HEPA Filters - Are they all the same?

I'm not convinced a Hepa filter will lose 50% of its efficiency after 2 months. Dont forget usually the Hepa filter is protected by a pre filter and a carbon filter, so i think that is a bit exaggerated 😊 But i agree with most of what you say. The latest Winix filters do have a better seal around the frame not like the filter in your video which has no seal at all. You could test these Purifiers exhaust with a particle counter, that would give you some idea of how well they are performing. Test the filter when its new and after a few months of use. I still believe that Winix and some other brands do a better job at filtering the air than you are suggesting in this video and are very good value for money but im open to be proven wrong 😊. The Aeris looks like a very good unit although long term reliability is yet to be proven. I dont know about the US but here in the UK very few people will pay $239-$299 every year for replacement filters so it could be a very niche product unless they significantly reduce their prices. Thank you for the info Doug, very interesting 👍

I've been watching this channel ever since you commented on one of my videos and I have got to say that this channel has been nothing but an eye opener! As hobbyist/nonprofessional, I was thinking about starting off the the IQAir GC Multigas. However the filter replacement seems to be somewhat of an intimidating process so that led me to the Aeris and the Austin air on your channel. I'm kind of torn between the two to start off with and I was thinking of getting one of those for the bedroom. Then eventually graduating to the IQAir GC Multigas for the main kitchen/living/dining room area which is about 500 square feet as there is some kind of odor/chemical smell that I notice after returning home after an extended period of time. It seems like Austin has been around longer than the Aeris when watching one of your other videos and i'm curious on what your suggestion would be for a good starter quality air purifier. Maybe I should take the money spent on the IQAir GC Multigas and just get both the Austin air and Aeris to get my feet wet and obtain some experience with them. Keep up the outstanding work!

Hello Doug. Does the Austin come up short on Ultrafine particle filtration because of media reasons only or bypass issues as well? I currently have one HPP, and it has a good odor elimination quality, but am also looking for additional particle filtration. Was looking at the IQAir AtemX. I called them today for info and they said it was about 530 CFM on high and draws about 85 watts per hour. It uses three HyperHepa. Any thoughts on that unit, Doug? It’s $$.

Couldn’t you just tape the edges so that air doesn’t go around the filter in the winix machine? Also why does it matter if dirty air gets past? Couldn’t you just run the fan at a higher speed to compensate? If you clean all the air in the room at 90% the first pass, you’ll be at 99% the second pass, 99.9% the third, etc. I’m probably missing something.

Do you have any toughts on permament and washable filters? Like the ones in the Honeywell Air Genius 5 (which for some reason costs 90 eur in Europe and 180usd in the US).

I was checking some Coway / Levoit products. All looked good, until I learnt I need to spend 50 eur every 6-12 months. I have enough subscriptions in my life and I hate most of them!

Hi, if I am trying to clean an 550 sq ft environment next to a busy street (where VOCs seems to be the biggest issue) would the IQ Air GC Multigas do the job or would I be better off with two Austin Healthmate Plus's? p.s. the building is new and has a relatively good circulation system that moves the air through the apartment without needing to open the windows (it has "some" particle filtration but obviously doesn't address the VOCs). pps. Might the Dyson Big and Quiet Formaldiihyde BP04 do the job? (I worry that Dyson is just marketing)

I agree on 50%. I have a high air flow vacuum cleaner and I clean my pre filter and main filter every 4 to 7 days. I’m getting a quarter of a cup out of the main filter. Pretty substantial. This is a bedroom with it set at 80% speed. No way it would make it to 6 months.

Yeah, a lot of this makes sense. Also makes me feel a bit depressed - are there any real-world solutions for ensuring the air I am breathing is actually safe? i.e. what's the good news, if any?

Don't use wiki to back up your statements.

This kind of content is invaluable. That's extremely useful knowledge.

Thank you for making it and i hope that your channel will have the success it deserve.

By the way, what air purifier would you recommend to filter cooking odors?

I bought filters on Amazon for my Winix 5500-2 and boy did it smell for a while after running... I'm curious to what chemicals they used to make it. Thanks for the deets!

