Winix - A230 / A231

Check out HouseFresh, they do reviews and testing of air purifiers. https://housefresh.com/ Also make sure to check if your utility company does rebates on air purifiers. I was able to get a Winix A230 for $10 shipped because I got it through my utilities website.

I have a winix A231 LOVE IT !

I recently bought the winix a231 and t810 and my house smells so fresh and nice. I have 8 dogs. I am loving them definitely will get more for the rest of the house.

I just got the Winix A230. Mine is set on auto and has consistently programmed itself at low and I can't hear a thing.

I have a Winix A231 and it seems to do pretty well, I smoke weed in my house/living room regularly and you wouldn’t be able to tell, I leave it running 24/7, 2 years in and still going strong However you’ll want to consider multiple if you’re having constant dust problems, also make sure you regularly change the HVAC filter maybe also up the MERV value. Odor can be controlled mostly by charcoal filters. Make sure to change those regularly as well

The Winix A231 for the main part of the house and a Bionaire Desktop True HEPA Air Purifier for my bedroom. They are cheapest at Walmart. I thought I might need a third one because my house is shaped like a U but the two together work fine. I didn't even have them turned on over the summer but now that the rains will be kicking in and doors closed I have them on again. Both have washable/reuseable filters.

AirFanta 3Pro. It's not the most aesthetic machine but it has great specs. Rated for a room around 500 square feet. They have a version with a carbon filter. I've been testing it and it cleans the smell faster than my Winix. To be expected with a higher CADR. The Winix will help a lot if you're in a smaller room, like 275 sq ft max

I have the Winix A231 and BlueAir 511. I started with the Blue Air 511 which isn't terribly loud when it's on blast. I added the Winix A231 as an extra precaution. This one is the loudest of the two. I mask when my office door is closed and the air purifiers are running. My workplace has an HVAC system and from the looks of some of the vents, I know the filters for individual rooms haven't been replaced. There's clumps of dust visible in one of the air vents in my office. Considering there's a possibility air from another room is being mixed into the air coming into my office, I mask. I've been at my current job for almost 3 years. For the first 2 years I've been fine with the Blue Air 511. I caught strep once because I didn't wait long enough to remove my mask after two coughing kiddos left my office. That incident prompted me to start bringing my 4Lite to work so I could eat or drink soon after someone left my office. I've been around COVID and flu-positive people at work and didn't catch it thanks to my N95 In some cases my air purifier helped too- it just depended on where I interacted with the person. I was recently gifted an elastomeric mask. I doubt I'll wear it to work because I would be too self-conscious. Here's a helpful article on the difference between laminar flow and turbulent flow. [https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/the-truth-about-laminar-airflow-in-air-purifiers/](https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/the-truth-about-laminar-airflow-in-air-purifiers/) Unfortunately Smart Air is trying to sell their QT3 as a laminar flow air purifier, and while it may be laminar flow, it has an incredibly small stream of air. I do not recommend it. All their other devices are great.

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.

Avoid Tailulu, it's a garbage rebadged brand. Winix 5500-2 for the living room. Winix A230 for your bedroom. Keep in mind: Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADRs) apply to the highest airflow speed/setting only. Lower settings have lower CADRs. In all likelihood, disabling PlasmaWave (the ionizer) will decrease Pollen CADR. The Built Environment Research Group showed the Winix 5500-2 showed an 18% decrease in Pollen CADR during their testing: [https://www.built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-WINIX-5500-2-October-2021.pdf](https://www.built-envi.com/wp-content/uploads/IIT-CADR-Testing-WINIX-5500-2-October-2021.pdf) Another note: the Winix 5500-2 is being phased out. But... filters will be available in the years to come. That would be [Filter H – 116130](https://www.winixamerica.com/product/filter-h-116130/). The genuine Winix filter is cheaper on Amazon.

I wished I could vacuum twice a day!! I have the C545 and the A231. Definitely planning on getting another C545 later!

Winix A231. Been using mine for a few months in a few rooms and it’s incredible.