Austin Air - Healthmate Plus

Austin air purifier. Filter change every 5 years. Recommended by my doctor. It's still working after 19 years.

I use Austin Air. I did a lot of research and went with the Healthmate Plus. (I have the full size for my main floor and a junior one for each bedroom.) It’s got two kinds of filters: medical grade HEPA and it’s got like 15lbs of carbon… the most carbon of any filter on the market. I wanted something with a good carbon filter because that’s what traps VOCs. (If you’ve painted or done work on your house, have new furniture, use your fireplace, or have neighbors that have a ton of outdoor fires like I do, or are affected by wildfires, you want more than HEPA.) It also is made of steel and powder coated for coloring, so no plastics and paints to off-gas and make more VOCs. And made in the US. They’re not cheap, but totally worth the money. The filter can be good up to 5 years, depending on how much it’s filtering. Cheaper brands usually have to have frequent filter changes, which adds up quickly. I’d rather pay the money up front for a good machine and not have to worry about it. Oh and they don’t produce ozone, which some others do. Definitely check to make sure whatever you get doesn’t use electronic or ionizing technology to filter. Edit to add… I reread your post again after I commented. How I know it works? It can last up to five years in normal conditions… Mine saturated in about 9-12 months. I do not fault the air purifier at all, that just tells me it did its job. We had just moved into an older house that had some updating, and new furniture, and our neighbors light a lot of fires. This was also during the Canada fires when it was coming down the US coast and making our air quality over 400. It was kind of a bummer to buy a new filter for it (they give discounts if you need to get one before 5 years) but it was nice knowing it did its job and kept us from all of those toxins.

😂 I totally understand! I did the same thing. I spent so much time looking and kept going back to Austin. I ended up ordering the main one directly from them. At the time they had a discount code and I think I got $100 off (Healthmate Plus is $800, I think.), but not sure how often they do sales. When I got the juniors I did some shopping around because they didn’t have a code then, ended up finding a site called Natural Linens that is a distributor and was having a 20% off site sale, so I got them for $488, originally $610.

I have a couple of models: Immunity Machine, Healthmate Plus, bedroom machine. There have been some reviews stating that Austins are slower at clearing a room of particulates. My main concern is VOCs and since I run 3-4 filters in each room that isn't a concern for me. Am now testing the immunity machine. Seems to do a much better job with VOCs, although final results will take a while. What is your concern with IQAair?

For VOC removal the generally recommended manufacturers are Airpura, Allerair, Austin, IQAir all of which have filters with 10 or more pounds of carbon. The AirDoctor 1000 has a relatively small Carbon filter which would have to be replaced more frequently than the others. This is reflected in the cost of the replacement filters which run \~$72 where replacements for the others run in the 100's. Doubt that it is as effective due to its small size. I use Austin and IQAir GC Multigas units. Just replaced the Austin filters with Immunity machine filters and saw significant improvement, but at the cost of \~$700 per filter. They are supposed to last 5 years. If you have to replace before that they reduce the cost. Consumer Reports (subscription required) has extensive discussions about air filters and reviews for filters without Carbon.

Austin filters for the full sized machines are interchangeable. I had a couple of healthmate Plus and bedroom machines whose filters had reached the end of their lifetimes. Replaced the old filters with immunity filters.

I have 2 Austin Air HEGA units and they’re fantastic. I bought the first one in 2008 and it’s still running at this very moment. I generally find that filtration media needs to be replaced every year or so (more like 16 months in our case). When you receive a replacement filter, you can register it with their website. If it needs to be replaced in less than one year, they will give you a pro-rated refund. I had to replace mine ater 4 months one year because we enclosed one of our old porches to add a bedroom and there was a lot of extra dust and VOCs, and it was cool to get that refund!

In terms of “is the Austin enough”, the iqair fan is 275cfm vs 250 for the Austin, so in terms of volume of air through the filter it’s not that different. As particle filters these are terrible value by the way. Both are stupid loud on high, like you need to yell loud if you are near it, so you likely won’t run them at that speed anyway. Probably better results with 2 Austin’s over 1 iqair. That’s just a guess though. If I was you I would buy one Austin, use your monitor to see if it helps. Get a second only if you need it. But ymmv.

Years ago I moved into a new construction apartment and the cabinets gave off a resin smell that I assumed contained formaldehyde. I was having terrible allergy symptoms that I suspected was related to this. I bought an Austin air healthmate plus and was shocked at how much it helped. I’ve had several different HEPA purifiers over the years, and experienced with others with high amounts of activated carbon but Austin is by far the best. Can’t say that it’s worth the cost for everyone, but in my situation it really was.

I own multiple Austin Air Healthmate Plus air purifiers. They’re really expensive but they last a long time and work great on smells and smoke. Highly recommend

I also suggest going with an Austin Air. I have two of the Austin Ait Healthmate + models bought in 2019. They work great and are solidly constructed. They are worth the investment to me.

I prefer the Austin Air Healthmate Plus. I purchased both, and prefer the Austin.

[Austin Air Healthmate Plus](https://austinair.com/shop/healthmate-plus/)

I actually just ordered a second Healthmate Plus. I called Austin and they gave me a $50 off discount code: “RedCross5050”

I've had my Austin Air for 13 years and the motor is still working like a charm. It's a beast. I use it in the bedroom and the quality of the air in the bedroom is consistently better than the air in the rest of the apartment. Smells better, feels better. This thing collects a ton of dust. The AA comes with two filters, a main heavy cylinder that sits inside the box below the motor (you pick the type you want, I have the HealthMate Plus). The box that houses the motor can hold any of the cylinders so if you decide to upgrade your main filter, you don't have to buy a whole new machine. The second filter is called a "pre-filter" and it's basically a carbon cloth that coats the inside of the box outside of the cylinder. The pre-filters need to be changed every few months and the filter (big heavy cylinder lasts about five years). The pre-filters collect the dust and junk the Austin Air sucks in and protect the heavy cylinder. There are three settings, high, medium and low. I set it to high for an hour after I change the pre-filter to give the air a solid fast clean and use medium while I'm awake. I set it on low for sleeping and it's like white noise...a low soothing sound IMO. Medium is doable during sleep if you wear ear plugs. HealthMate Plus clears odors well, too. The authorized retailers of AA are supposed to give discounts for replacement filters. The pro-rate the cost depending on how long you use it. The longer you have it, the bigger the discount. So be sure to register your product and keep a record of the serial number, purchase date and so on. All this said, I have owned my box for 13 years. Some people who have purchased recently seem to think the quality has gone downhill. I purchased because I liked the fact that is was made in the USA and not in China or some overseas sweatshop. I support the idea of local jobs. However, who knows where they import parts from. I cannot comment on the motor quality currently but the filter standard has not dropped. I've replaced my filter twice. Personally, I can't think why a company would degrade the quality of the motor...