Air Purifier Opinions

[riddick07]

Okay so I know this question gets asked a lot in general but I was still wondering about some opinions on what I should do. I have a filter but it really can't do much in my new room and seems to only be covering the general area of my bookcase...I have a really big room so it is not surprising that my cheaper filter can't handle it at all. I have 4 cockatiels, bare eyed cockatoo, yellow naped amazon, 3 gcc and one sun conure. I also have 3 cats....and there is usually one foster bird in my room too. So I need a filter that can cover a lot of space and good enough to clean the air from all these animals!

I really like the general look of this rabbit air for some reason but it only comes in white...and that will stick out quite badly in my room... it is also really weak only covering 625 sq ft.
BioGS 2.0 Air Purifier ? Rabbit Air

The austin airs I was looking at are the healthmate plus or the allergy machine. Both cover 1500 sq ft which is a lot better than the rabbit air. I'm not sure there is much difference between these two austin airs though so might just go for the cheaper one... the only real difference I have found is the HEPA and HEGA. The HEPA goes down to .3 microns and the HEGA .1 microns. Healthmate has the HEPA and Allergy has both HEPA and HEGA filters.
HealthMate Plus | Austin Air® Purifiers
Allergy Machine | Austin Air® Purifiers

I don't want to spend more than $400 on a purifier since I just bought a A&E 40x30 double stacker for $446 from Bird Paradise (yeah for 30% off sales!!! Boo for a 2 month delivery....can't wait till the end of December!) If anyone has a recommendation for a purifier that can handle what I need for less than $400 that would be fine too! I am not looking specifically to get either of these two brands but the austin air seems to be winning from what I have seen so far!

 

[weco]

Do you have central heat & air or central heat? If so, what size return filters does your return(s) take? You can adapt most returns to accept micro filters & if any modifications need to be done, often just adding new filter brackets/holders is all that's needed to receive the thicker micro filters.....

 

[riddick07]

We do but the system is probably not going to be running all that often even in winter. The place is built tall and most of the bedrooms are upstairs so it gets hot fast. We actually have to get a heater for my room since its the ground floor and its always cold down there compared to the 3rd floor. The current filter says 14 by 24 by 1. I remember changing the filter in the old place to a better one but my room always seemed to be dustier than the rest. But it might be a good idea to change the filter anyway so that the whole place can be covered to a degree. I can ask my stepfather about the idea too since he was a certification guy for clean rooms and mother was a manager for a company that built clean rooms.

 

[weco]

If he is familiar with rezoning your system, it might be possible to rewire your system so that you can add another thermostat to the upstairs, where you can change the temperature from upstairs when it gets too hot.....because of the way most systems are installed, you may need to individually reset the individual room registers downstairs, but after getting used to any changes, it will become second nature.....also, you've probably got two return vents in your house, depending on what your square footage is.....in case your stepfather is not able to compute load factors, you might need to contact the company that designed/installed your heat & air system to make sure adding better system filters won't improperly load your system.....there shouldn't be a problem, but approaching this as a system wide upgrade will actually save you $$$ over individual components.....also, since you've got high ceilings, operating them in the winter or whenever the heat is turned on, will save you $$$...just make sure the blade direction is set properly.....

 

[riddick07]

Would probably have to get permission from the landlord to do changes like that since we rent. Our landlord is an engineer guy though so between the two of them they could probably do a system wide change. Just not sure my stepfather would be up for doing that sometime soon. He has other projects that he hasn't done yet either....like playstands

 

[weco]

Don't know your circumstances, but if he can be encouraged by a steak dinner or two, it really would save you $$$ and as long as you were able to offer to pay for the upgrades, as little as $200 to maybe as much as $400 your actual savings could be as much as $400 the first year.....portable heater + cost of operation + cost of air purifiers + cost of operation of each.....if an additional thermostat can be added to your system, and again depending on the system, you might need to replace the existing thermostat, to allow for dual operation, though I've wired a sister thermostat into a friend's system that would not allow rezoning, but installing the wiring for a new thermostat should not be too difficult as the signal wire can usually be run behind door casings and/or baseboards & with a 48" or 60" flexi drill bit, you can run the wire inside walls to feed the new thermostat.....if the microfilters were to require thicker frames, they're in the $35-$70 range & all that needs to be done to change them out is to open them & carefully remove the nails that were used to install them & install the thicker frames in the same opening.....some microfilters are able to be rinsed off & re-installed.....

 

[ParrotGenie]

Okay so I know this question gets asked a lot in general but I was still wondering about some opinions on what I should do. I have a filter but it really can't do much in my new room and seems to only be covering the general area of my bookcase...I have a really big room so it is not surprising that my cheaper filter can't handle it at all. I have 4 cockatiels, bare eyed cockatoo, yellow naped amazon, 3 gcc and one sun conure. I also have 3 cats....and there is usually one foster bird in my room too. So I need a filter that can cover a lot of space and good enough to clean the air from all these animals!

I really like the general look of this rabbit air for some reason but it only comes in white...and that will stick out quite badly in my room... it is also really weak only covering 625 sq ft.
BioGS 2.0 Air Purifier ? Rabbit Air

The austin airs I was looking at are the healthmate plus or the allergy machine. Both cover 1500 sq ft which is a lot better than the rabbit air. I'm not sure there is much difference between these two austin airs though so might just go for the cheaper one... the only real difference I have found is the HEPA and HEGA. The HEPA goes down to .3 microns and the HEGA .1 microns. Healthmate has the HEPA and Allergy has both HEPA and HEGA filters.
HealthMate Plus | Austin Air® Purifiers
Allergy Machine | Austin Air® Purifiers

I don't want to spend more than $400 on a purifier since I just bought a A&E 40x30 double stacker for $446 from Bird Paradise (yeah for 30% off sales!!! Boo for a 2 month delivery....can't wait till the end of December!) If anyone has a recommendation for a purifier that can handle what I need for less than $400 that would be fine too! I am not looking specifically to get either of these two brands but the austin air seems to be winning from what I have seen so far!

With that large of a space and that many birds, save the money and get a IQ Air as nothing else will works as well with that many birds. I actually tested various air purifiers with a 6 channel Particle Counter and the IQ Air was the only one that actually work well with cockatoos in larger spaces. You can also use a large HEPA filter with box fan as some breeders do.

The rabbit air work OK but you need two of them with that many birds. The austin air would be my third chose, even through they claim 1100, it doesn't. I actually tested them with a professional 6 channel Particle Counter.