Air Purifier Recommendations for Litter Room?

[WillowMarie]

I'm interested in investing in an air purifier for the litter room and wondering for anyone who has one in litter room which ones you have been happy with.

I'd prefer sensor to tell when filter needs to be changed, senses air and will run faster when detects "pollution" aka litter kicked up, and has a removabale, washable pre filter.

What models/brands have you all tried? Pros/cons of models you've tried?

Thanks!

 

[Tobermory]

I have a Winix (model C545) that does everything you say you want. Actually I have three of them throughout the house. I’m very happy with them. I had Germ Guardians before and they were okay, but I like the Winix a lot more.

It’s extremely quiet at its normal speed “good air” speed (much quieter than the Germ Guardians). At night when it’s dark, it dials down the sound even more so that it’s almost soundless. I have one in my bedroom and love how quiet it is. The cats ignore it completely even when the fan kicks up when it senses problematic air.

I periodically pull out the pre-filter and hepa filter and vacuum off the dust and cat hair. You can rinse the pre-filter in room temperature water. No soap.

It’s also has wifi and an app, but I’ve never used it.

 

[Alldara]

We got the Winex plasmawave without wifi. But less expensive, very great. 10/10 recommend.

My MIL says no litter smell. She feels very sensitive to it and I find out litter has a natural oder to begin with, being a paper one.

It's got a reusable screen that picks up hair that we vacuum, then a carbon filter and a HEPA filter. The nightmode is awesome and it has multiple fan settings but will adjust based on smell.

I agree with all Tobermory said above as well.

It's also better than the one we got at Staples, and removes more smell. I regret that we paid the same price for the smaller one which is louder and doesn't work as well.

 

[neely]

My allergist recommended getting an air purifier for my allergies so I bought a Honeywell. I haven't opened the box yet since I just got it but I hope it helps and I like it. Will update once I use it.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

I’m fascinated by the timing of this thread - just yesterday I bought a tiny air purifier from KMart (Australia) in case dust etc is the reason for Daisy’s nose boogers! Wouldn’t be at all useful for @WillowMarie’s needs, but hopefully will do for Daisy’s.

 

[DreamerRose]

I recently bought a Winix ultrasonic humidifier, and I am impressed with its quality, so if I needed a purifier, I would get a Winix. Wish we had those back in the days when we smoked.

 

[inshadowinsun]

We got the Winex plasmawave without wifi. But less expensive, very great. 10/10 recommend.

My MIL says no litter smell. She feels very sensitive to it and I find out litter has a natural oder to begin with, being a paper one.

It's got a reusable screen that picks up hair that we vacuum, then a carbon filter and a HEPA filter. The nightmode is awesome and it has multiple fan settings but will adjust based on smell.

I agree with all Tobermory said above as well.

It's also better than the one we got at Staples, and removes more smell. I regret that we paid the same price for the smaller one which is louder and doesn't work as well.

How often do you have to change the filters? Do you even have to change them? I'm new to air purifiers so I too am looking at options!

 

[Alldara]

How often do you have to change the filters? Do you even have to change them? I'm new to air purifiers so I too am looking at options!

We clean the reusable screen once a week. It really helps keep the filter for longer. The one upstairs without a filter screen we have to change every 4 to 6 months and the carbon filter sometimes sooner.

I think it depends on your home a bit too. We vacuum regularly with a small vacuum that has a HEPA filter and had 3 cats until recently.

The first filter never lasts as long. It takes a lot of dust and allergens from the air. I think if we were to put one in the basement it would need changed fast because we haven't had one down there yet.

The small one my wife uses in the office in the day and we bring it to our bedroom at night.

 

[Tobermory]

How often do you have to change the filters? Do you even have to change them? I'm new to air purifiers so I too am looking at options!

You do have to change them; the hepa filter will eventually get too dirty to be effective. I change mine every six months, but I also pull out the filters and vacuum them every week or so. The Winix in the kitchen/family room sucks up a lot of dust and cat hair. The one in the bedroom doesn’t need it as often.

I probably should change them twice in the summer because we usually have terrible air quality because of wildfires.

I did a lot of checking and found some good off brand filters that are much less money

 

[Alldara]

Yes off-brand ones like Tobermory suggests can be so helpful. Especially for the carbon filters.

Be cautious about fake HEPA filters though. You'll need legitimate ones. I don't know how to know the difference before buying but we ended up with a dupe for our small one and it didn't work well.

