Austin Air Allergy Machine HEPA Air Purifier

My main motivation for purchasing the Austin Air HEGA Allergy Machine was to address the dander, small loose feathers, and dust my parrot creates.  He's not big (African Grey) but he sheds an amazing amount of parrot body by-product. The unit sits next to his cage.  I called up Austin Air and described my air cleaning needs and they recommended this product out of their stable of products.

Specifications

The unit is 14.5" wide, 14.5" deep and 23" tall.  It is supported by four hard plastic wheels and moves around quite easily. It is said to clean up to 1,500 square feet of space (8 foot ceilings) and uses 115 watts of electricity at its highest setting, 85 watts at medium, and 56 watts at low.  The sound level rating is 66 db at high speed, 55 db at medium speed, and lower than 50 db at low speed.  It circulates air at up to 400 cubic feet per minute. It comes in four colors, sandstone, black, white, and silver as a baked-on powder coat finish.  The unit is well built and I find it attractive (sandstone for me). The knob to turn the power onto one of the three settings has a very solid feel.  The outer casing is metal with the lower three-quarters perforated with small circular holes.  The product comes with a very generous 5 year mechanical warranty.  It appears, though, that you need to send the product back to the manufacturer for warranty work as opposed to taking it to a local service center.  You also get a 30 day money back guarantee.  If you don't like it for any reason, send it back.

Filters

The Allergy Machine contains four filters. A large particle pre-filter (e.g., dust, hair, pet dander), a medium particle pre-filter (e.g., mold, spores, pollen), 60 ft. of medical grade HEPA (e.g., bacteria, virus), and an activated ‘military carbon cloth' (e.g., chemicals, gases, odors). Air goes through the carbon cloth last before being exhausted as clean air.  Those last three stages are combined into one filter and lasts anywhere from two to five years.  The pre-filter can be vacuumed through the grill (comprised of those small holes) when you see dust build up on the grill. I've seen the time estimate as ‘monthly' though I suspect different conditions will necessitate varying cleaning intervals. The HEPA replacement cost is around $180 and the pre-filter $25.  The nice thing about filter replacement cost is that it is pro-rated.  So if you need to replace the HEPA after two years (when the smell coming out of the unit is ‘no longer odorless') you pay only 40% of the replacement cost.  There are detailed instructions (with pictures) on replacing the filter and it doesn't appear to be complicated.

Points of Note

I'd like to address a few things that are not easily found on the Internet but that I find important.  First, the sound is very reasonable.  The stated db is 66/55/<50 depending on the three fan speeds.  Actually on the lowest speed, the unit is whisper quiet.  I don't know why Austin Air wants to give the impression the low speed is only slightly below that of medium speed.  It is significantly quieter and easy to sleep with.  If by chance you are familiar with the Honeywell 50250, the lowest speed setting on that unit is roughly equivalent to the middle speed of the Austin Air to my ears (I returned it a day after purchase as I found it too loud).  So the Austin Air is significantly quieter than the Honeywell on low speed.  And the sound is not irritating.  While the Honeywell makes a pronounced ‘whooshing' sound through narrow air vents at the top, the Austin sound is more like an unobstructed air rushing sound. On high speed sound on the Austin is not something you want to live with continuously.

Secondly, it is hard to tell from pictures where the unit outputs the clean air.  If you are facing straight on, it is on the right side, near the top and air is ejected upwards and forwards, slightly to the right through air grills.  Air is pulled in from all four sides of the square unit.

Finally, with respect to setup, everything is ready to go when you remove it from the box.  You don't need to install the wheels, filters, or anything else.  You just pull it out (and it pulls out easily) and plug it in.  The more expensive units weigh 49 lbs and this one is 35 lbs.  I think anyone can handle and maneuver the weight of this product.  Note that the instruction manual tells owners to run the unit on high speed for the first hour of use.  It's something easy to miss and I almost did.  It also states that it should be at least eight inches from walls.

Criticisms

Why just three speeds?  These units have just two useable speeds in my opinion, low and medium.  High is just too loud.  I have two other portable units and they have four speeds which gives you more choices on noise vs. cleaning power.

While it's nice to have a long lasting filtration system, it is not easy to check just how dirty it is at any point in time.  You need to flip the unit upside down and remove a couple of screws to get to the filters.  Many other manufacturers make is so much easier.  Like opening a door.  Further, it is hard to see what the pre filter is picking up when you look through the grill because the pre filter is white.  And most of the particulate matter I've seen in my other units show whitish dirt on black charcoal filters.  It is very easy to see the dust there and easy to get to.  The Austin Air units do not have any automated system (e.g, led lights) that tells you when you have to change your filters.

Conclusion

After a few weeks of use I am quite happy with this unit.  The air seems to smell fresher though, of course, I haven't measured it in any scientific way.  It stays on 24 hours per day, low speed at night and medium during the day.  While it does make more noise at medium speed it is very obvious that quite a bit of air is jetting outward from the exhaust vent.  I'll update this review after several months of use.
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Update after eight months.  The unit is still functioning well without notable outward deviation from when it was new.  I use my vaccuum cleaner to clean the grill every couple of months.  This seems to quiet the very slight db level increase that is noticed when the outer filter becomes soiled.  And, happily, I've notice no change in the noise level of the unit after eight months.  It is still very quiet in the lowest setting.

Since I've had the unit I hit one rough stretch of sinus issues.  At the lowest setting the unit helps pick up small particulate matter around the parrot cage.  But the unit needs to be notched up to level 2 in my opinion to do anything with allergy problems.  And I would say that the unit is not effective in all corners of the house.  It does help though while sitting in the same room (in my case, large living area) where the purifier is located. Dust build up does occur in my living area, but, I prefer to use the purifier at level 1 speed to help with my parrot dander and such. 

In my original review I said I use the level 2 fan speed during the day.  Now I use level 2 only when I have allergy issues or need to clear the air after cooking or if I encounter unpleasant odors for any particular reason.  It is a tradeoff with noise level and while I think level 2 isn't overly loud, I still prefer the quietest setting if I'm feeling allergy free.

Bottom line....still happy with the unit and nothing is changed from my original impressions.