Austin Air - HealthMate Junior

We have two health mate, a junior and I just bought a plus. Bedroom machine was new to me when I looked at the website. Btw I’ve brought the machines and filters through a reseller and it’s much cheaper - https://www.airpurifiersandcleaners.com I priced it in a few of them and this was least expensive.

I've had Austin Air Healthmate Junior for over 6 years and have changed the filter I think two times. It has preserved air quality through bad fires and continues to be at the top of many lists for good quality purifiers. It is on the cheaper end for the quality you are getting. I also appreciate that it is made of metal and not plastic. It doesn't have bells, whistles, and smart features, so there are fewer things to break down. Highly recommend for a no frills, super quality air purifier.

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.

So here's the thing - Austin sells a purifier with 15lbs. of carbon. They estimate that will last 5 years of "moderate use". This means that the amount of carbon needed to remove VOC/odor from the air part-time is 3lbs. per year by Austin's estimation. Many people think that isn't enough. Airpura has 26lbs. and Allerair also has more than 20. IQAir has 5-6lbs. and expects that to last 2 years - again of moderate use not continuous. So if you have a moderate smell and run the purifier a couple hours a day... you might get the 5 years from an Austin. But without 15lbs. of carbon, you don't get the airflow-over-volume that you would need, that's the other problem. Adsorption requires slow air flow over a large volume of carbon, the opposite of what budget air purifiers provide.

I ended up getting an expensive Austin air purifier appropriate for medical use because all the cheaper brands i looked at intentionally or accidentally produce ozone, which is not healthy to breathe.

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.