Winix - 9800

Consumer reports score winix the best. I’ve gotten every other big box brand and after having my first winix, I got two more. They are quiet but kick up if we’re cooking or our dogs lay nearby.

That's a large area and you will need at least two air purifiers unless you are willing to spend. Even two Winix 9800s or the C909 (cheaper Costo cousin) would need to be run on high for adequate filtration. Running air purifiers on their highest speed is noisy. Having said that, I think bipolar ionizers like the Plasmawave in most Winix air purifiers will help destroy mold, but they will only help with mold that the air purifier captures (or possibly in very close proximity). Hepa filters will trap mold, but I think mold can grow on some filters in humid environmnets (why I would avoid air purifiers with built in humidifiers). Your best bet with mold is to destroy it at the source. I would check out the Wiki pages provided by the mods here. They have buying guides that will help you select the right air purifier for your needs. You can find it in the "about" section.

Winix has helped me tremendously. They are cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, and they work extremely well.

I was given a Winix 9800 as a bonus for buying solar panels through Costco. It seems to work just fine, and I can view an air quality chart on my phone for my living room. I know it actually works, because if I fart near the air filter, I get an "air quality alert" message on my phone. I'm not kidding.

Thank you! This is really helpful. Like you suggested, I'll likely go with the Winix 9800. I think since it can work to rooms up to 2,420 sq. ft that should be more than enough coverage, and the filters will last me a lot longer. I'm constantly going through filters with the bionaire. I had it right next to the litter box, but it was far too small to keep up. Thank you again! You really know your stuff :)

Another vote for winix! We bought 4 at Costco a few years ago in anticipation of wildfire season (I live in the Pacific Northwest). They work so well and are very inexpensive to maintain, which is part of the reason I chose them. Some purifiers may be a decent price to purchase, but the replacement filters are almost as much! We have an air purifier in each bedroom and have no dust at all. We are a 2 cat household. If there is a forest fire, we put a purifier in the kitchen/living room area as well.

The c545 doesn’t have an ESP in it. The guide I followed has you add the ESP. Looks like there are quite a few supported models. Winix C610, AM90, HR1000, C909, T800, 5510, and 9800. https://github.com/iprak/winix https://github.com/mill1000/esphome-winix-c545?tab=readme-ov-file

the Winix 9800 works great.

Recently went through these forums regarding how to deal with cat litter smells (mainly poop smell) - main take away is that air purifiers aren't going to solve the cat litter problem on their own, you need something with a lot of charcoal to fight odor and realistically none of the purifiers have enough to do it properly. If it's just the litter smell you may be much better off then my issue though. (check: Oransi TrueCarbon 200c Air Purifier if you only want oder control). Best advice I have seen so far is to change cat litter. I'm experimenting with that now; switched from corn based cat litter to Arm & Hamer Clump & Seal - so far the cats love it and I haven't had any major stinks BUT it has only been two days. (in fact the cats have exclusively choose this litter box other the other with the corn based litter). After much research I did order an Air Purifier as well since I want better air quality and to reduce any cat allergens in the air for cat allergy visitors - got the Winix 9800 coming. Also looked hard at Conway. Let us know how you make out once you get a plan together.

Freestanding air purifiers can't overcome walls and doors. You need one for each room or area. **Therefore we need each room's length x width x height to calculate Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs).** As for your questions: 1. Winix is good, but not the best. I'd generally say Coway is the best in terms of quality for consumer-grade units. 2. PlasmaWave is Winix's name for their bipolar ion generator. It can be turned on or off. PlasmaWave (in practice) seems to enhance Pollen CADR. I believe Levoit's PlasmaPro is also generates positive and negative ions. 3. HEPA vs. "True" HEPA is mostly marketing. What *is* important is listing the appropriate standard, the filter class (where applicable, like H13 or H14), and the filtration efficiency % at a particular particle size or sizes. 4. DIY Corsi-Rosenthal boxes can work very well, which typically use MERV 13 furnace filters. MERV 13 is a lower filtration efficiency than HEPA, meaning it captures fewer particles of certain sizes on a single pass. But... since MERV 13 is less restrictive, it can achieve more passes through the filter media faster which can result in higher CADRs. (Assuming sufficient airflow.) If you wanted to build a C-R box, I would recommend doing so with PC fans. Drawback: most C-R box configurations do not specify fine mesh pre-filters. Without these, the MERV filter media can clog sooner with coarse particulates such as visible dust and hair. 5. "Level of filter": I assume you mean filtration efficiency of a mechanical filter. Mold, fungus, pollen, and viruses are bioaerosols. They can be captured with HEPA, EPA, or certain MERV filters (generally MERV 13 and higher). EPA and MERV 13 filters are a lower filtration efficiency than HEPA, so it will allow more particles through on a single pass. But EPA and MERV 13 can achieve more filter passes and higher CADRs than HEPA with proper airflow for less money. 6. As for secondhand purifiers, that's up to you. Sometimes you can find items that are barely used. But it's also possible purifiers were used in highly polluted environments (e.g., lots of mold or post-fire remediation) or could have bed bugs inside. 7. The blue box looks like an air scrubber. These are meant for more challenging and large environments, e.g. during renovation, fire remediation, or serious mold remediation. Air scrubbers tend to be quite loud.

Air purifiers aren't good at reducing *visible* dust, as it's large and heavy compared to "invisible" pollution like PM10, PM2.5, and PM0.1. See the [sticky post at the top of the subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/AirPurifiers/comments/1jxgjwf/sticky_purifiers_and_dust_reduction/) and entries about dust on our [FAQs wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/AirPurifiers/wiki/index/faqs/). However, if the purifier is very close to the litter box itself this can help pick up the larger bits of litter dust. Most of the brands sold by QVC aren't very good. I would definitely avoid Shark, as they're a low quality brand with misleading marketing. The only good brand is Winix. **I would opt for the** [**Winix 9800**](https://www.qvc.com/winix-9800-4-st-age-true-hepa-a-ir-purifier-wit-h-wifi-plas.product.H478504.html?sc=srch)**, as it has Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs) in the 300s CFM range.** CADRs are a measure of cleaning effectiveness. A few notes: * Winix is a mid-grade brand. We occasionally see reports of whining, whirring, or clicking noises after the 2 years mark, which are usually bad motor bearings. * The Winix 9800 will be fairly loud on the highest setting ("Turbo"). The Decibel X Android app claims the Winix C909 (basically the same purifier in terms of performance as the Winix 9800) is 60 dBA. * The 9800 uses PlasmaWave, a bipolar ionizer. While it is CARB certified for low ozone emissions, you may wish to turn this off since you have a cat. * The 9800 uses 95 W on the highest setting, so it uses more energy than other purifiers with similar CADRs. * CADRs apply to the highest airflow speed/setting *only*. Lower settings have lower CADRs, which means reduced cleaning performance. That being said, the 9800 is oversized for 150 sq. ft. (which is a good thing). * You can buy replacement filters for the 9800 at [The Home Depot for $27.99](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Winix-True-HEPA-4-Filter-Activated-Carbon-Replacement-Filter-A-115115/202034412).

No problem. 😎 Small FYI: the big coverage figures are marketing spin. The 2,420 sq. ft. coverage is at 1 Air Change per Hour (ACH) only. Generally you need a minimum of 4.8-5 ACH. Even then, Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs) are more important.

I’ve been really impressed by my Winix. I have a huge one that really seems to do the job. I change the filter once the year but vacuum it all out more often than that to keep it running really well.