Any chance in doing the filter tests with the washable metal filters? Or maybe some plasma type gimmicky filtering systems.

After watching a few videos on how they make hepa filters...
- the metal they use, don't they still have residual chemicals from the processing?
- the sanitation processes are hugely different.

The ugly side of business... well hidden to those that don't look.

what about the mi air purifier 4 are stating that High Efficiency Filter
99.97% elimination of 0.3μm particles* is it real or just a marketing gimmick ? . How come air purifier manufacture doesn't have any guidelines and without even testing research or certified with standard how can they launching the product ?

What are some solutions?

Hi, thanks for sharing all the info! it is very confusing out there, so much information or sure i say misinformation, that makes it difficult to choose. Im looking for a air purifier for my bedroom, that means nothing to crazy on size or coverage, any good suggestions? ive head good things about the Winix, Oransi, blueair, rabit air, dr. air etc. any good reliable recommendation? thank you alot

you show winix is not well sealed but you havent shown the same test for austin air - so u didnt demonstrate that austin air is any better; it seems a bit as if you had upfront thesis in mind

Thanks for your video!

In short, 99% of consumers are getting robbed.

Even if filters have a leak, that doesn't matter, what mattes is the air moved through the filter... zero air filters have a perfect seal, so it's just a minor side topic... even a Merv 11 will do about the same as a IQ Air, and if you get a much bigger fan and multiple Merv 11, it will do better than an IQ Air... .3 is the size that is hardest to filter, at lower sizes it becomes easier to filter (including ultra fine particles) and at higher than .3 microns it becomes easier to filter, that is why .3 microns is used as the benchmark... IQ Air's testing/certs don't really prove that it's better than any others... One thing IQ Air is better at is that their machine is so quiet, but it's not much better than a house fan with a Merv 11 on it and it's not any better than a common Honeywell machine... VOCs can only be filtered to about 9% reduction by carbon, even the IQ Air or the huge Airpura carbon filters only remove about 9%. Just some facts for you. The rest is a lot of hype and marketing catch-phrases for people who don't understand much about filtration. The main thing about filtration is the size of the filter and the volume of air the fan can move through the filter per unit time, only after that can you start to talk about filtration media which is more or less the same from a tshirt up to a ULPA and is just 10% of the equation. Also using carbon will actually clog the HEPA filter and carbon only works for a short amount of time and you never know when that is because it depends on the amount of toxin in the air, the temperature, pressure, etc.

Laser particle meters exist. Why are you not using these????

Money follows the path of least resistance.

so what airpurifiers should i get

Excellent. We were about to buy Filter Monsters and we see that is not a good idea.

I'm not sure how you don't have more subscribers but extremely glad to have found you. Thank you for your videos.

thank you very much for your research and the time it took you to put this video together!

I tested a one year old filter for Xiaomi air purifier 4, whose filters use "electrostatic charge".
The old filter captured only about 10-20% of particles 0.3-1 micron size in a single pass through the filter, compared to a new one that captures close to 100% as advertised.

Do real HEPA filters (that don't use electrostatic treatment) have degradation of filtering efficiency or they just have reduction in airflow?

Ugh just got a vital 200s based on rtings… the filters are expensive!

What do you think of the washable winnix carbon filters tho? My vital is sadly glued

dangerous to our health? humans did not live for 80 something years. most people worked outside entirety of lives and pm0.1 probably didn't do anything. unless you live in india or a manufacturing site or a wildfire site, an extra $200/year in filters and running costs is not worth the tradeoff in supposed 1 or 2 extra years of quality of life in good health and lifespan.

as long as something is good enough, reducing exposure rate and inhalation rate to some desired level. other factors affect your health way more, dangerous occupation or not, lifestyle and diet, protein intake.

it may be true that 90% of particles are unseeable but most of the biologics attached themselves to larger molecules and you have to weigh it vs lifespan/healthspan differentials from being 95% effective/70% effective vs 99.997% effective at sub0.1pm particles.