Best Air Cleaners Comparison

Each electronic air cleaner reviewed has filtration benefits

Editorial Notes: David is one of our air cleaner experts and often gets asked this question. This is what he wrote last week to one of our customers. As you can see he tries to be very fair although he does have a bias in the IQAir direction.

Best Air Cleaners Comparison – IQAir and Clarifier

Both the IQAir and the Clarifier are excellent air cleaners. Both units are for serious allergies and rate the two highest on our websites. There are some differences however, that will explain why it may appear the Clarifier at first glance is a more efficient, valuable machine but on closer inspection, it is a tougher call to make between them.

The IQAir does not have as many air changes as the Clarifier air cleaner, but it makes up for it based on the fact that the machine efficiency is at least 99.99% down to 0.3 of a micron and larger and 99.5% efficient on the remaining particulates including particulates as small as 0.01 of a micron. Therefore, the IQAir HealthPro Plus air cleaners should in reality clean as much air in a 600 to 900 square foot area as the Clarifier air cleaners.

Regarding the gas filters, the Clarifier’s filter consists of fifteen pounds of carbon. That is one of its chief strengths. However, the life of a gas filter is directly proportional to how much it is exposed to particulates. The pre-filter on the Clarifier will filter out particulates 5 to 10 microns and larger which means a large number of smaller particulates will fill the pores of the carbon in the gas filter. Once the pores of the carbon become clogged they are not able to adsorb any gases and odors. Contrary to this, the V-5 gas filter in the IQAir should be able to perform as long as the Clarifier because of the fact its pre-filter will remove 90% of all the particulates entering the air cleaner. However we have not done any specific comparative testing of this difference, this is just my opinion. (Editor’s note: Our experience in our office is the Clarifier unit is outlasting the IQAir in duration)

The Clarifier air cleaner has the UV light which will continually bathe the viruses, germs, bacteria, mold and any micro-organisms trapped in the HEPA filter and on the surface level of the hepa filter they will be sterilized. Also, the particulates that make it through the HEPA filter will be exposed to the UV light so their DNA and RNA will be broken down so they can’t reproduce. The IQAir air cleaner does not have this feature.

Many of our customers are concerned with mold right now, which is why we particularly like the Clarifier air cleaners for areas such as moldy and musty basements. However, the IQAir makes up for this shortcoming by removing almost everything on first pass, that goes into the unit from the air (known as its “Efficiency”). This near 100% efficiency should in theory, attain approximately the same result as the Clarifier by not allowing the particulates from circulating in the air to be inhaled. In addition, in the case of mold, whether it is dead or alive, is not as important as removing it from the air, because it is the inhalation of particulates that provokes the allergic reaction.

In conclusion, I want you to understand that both units are excellent air cleaners and achieve very good results through the use of differing but similar technologies. In my opinion, the IQAir has by far the superior pre-filter of any air cleaner in the industry and is among the easiest when it comes to changing filters. The efficiency of its filter system in my personal testing of all the machines is second to none. The Clarifier unit is however a very powerful unit with a substantial amount of carbon fill, and because it does not have the extra heavy duty pre-filter of the IQAir, covers more square footage.

(Editor’s note. We debate the pros and cons of these two machines here in the office constantly. Both are very effective as per our ratings on our site. Personally, I like the Clarifier unit for strong odors, smoke and musty smells. I prefer the IQAir as an all-around unit because of design and ease of use features.)

See all Air Purifiers at Allergybuyersclub.com

Related Reviews & Articles

Air Purifiers & Air Cleaners

IQAir HealthPro Series Air Purifiers	Airfree Air Sterilizers	IQAir HealthPro Compact Air Purifiers	Blueair 201 Air Purifiers with HEPASilent Filter