Austin Air - Healthmate Jr Air Purifier

Pricey but Austin Air are amazing. I have a regular size and a Jr

You don't buy a purifier for removing hair, that's not the function. And your purifier is not for pet odors as its for any odor. 1. Be honest on the square footage. If you leave the door of the bedroom open you just turned the right sized purifier into the wrong sized purifier. Either the door is always closed and you need a 150 sq ft unit or you need one for the bedroom + the hallway + the other 2 bedrooms, so you really want a whole house 2000 sq ft model. Same logic applies to the living space as unless its closed off, you want one for the entire area. 2. If item 1 is frustrating, you can alleviate this by just buy two 1000 sq ft units for your 2000 sq ft house and spread them equidistant. Or one 2000 sq ft unit. 3. The big BIFL brand is Ausin Air as it has a 5 year warranty, 5 year filter and also comes with carbon filter for smells. Find the unit(s) to cover your area's size.

So 360 sq ft for living room and 180 sq ft for bedroom. Austin Air HealthMate for living room. Austin Air HealthMate Jr for bedroom.

An Austin Air and a Coway Airmega 400 are designed for somewhat different uses. Do you want to filter particulates (dander, pollen, PM2.5, smoke particles, etc.), gases/vapors (VOCs, odors, etc.), or both? If you have high levels of both particulates *and* gases/vapors, you really need *two* different types of air purifiers. While there's some particulates filtration, an **Austin Air**—alongside other sorbent media purifier brands like Airpura, AllerAir, or something from IQAir's GC/GCX series—runs at lower airflows and CADRs because of the amount of activated carbon or zeolite. You need to design for ["dwell time" or "residence time"](https://www.emcelfilters.co.uk/carbon-filters-frequently-asked-questions/) for better gaseous removal efficiencies. Sorbent media purifiers are also loud, expensive, and require relative humidity below 60% to present water vapor from being adsorbed. The Austin Air isn't the best choice for reducing particulates in a large room. An FYI up front: air purifiers aren't very good for reducing pet hair or visible dust. Both of these particulates are relatively large and heavy compared to something like PM2.5. Therefore unless either visible dust or hair is very close to the air purifier, both will fall and collect on surfaces. A [DIY Corsi-Rosenthal box](https://engineering.ucdavis.edu/news/science-action-how-build-corsi-rosenthal-box) could give you improved CADR for larger particulates, but some people don't like the homemade look, the noise, or the required floorspace needed. Vacuuming and dusting are still the best methods for controlling pet hair. # Some Calculations The rule of thumb for CADRs is that they should be *at minimum* 2/3 of your room's area. This assumes an 8 feet high ceiling. To figure out CADRs using volume, you need to do a little more arithmetic. Calculate your room's volume. 12 ft. width × 15 ft. length × 18 ft. ceiling = 3,240 cubic feet Then... 3,240 cubic feet ÷ 8 ft. = 405 sq. ft. Finally, 405 sq. ft. ÷ 1.5 = 270 CFM (CADR) **270 CFM is the absolute minimum needed for CADRs.** The **Coway Airmega 400** will be underpowered if you have to filter wildfire smoke. The [Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) recommend a smoke CADR equal to your room's area for wildfire smoke](https://ahamverifide.org/ahams-air-filtration-standards/). Again, room area in this instance assumes a 8 feet high ceiling. In your case, you would need a **smoke CADR of 405 CFM**. 3,240 cubic feet of room's volume ÷ 8 ft. = 405 sq. ft. 405 sq. ft. = 405 smoke CADR for wildfires # Other Considerations In this subreddit, we generally recommend oversizing an air purifier or using multiple air purifiers in a given space. This means you get more clean air faster. With multiple air purifiers, you can increase air circulation. Oversizing is also recommended where higher levels of pollution are persistent. Another issue is sound or noise levels. Despite the specifications, many air purifiers tend to be quite loud on high. Many people don't like the highest setting, but lower settings have lower cleaning performance. Most CADRs are given only on the highest setting. Therefore, oversizing a quiet purifier can make more sense. Or you can buy multiple and run them on the quieter, lower settings. If you do buy one larger or multiple purifiers, be sure to check the power consumption values. Some units are more efficient than others. If your budget allows and you have the floorspace for a dual intake unit, the **Coway Airmega ProX** has high CADRs and would be great for wildfire smoke events. Its sound rating is 23 - 46 dB(A); I don't know how closely sound performance matches the specs. While it's expensive, I've seen prices as low as $619.00 during special Coway sales events. Link: [https://cowaymega.com/products/airmega-prox](https://cowaymega.com/products/airmega-prox)

Austin Air air and other similar air cleaners that are made of metal, not plastic, is an indication that these companies are designed for the most discerning customer. Plastic and glues off-gas VOCs so they are counter productive to removing VOCs. The Austin Air and other serious air cleaners have multiple pounds of activated carbon in their filter, not several ounces that last for a few weeks if the VOC off-gas from the plastic filter housing didn't use up half of it while it sat on a boat from China. The Austin Air has a HEPA filter integrated into the filter cartridge that also includes the activated carbon. Austin Air, E.L. Foust and a few others are next level air cleaners. Did you ever wonder why that HEPA air cleaner didn't take out those fumes or odors? It's because it had a tiny pre-filter impregnated with a few ounces of activated carbon that got used up in a couple weeks.