PuroAir HEPA H14 240 And 400 Air Purifier Review

PuroAir HEPA H14 air purifiers are raising quite a lot of dust lately (no pun intended).

We are going to review fully PuroAir 240 and PuroAir 400 models (best-selling and much-loved units, according to most reviews), but let’s just start with these 2 key takeaways right off the bat:

• Bad (Cringe): PuroAir has a bit of hyped marketing. “First air purifier with H14 HEPA filters!” and “Covers 2,145 Sq Ft” for PuroAir 400 are a bit out there. PuroAir does have H14 HEPA filters, but it’s not the 1st one on the market. Effective coverage at 2 ACH is 1,073 sq ft, and 429 sq ft at 5 ACH. All that “Backed by scientists and virologists at Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins, and Oxford University.” is also like, come on, MIT scientists have better things to do than review air purifiers. They might as well throw NASA in there, just to make it more unbelievable.
• Good (Remarkable, really): The filtration capabilities are truly off the charts. H14 HEPA filters (medical-grade) offer the cleanest possible air (with 99.995% efficiency at 0.3-micron air particulate diameter). These kinds of filters are used in hospitals and clinics; it doesn’t get any better than this.

It’s kind of funny to see how PuroAir tries to market these 2 models; they should just focus on key filtration capability metrics (because they are absolutely outstanding) and price tag.

PuroAir 400 (B0C3FXZLZ5 model) with 400 CADR rating and H14 HEPA filters for less than $300? PuroAir 240 (B0998FWTHP model) with 240 CADR rating and H14 HEPA filters for less than $200? This unmatched price-performance for H14 HEPA air purifiers should be pointed out first and foremost (until, as it is customary, they jack up the prices to $500+, of course).

Alright, to set this PuroAir review up, let’s first look at the specifications of both units:

PuroAir 240 vs PuroAir 400 Specs Comparison

We usually start by looking at the all-important CADR rating for air purifiers, but with PuroAir it makes sense to first look at its crown jewel – the filtration system:

Filtrations System With H14 HEPA Filters

Both PuroAir 240 and 400 models have “HEPA 14” in their names. That’s just how important the inclusion of H14 HEPA filters is.

PuroAir follows the tried-and-tested 3-stage filtration (all stages are contained in 1 filtration system):

1. Pre-Filter. Pre-filters catch bigger air pollutants like pet hair (cats, dogs), bigger mold spores, bigger dust particles, and so on. It cannot be overstated how important the pre-filter is for protecting the all-important HEPA filters, especially when you use H14 filters.
2. H14 HEPA filter. HEPA filters catch invisible air pollutants like small dust particles, pollen, smoke particles, and so on. Compared to H10-12 and H13 HEPA filters, the H14 is exceedingly more capable of capturing all of the particles. It can catch 99.99% of 0.1-micron particles, that is about 10x better than standard H13 HEPA filters.
3. Activated carbon filter. This is basically a smell-removal filter; it adsorbs unwanted odors. While the H14 HEPA filter is fantastic, the carbon filter PuroAir uses is just standard.

These are all-in-one PuroAir filters. On the left, we see a circular filter in the 240 models, and on the right, we see a planar filter in the 400 models.

From this, we can deduce two key things:

1. PuroAir 240 and 400 are best-in-class when it comes to capturing air particulates. That’s great!
2. Both PuroAir units have a standard odor-removal capability. Just painfully average, nothing out of extraordinary here.

So, if you are looking to get rid of kitchen smells or cat litter smell, for example, PuroAir is not the best choice. For all other uses – especially purifying small particles from the air we breathe – it’s an excellent choice.

CADR Rating

Now, the first thing you should look at when checking any air purifier is the CADR rating. CADR stands for Clean Air Delivery Rate; it’s basically the speed at which the air purifier is capable of cleaning air.

In fact, the CADR rating is so important PuroAir included it in the name of the models (240 model and 400 model is basically 240 CADR and 400 CADR).

An average air purifier will have a 100-200 CFM CADR rating. Just looking at this benchmark, we can see that both PuroAir are an above-average CADR rating.

A nuance that makes PuroAir 400 even more brilliant is the fact that it has H14 HEPA filters. Namely, denser (better) filters are more restrictive, since they have smaller holes the air can pass through. As a consequence, H14 air purifiers usually have a lower CADR rating.

With both the PuroAir 240 and PuroAir 400, we actually see a high CADR rating despite the restrictive nature of H14 HEPA filters. That’s a win-win specs combo we would always be looking for in any medical-grade HEPA filter air purifier.

CADR rating is also essential for good square foot coverage:

Coverage

As you might imagine, it is important for the air purifier to be correctly sized for the space you want to use it in. We actually created this air purifier size calculator that can help you correctly size an air purifier.

As we can see from the PuroAir 240 vs 400 specs comparison above, these two units have the following coverage:

• PuroAir 240 has 299 sq ft coverage at 2 ACH, and 200 sq ft coverage at 5 ACH.
• PuroAir 400 has 1,073 sq ft coverage at 2 ACH, and 429 sq ft coverage at 5 ACH.

A word about ACH. ACH stands for Air Changes per Hour; it denotes the number of times all the air in the room is completely purified/cleaned.

At 2 ACH, the air changes 2 times per hour (every 30 minutes). At 5 ACH, the air changes 5 times per hour (every 12 minutes); 5 ACH is usually recommended for allergy-prone people.