 

[sivyaleah]

We have 2 RabbitAirs - the Minus 2 model.
It was recommended by my allergist along with BlueAir.
They have made a huge difference to air quality - one is in our bedroom, the other in our main living space.
There are 5 different filters to choose from including one for pet odors.
Pricey but worth it. Also modern stream lined appearance is a+ to us.

 

[neely]

We have 2 RabbitAirs - the Minus 2 model. It was recommended by my allergist

Funny you should mention the Rabbit Air - I also see an allergist and guess what type of Air Purifier was in his office?
My daughter has an Air Doctor, a little pricey but she swears by it.

 

[sivyaleah]

Funny you should mention the Rabbit Air - I also see an allergist and guess what type of Air Purifier was in his office?
My daughter has an Air Doctor, a little pricey but she swears by it.

Honestly, it was a life changer. We breath a lot easier since we got them. I like that they cover a pretty large area - my home is on the small side and the one downstairs easily handles the entire sf of the 1st floor. It also reduced the amount of dust we see on the furniture so clearly doing what it should do. Once a year they send out an entire new pack of filters (I think there's 5 inside) and we clean the prefilter out monthly with a Dustbuster, but you can also run it a faucet. Easy enough to keep clean. It is expensive though, but well worth the money

 

[WillowMarie]

Thank you so for the suggestions! Excited to look these up and pick one.

 

[neely]

Thank you so for the suggestions! Excited to look these up and pick one.

Please let us know what type of air purifier you decide to get and how you like it. Good luck!

 

[WillowMarie]

So I ended up with this one: Winix am80 AM80 4-Stage True HEPA Air Purifier with Washable AOC™ Carbon Filter & PlasmaWave® Technology

I think it's bigger than the ones others posted here, but I didn't see a similar smaller sized one that still had the 4-stage.

It is very quiet on low setting and have been happy with it so far. Easy to clean as the pre-screen is washable and I vacummed the others to remove litter dust when cleaning the pre-screen.

The only thing I am questioning... does my automatic sensor work?? Does anyone that uses automatic sensor on Winix noticed it increase speed from cat's in the litter box? I have a much smaller air purifier that shows air quality reading on the unit and it goes up to 200-300 pm when I scope litter and starts running on high. However, my winix doesn't even bat an eye. The air quality bar remains green.I tried messaging customer service to ask when what pm triggers the changes in air quality alerts on my winix model, but no response yet.

I put the litter box right in front of the winix when I replaced the litter. So pouring litter to fill the empy box... and that DID NOT trigger the winix to increase at all! Not sure if the winix is just *that good* because it's bigger than the smaller purifier I used previously and so it cleans it faster so pm's never reach the sensors at a high limit, but it also feels very suspicious pouring litter right in front of the winix doesn't cause it to increase at least a little!

Has anyone noticed the automatic adjusts from litter being kicked up or poured?

 

[IndyJones]

I would not put it directly next to the litterboxes because kicked up dust could clog it up maybe not right away but over the years it can cake on there.

I think the idea is to put it where people frequent. Some of them not all can be loud and could spook the cat if they trigger while they are in the box.

 

[IndyJones]

There used to be a purifier built into our furnace but it died and now we just put a filter in there. It did make a buzzing/clicking noise when it triggered. It also would beep beeeeep beep if it was dirty. Unfinished basement meant it got dirty about once a month.

A setup like this kind of but the purifier next to it rather than on its side

 

[WillowMarie]

I have an asthmatic cat, so I want to suck up the cat litter dust out of the air to reduce them breathing it in as much as possible. As well as reduce litter dust within the room. I'm fine replacing when needed, if this results in shortened life of the filter.

My cats are used to my small one going to high and do not react in fear when it increases to high.

I have other purifiers around the house to help with allergens and potential airborne viruses. This one specifically is to control the cat litter dust in the air.

 

[IndyJones]

The one we used to have (trane i belive made it clean something) was over 10 years old when it died but it did do a decent job while it worked keeping the dirt and mold from the basement out of the rest of the house. I think with a whole house system it sucks the air in from the returns filters it then blows the clean, heated/conditioned air back into the house. Keep in mind this is an over 100 year old home with a rubble foundation so basement issues come with it.

Im not sure how well they work on specific areas though because the litterbox would probably have to be close to or right on top of the return vent to produce the same effect.

I just know when it worked it deffenatly caught alot of dirt and yuckyness in it probably dust from throughout the house.