do you have a favorite air purifier?

[mellowtigger]

As long as I'm continuing to enter the office, I figured I should get some reassuring HEPA-filtered air to bring with me.  Today, I ordered this small portable unit because it was on sale since I last looked at it.

I need a new one for home use too, because my 25-year-old? filter that I have now is very very loud and doesn't work as well as in years past.  (Yes, I've changed the filter.)  So does anyone have favorites that they recommend?  I guess I'm looking for these qualities:

• HEPA (not "HEPA-like")
• a reusable pre-filter would be nice
• quiet
• good for up to 200 square feet (60 square meters)
• no ionic mumbo jumbo
• no ultraviolet stuff needed

What do you recommend?

Comments

[mellowtigger]

And just to drop a note to myself somewhere convenient, this water distiller has been recommended before. I need pure water for when I flush out my sinuses because allergies clog up everything. It'd be nice to no longer have to boil water in a pot then wait for it to cool.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/VEVOR-16-Cup-Countertop-Water-Distiller-750W-Distilling-Pure-Water-Machine-with-Plastic-Container-White-BST-007ZLSJ000001V1/319379638#overlay

[armiphlage]

I was interested in getting a water distiller, but I couldn't make the numbers work for my usage.

The still you linked to uses 750 W to make 1.3 litres per hour. Electricity in my area is 8.5 cents per kWh during offpeak hours (7 PM to 7 AM), so operating costs are about about 5 cents per litre. Distilled water is available at Superstore for a loonie for four litres. So, the still would save 20 cents per litre. If the still costs $91, and the time value of money is currently equivalent to 10% annual interest, and the still lasts 10 years, I'd have to use three litres of distilled water per day for it to be worthwhile. My CPAP machine uses perhaps two litres per week.

[mellowtigger]

I agree it's wasteful in the same way overly specialized kitchen tools are. The person who suggested it mentioned that distilled water was becoming hard to find locally for some people, and I suppose it's a good health tool in that sense. And I still like the idea of not shipping water around on trucks/cars, to say nothing of plastic jug manufacturing. If someone has plumbing, then it makes sense to use it more fully. I'm not sure how to quantify that comparison. At least electricity can eventually be provided sustainably, but I'm not sure about the rest of it.

[armiphlage]

Per Consumer Reports:

Alen BreatheSmart 75i Pure ($750) has a score of 91 (their highest), rated 3/5 for noise.
Blueair Blue Pure 211+ ($300) is their Best Buy, with a score of 87, rated 2/5 for noise.

[mellowtigger]

Thanks. I see that Alen has a smaller unit with equivalent sound ratings, less power consumption, and cheaper filters. It's still overly powerful for my small place, but the simplicity of their design is a good sign. BlueAir has a different suggestion for small spaces, with even lower sound levels than the Alen. It's still a while until mold/pollen season here (to say nothing of wildfire smoke from now on), so I have some time to explore.