When looking at the coverages, we are basically trying to figure out if we need 1 or more air purifiers, and here, the difference between PuroAir 240 and PuroAir 400 is obvious.

PuroAir 240 has a smaller coverage and can be thought of as a single-room air purifier. That means that you usually have to place 1 air purifier per room.

PuroAir 400 has a bigger coverage (up to 1,073 sq ft at 2 ACH). That means that a single PuroAir 400 can be enough to cover a flat, it is a multi-room air purifier. At most, you will need 2 units to cover an average-sized home.

Since we usually buy several air purifiers, PuroAir always offers bargain 2PACKs; basically 2 air purifiers at a lower price. You can check current PuroAir 2PACK offers here.

Noise Levels (Can You Sleep With It On?)

If you figure that you work for 8 hours, commute for 1-2 hours, spend time outdoors for 1-2 hours, you are left with 4-6 hours at home and 8 hours in bed. The point it: indoors, we spend most of our time sleeping. Nice!

Since we use air purifiers to increase indoor air quality (IAQ), we obviously want to have the cleanest air in room where we spend the most time, and that’s usually the bedroom (especially if we have the luck we can sleep for 8 hours per day).

That’s why the most common placement of air purifiers is in the bedroom. Noise levels are thus a major spec to check before getting one (or three).

Luckily, PuroAir air purifiers are quite silent. While most air purifiers with these CADR ratings will generate 60+ dB noise levels on the max. fan speed setting, both PuroAir 240 and PuroAir 400 generate less than 60 decibels even when running at full speed.

Here are the noise specs:

• PuroAir 240 runs at 22 dB at the lowest fan speed and 55.2 dB at the highest fan speed.
• PuroAir 400 runs at 35 dB at the lowest fan speed and 59.6 dB at the highest fan speed.

We see that both units have a complete decibel range below 60 dB; these are quiet air purifiers.

If you are looking for a bedroom air purifier and you’re choosing between PuroAir 240 vs PuroAir 400, it makes sense to use this rationale:

• PuroAir 240 is perfect for small bedrooms. It has very low noise levels (22-55.2 dB) and 5 ACH coverage of 200 sq ft. This might not be enough coverage for a master bedroom, but it would be perfect for 12×12, 14×14, or even 16×16 small bedroom or kids bedroom.
• For the master bedroom (200+ sq ft), the PuroAir 400 would be a more optimum choice. Yes, it has a higher max. noise levels (35-59.6 dB), but it also has a 429 sq ft 5 ACH coverage. Important: This means that in, let’s say, a 300 sq ft master bedroom, you don’t actually need to run it at max. fan speed (and 59.6 dB). You can lower the fan speed, thereby lowering the noise levels in your bedroom as well.

Now, switching between fan speeds is a nuisance which promptly leads us to another advantage both PuroAir H14 HEPA air purifiers have:

Auto Mode (Smart Mode)

With bad air purifiers, you have to switch between Speed 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Nobody really likes to do that. That’s why the auto-mode air purifier is a must-have feature.

Auto-mode basically switches between fan speeds automatically. It adjusts the fan speed based on the IAQ (Indoor Air Quality). More air particulates = higher speed, less air particulates = lower speed kind of logic.

It is not surprising that the bigger PuroAir 400 has this auto-model; many bigger air purifiers come with this. What is rather neat is that the smaller PuroAir 240 has auto-mode as well; it’s quite uncommon for smaller 1-room units to have auto-mode.

The key to auto-mode is the built-in IAQ detector. Namely, the air purifier has to measure the IAQ (hence the detector) to properly adjust the fan speed.

Needless to say, IAQ detectors as well as the medical-grade H14 HEPA filters can be expensive, so let’s talk prices:

Price Of PuroAir 240 vs 400

If you have been looking at H14 medical-grade air purifiers, you know they easily cost $500+. These are just the best-in-class units, and can arguable dictate that prices.

Here’s where the main point about PuroAir air purifiers come in: They ARE budget-friendly!

The smaller PuroAir 240 (that’s a H14 unit with auto-mode and 240 CADR rating, mind you) costs only $200. That’s just insane bargain for a H14 air purifier. On top of that, PuroAir usually runs percentage discounts, bringing the final price below $200.

PuroAir 400 (bigger unit with 400 CADR rating) costs $280. Let that sink in. For this model, we also see percentage discounts, as well as 2PACK deals.

Here you can check the current price and PuroAir deals:

Check PuroAir 240 Deals

Check PuroAir 400 Deals

Bottom Line

PuroAir has this awful overkill Harvard scientists marketing approach that they don’t really need. It would be quite interesting to ask them why they feel the need to overblow what is actually the perfect price-performance air purifier line.

Pretty much the name of the models tells you all you need to know. “PuroAir 240 H14 HEPA” and “PuroAir 400 H14 HEPA” already tells you this is a H14 medical-grade HEPA air purifier with 240 CADR and 400 CADR rating, respectively.

Now, you would expect $500+ price tag, as per usual for H14 HEPA air purifiers. Here’s where the shocker is: PuroAir discounts their prices severely. You can actually pick up these units for $200 or $300. This unmatched price-performance is why PuroAir air purifiers are selling like hotcakes.

It does, however, make us wonder how long can they sustain these low prices. Usually, undercutting the market is the way to get the relative market share, and when you have that, you jack up the prices.

If you are reading this while the prices are still low, you can get the undeniable best price-performance air purifiers on the market on the cheap.

Thank you.