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Comment by tareqak | Hacker News Reader

The recommended pick from the Wirecutter is the Coway AP-1512HH Mighty (as of this post, the recommendation was last updated January 15, 2021) [0]. The CADR is available on Coway's product page in what I assume to be imperial units given the units of the other specifications: "233 (Smoke), 246 (Dust), 240 (Pollen)" (under "Specification") [1]. This CADR score puts it just between the BlueAir Blue Pure 211 and GermGuardian AC530B in the graph from the post [2].

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier...

[1] https://cowaymega.com/products/coway-mighty-ap-1512hh

[2] https://i.cbc.ca/1.5902727.1612545406!/fileImage/httpImage/i...

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We have four in our house and they are workhorses. Still running strong and quiet 3-4 years later of running 24/7. Probably one of the best things I've ever bought.

They are also popular enough, and have been around long enough, that there is an "ecosystem" of third party replacement filters that are affordable and capable.

The sound of the Coway is also quite nice for sleeping in our opinion. It's a quiet "whoooosh", not grating at all.

Given the observed longevity of the Coways, I suspect they are actually cheaper than "DIY box fan" solution after a couple of years if you're running them 24/7. Sure, you can get a cheap box fan, but you'll be lucky if it lasts 6-12 months running 24/7 while trying to suck air through a filter.

What benefits do you feel from having four filters? Not hating, genuinely curious. It's just never occurred to me to filter the air in my home aside from burning something on the stove or similar

I'm also curious about running them 24/7.

Mine run 24/7 on low for a few years so far, one is going on 3 years and the other is about 8 months. No issues other than periodic cleaning and filter replacement. Main hint: keep a spare filter before California fire season.

I've actually been running mine on "2" the ("medium") setting for 3-4 years with no problems.

I have asthma, allergies, and pets so.... yeah. Medium it is for me.

I check my indoor air quality and I only have to raise them to medium/high when air quality is bad outside (winter temperature inversions, summer fire season) or when cooking (often don't bother but I'm not as sensitive)

It's not a necessity if you have the window open to move around the air, but that's typically not as much of an option in the winter. You'd be surprised how much dust and particles a purifier picks up.

If you take a look at the photos for the Blue Air 211 on Amazon, you can see how much it picks up. Mine was exactly like the photos. The pre-filter was completely covered in dust, and the inner filter was completely dark after 6 months of use.

    It's not a necessity if you have the window open to move around the air,

If you live in an urban area or someplace else with lots of air pollution, the outdoor air might be a problem!

Of course, I don't think an air filter like this would be very effective with the windows open.

I have one in the bedroom and one in the main living/office area. They were essential in California during the past few years of fires. The indoor air quality was maintained consistently while outdoors was horrendous.

That's a good question, happy to answer.

I have asthma and mild allergies triggered by pet dander and sometimes seasonal pollen and such. It's a 3 bedroom house. 7 rooms total. And we have pets, because we're dumb.

Ideally we'd have one filter for each room, but they're not the cheapest things, so we just keep them in the rooms where we spend the most time.

Do they work? They've had a positive impact on my asthma/allergies. Not a magic cure, but nothing is. Obviously, it is a part of a comprehensive strategy that includes vacuuming and so forth.

Side benefits of the filters are that they also cut down on dust accumulation on surfaces, and are somewhat effective at reducing odors in general thanks to the swappable charcoal filters.

(FWIW they used to go on sale for like $119 once in a while, in pre-COVID times. That's when we got ours...)

    It's just never occurred to me to filter 
    the air in my home aside from burning 
    something on the stove or similar

Yeah, I don't think this is some sort of thing that everybody needs to do.

If you're currently doing fine, then this doesn't seem like something you need....

It depends greatly on your climate. I didn't need one in the midwest, where air quality is pretty good and there's a lot of humidity in the air, but when I moved westward I definitely noticed the difference in air quality (my asthmatic symptoms came back which I haven't had since I was a child).

Especially in autumn when the wildfires start up - even if it's many miles away there is a very noticeable degradation in air quality.

Was wondering if I’d see this model mentioned. I’ve bought four of these, given one away.

One in living room, bedroom, one is boxed for an office I’m setting up.

Couple notes on this: It is the iPod of air conditioners in its UX and look.

The lights on the top are too bright and can’t be dimmed, we cover them in the bedroom with a taped piece of heavyweight paper.

The filters do need to be either clean or replaced on a reasonable basis but catch all manner of stuff that you’d either inhale or clean off other things.

Better air is like less noise pollution. I believe you can improve the quality of ambient environment you should.

It isn’t always obvious it is helping. I can’t measure how much faster the fried food I cooked no longer smells because of it.

That said there’s a reason we use AirPods Pro’s to isolate from distractions. I think air filters can be a simple way to improve quality of life.

I would use a box fan if we had fires in Oregon again. (Our coways had the angry red light on and ran full speed for days, they were not enough.) But it’s not practical to have a box filter going every day of the year.

One more item, this Coway _occasionally_ goes on sale for $120 on Amazon. If you see it for that price grab it because it lasts only a couple of hours.

If you have a new model, hold the ionizer button for 5 seconds and the indicator light will turn off.

Hey I didn’t know that! One of mine has that, but it still doesn’t turn off the green fan speed or ion status lights. I cover those up normally.

Some additional info about this device is available from Energy Star to confirm the CADR ratings are in cfm. [0] This is odd, as the standard for CADR is often in m3/h. That works out to about 420 ish m3/h in this case.

I rememeber seeing a video on YouTube indicating this device takes 2.2W on low, 4.4 on medium, and about 40 on high. [1] The disparity is reasonable, as the fan laws state that power increases with the cube of shaft speed, and airflow is proportional. Given that the product runs with such low power, it uses a brushless dc motor.

The only issue with this device is that it appears to lack serious amounts of carbon filtration - no hundreds of grams of carbon pellets for odor and chemical adsorption. Not sure if this could be added as a DIY addon.

[0] https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-r...

[1] 5:25 of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBv2aPMWdmI

> [0] This is odd,

I suspect by "odd" here you just mean "american". US consumers really don't like having to convert units.

Our Coway (bought from the Wirecutter recommendation) has been running for 2.5 years straight. The members of my household with asthma appreciate it year-round and especially during fire/smoke season.

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