The Best Blueair Purifier Reviews
Blue Air purifier was started back in 1996 in Sweden. Over the years, this company has been tirelessly improving their products that they are now rated among the best by AHAM (Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers).
Indeed, AHAM gives the highest score for Clean Air Delivery Rate/CADR (AHAM’s standard benchmark) to this air purifier. This means that the Blue Air air cleaner is capable of both sucking up dirty air and subsequently releasing the clean air quickly into the room.
The other main strengths of a Blue Air purifier are:
- Its effectiveness in removing airborne particle. This air cleaner goes beyond the HEPA standard (0.3 micron) and can actually remove airborne particles sized as small as 0.1 micron with 99.97% efficiency.
- It’s the queietest around and is very suitable for bedroom use. At 35 decibel for the lowest setting, this air purifier is almost silent. Probably its noise can be comparable to the quietness of rural area. If you can sleep in a library, you will definitely be able to sleep with this air purifier on, since library is actually noisier than this machine. In fact, you can set it up to just under the maximum setting and still find it tolerable in the bedroom.
- It’s compact and has a sleek design. If there were a beauty contest in the air purifier world, the Blueair purifier will no doubt be the winner.
- Its filter is the easiest to replace, even for a DIY-challenged person. No tools required.
- It has dust sensor on Blueair digital version, so the machine can judge the level of indoor pollution and adjust the setting accordingly.
- It’s energy saver-certified. It only consumes a maximum of 120 watt to operate, which makes it comparable to the energy consumed by a light bulb. The eco-friendly version only consumes 10 watt at the highest setting.
- It’s completely safe. Neither ozone nor charged air particles is produced by this purifier and escape back to the room, despite of its use of electrostatic technology in purifying air. Also, there is no offgasing of material and paint used in the air purifier.
- Good air throughput. Different models of Blue Air purifier have different cubic feet per minute air flow. However, across the board, when the machine is used according to the room size recommendation (assuming 8 feet ceiling height), then you can expect between 6 to 7 air changes per hour for the highest setting. This is clearly above the standard set by air purification experts, who recommend at least 2 air changes per hour.
The Technology Behind Blueair Air Purifiers.
As mentioned before, Blueair purifiers are recognized to be the quietest air purifier around, while at the same time manage to have a high clean air delivery rate and a 99.97% efficiency in removing particles up to 0.1 micron. Needless to say that these achievements are difficult to get.
First, in order to have a good efficiency in removing small particles, usually an air purifier will use a HEPA filter. However, the drawback of having a HEPA filter is that the fan has to work very hard to pass the dirty air through the filter, assuming of course, that there is no internal leakage which can make the dirty air bypass the filter instead of passing through it. This means that a) the air purifier will not be quiet (the fan has to work at high speed, remember ?), and b) the airflow will be reduced.
None of this happens to Blue Air purifiers.
So how does this company achieve a stellar performance of their purifiers ?
There is no doubt that Blueair purifiers’ excellent performance is attributed to its use of two air filtration technologies: electrostatic technology and a HEPASilent filter (Blueair’s exclusively-designed HEPA-like filters) as well as its airflow system, SurroundAir.
Thus, upon entering the purifier, air is negatively-charged and then passed through its HEPASilent filter. The charging process is important since charged air particles can easily cling to the filter without having the fan to work hard to make it happens.
This property also allows Blueair to design their filter, known as HEPAsilent filter, with more open pores to allow much better air flow compared to conventional HEPA filters, while still maintaining HEPA efficiency.
Finally, to ensure the release of only clean air into the room, Blueair utilizes small amount of carbon to further capture some gases and negatively-charged particles not stopped by its HEPAsilent filter.
In short, the Blue Air purifier, because of its technology design, manages to be an air purifier where the air flows easier (hence the high clean air delivery rate) and the fan works less hard, resulting in a superior unit which has a high CADR (clean air delivery rate) and is quiet while at the same time has a superior efficiency in purifying air.
Who Needs Blue Air Purifiers ?
Blueair purifiers captures air particles up to 0.1 micron in size, which means they capture:
- pollen.
- some dust.
- mold spores.
- dust mite
- pet dander
Therefore, allergy sufferers can expect the effectiveness of Blueair purifiers to alleviate their symptoms. However, if you need gas and odor control, or if you have asthma and are sensitive to certain gas or smoke, you need to get the purifier along with SmokeStop filter set (see below).
Potential Drawbacks
- There is no cheap prefilter available. This means that its quite expensive HEPAsilent filter will get dirty and need replacement in a matter of six months which is a bit short compared to other HEPA air purifier’s filters. However, if you’re up to it, the lifespan of HEPA silent filter can be extended by vacuuming it regularly.
- There is no filter sensor to tell you that the filter needs replacing.
- Automatic particle sensor is only available on the E (electronic/digital) version.
Blueair Purifier Series
There are several models of Blue Air purifier to choose from, each reflecting its power to clean up certain size of room. Each of the model has its digital version (E-version) which allows the purifier to incorporate automatic particle sensor and be controlled using a remote control. Here are the models:
- Blueair AirPod: is suitable as a desktop or personal air purifier.
- Blueair 201 and 250E: works up to 198 sq. ft.
- Blueair 40 and 450E: works for rooms u p to 365 sq.ft.
- Blueair 503 and 550E: works for rooms up to 580 sq.ft.
- Blueair 601: works for rooms up to 640 sq. ft.
- Blueair ECO01: works for rooms up to 300 sq. ft. and consumes only 10 watts at maximum speed. As comparison, the regular Blueair purifiers consume 120 watt at maximum speed. Other purifiers consume much more than even regular Blue Air purifiers.
In addition, there is an optional SmokeStop filter set which can turn your system into great smoke air purifier as well. This filter is loaded with large amount of activated carbon which can absorb volatile organic compound gases and smoke.
