Whole house purification is a great way ensure every square foot of your home is covered. It’s also a clear upgrade over the standard furnace filters you currently have installed in your furnace. However, tracking down the best whole house purifier isn’t quite as straightforward as other purifier purchases. For example if you’re looking for a purifier to tackle cigar smoke you just have to find a plug in purifier with a powerful fan, a HEPA filter, and a good amount of activated carbon. A whole house purifier is an entirely different animal.
To make things easier on your end we’ve done the research and compared some of the best whole house units on the market. Now just to clarify these are legitimate HVAC add-on purification units, not whole house sized plug in purifiers like the GT3000. Not to say high capacity plugin purifiers don’t have their place… their just better suited to a different application.
Best Whole House Air Purifier Comparison
IQAir Perfect 16
Image Courtesy IQAir
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We’re huge fans of IQAir’s entire product line and their incredible track record. Their plug-in purifiers are some of the best performers you can buy. We reviewed thier IQAIR HealthPro Plus and its specifications and power blew us away. That alone is enough to sell us on thier whole house HVAC option.
Their Perfect 16 HVAC is impressive. It’s Swiss made in a beautiful facility. And, it covers every air conditioned or heated square inch of your home. Install one and it will drastically reduce allergens and particulates throughout your home. How much? About a hundred times better than conventional furnace filters, thanks to IQAir’s HyperHEPA filtration.
The installation must be completed by a professional, and that takes about 4-6 hours. So expect a little more inconvenience that just ordering online, unboxing, and plugging into a wall.
Features
- No Ozone, Ions, or Gimmicks
- MERV 16 Rated Filter
- Filters particles as small as 0.003 microns
- 3 Year filter life (@50 Percent Duty Cycle)
- Silent operation
- No Electricity Required
- Available in two sizes
- Can be used with almost any home HVAC system
Quirks and Cons
- Requires Professional Installation
- Replacement filters are expensive
- Available only through authorized dealers
- Dealers are not located in many locations in the US
- Only works when HVAC blower fan is running
Aprilaire 5000
The Aprilaire 5000 is outperforms almost every competitor on the market. In independent testing the Model 5000 beat out similar whole house filtration units from Carrier, Trane, and Honeywell. In the initial stage of testing it actually trailed some of its competition. However once the test units hit the six month mark, the 5000 pulled away from the pack. And kept that edge all the way out to its year long filter service life.
The unit alone is very affordable. But, on top of that; you should really have a unit like this installed by a pro… so add that expense into the mix. Combined they make even the relatively expensive whole house plug in units from IQAir look pretty attractive. But when it’s installed, you will probably never see it since it is an integral part of your furnace. Which means it will probably reside in your garage or attic.
Features
- Remote air cleaner control panel
- Virtually silent operation
- Reduces dirt collected on HVAC ducting and equipment
- 12 month filter life
- 20 minute filter replacement
- Captures particles down to .01 microns
- Great for allergens, bacteria, and tobacco smoke
- 30 min / 3 hour / 24 hour Auto (use when furnace isn’t running regularly)
- Built in ionizer
Quirks and Cons
- Only works when AC or Heat is running (unless you use timer)
- Larger than some of its competitors
- Requires professional installation
- Higher price tag than other options when labor is included
Honeywell F300E1035
We’re big believers in Honeywell’s ability to engineer incredible products. From their ultra impressive, and affordable, 50250-S purifier to a great smart home product line; Honeywell never fails to impress. And that winning streak carries over to thier whole house purifier line.
If the IQAir wasn’t available in our area… this would definitely be our first choice. The F300E1035 is the model that competes best with other units in this comparison, but they do offer different sizes to mount into almost any HVAC system.
Unlike the other two units we covered earlier this is a powered unit. That electricity gives you the option of using its two stage fan instead of your furnace’s blower. Which should help reduce maintenance in the long term on that expensive furnace.
This model also houses two pre filters and two post filters. Prefilters are electrostatically charge to help trap more dirt. And they’re also filled with activated carbon to capture odor and VOCs. Between the pre and post filters you’ll find a series of ionizing wire to help capture very, very small particulate matter. Like almost every other Honeywell product these purifiers come with a 5 year warranty.
Features
- MERV 12-14 Equivalent
- Available in 5 sizes
- 6.5 inch cabinet depth (Aprilaire 5000 is 11.5″)
- Post filter replacement is optional
- 30 Times more effective than common 1 inch furnace filters
Quirks and Cons
- Requires professional installation
- More complicated than purifiers like the Perfect 16
- Electric cells need to be washed every 6-12 Months
Aprilaire 2410
We included the Aprilaire 2410 to show that it doesn’t take a ton of money to get whole house purification. And, while there will be labor expenses involved with getting this unit installed… it should be fairly reasonable. It doesn’t have any bells or whistles… it’s basically just a box that holds a good filter. It runs only when your furnace is blowing air. It’s not the best whole house purifier, but it does provide a good baseline to compare the other three options in the list. And, if money is tight it is not a bad unit by any stretch. It’s just not fancy. Sometimes that’s a good thing.
Features
- Upgradable to MERV 13 Filters
- Affordable purchase price
- Simple
- 28.3 Square feet of filter media
- Silent Operation
- 5 Year Warranty
Quirks and Cons
- Not as effective as others in this list
- No Carbon filtration