic Pro.

Since most pollens are large particles, the Therapure tower will capture a large percentage, providing some relief during pollen allergy seasons.

Another possible application is as a "closet" air cleaner. Smelly closets full of dry cleaning vapors, cat litter boxes in breezeways, and other small areas where humans/pets do not linger can benefit from Therapures' photocat.

Wal-Mart has a very liberal return policy, I'd buy Therapure 201 there if you want an inexpensive experiment.

But keep looking if you have health problems other than seasonal pollen and Therapure 201 would be your primary air purifier.

If you absolutely must buy a big box department store air cleaner, I suggest a look at the Idylis line made by Coway of Korea.

Idylis has TRUE HEPA filters, AHAM certified CADRs, is extremely quiet, and is sold at Lowe's Home Improvement, with whom I have no commercial relationship.

Idylis Air Purifiers at Lowes

Therapure 201 Review - Rating

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: 7 of 10, suspected partial oxidation byproducts and ozone emissions until proven otherwise.

2. Serious gas and odor removal is a requirement if health benefits are expected: Units with real carbon VOC capability rank higher.

Score: 8 of 10, users report good odor removal.

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

Score: 5 of 10, HEPA-type filter at 2 microns lets submicron health threats right through.

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

Score: 9 of 10, design objective achieved at low price.

5. Unit has long filter life, low maintenance requirements, and reasonable operating costs.

Score: 9 of 10, low maintenance costs.

6. Purifier produces low noise levels and meaningful air flow rates relative to noise.

Score: 5 of 10, at least Ionic Pro was quiet.

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, slick marketing at its finest, questionable customer service.

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: 7 of 10, low priced but questionable product.

9. No dirt; unit and manufacturer should be devoid of class-action suits, high returns, recalls, consumer complaints, and legitimate negative consumer reviews.

Score: 8 of 10,

10. Unit is stylish, portable, comfortable, and convenientfor consumer use.

Score: 8 of 10, Therapure lacks remote and electronic interface.

Ionic Pro Therapure 201m

Air-Purifier-Power Numeric Rating - 72

Recommended for closet apps and light seasonal pollen allergy only.

An improvement over the previous generation "ionic" towers.