How does Melbourne University’s Guide to Air Cleaner Purchasing help you?

The School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Services at Melbourne University aims to investigate a broad range of sciences and then publishes their results to provide people with an independent assessment of a range of products. Most recently, the University has been looking at Air Purifiers as they have become popular as people look for options to provide safe clean air for their families and staff by using machines that can help clear rooms of airborne viruses such as COVID-19. However, as you will see from the research undertaken, not all air purifiers are the same and it is important to understand what to look for when purchasing an air cleaner in order to get the right model to suit your needs and not just because you recognise the brand name. 

There are currently several different air purification models available to Australian consumers. From these options, the team at Melbourne University first selected products that they deemed safe. This was done by choosing models that use HEPA (hospital grade) filtration as opposed to models that operate as direction fans without any filtration. Unfortunately, many brands that you would normally expect to trust and consider safe, did not pass this first stage of the testing process so so were unable to be tested by the University. 

We are lucky in Australia to have an independent body (such as Melbourne University) that can test air purification units for their performance. Air Purifier Australia’s AF-10 model was tested in Australia by the University and appears in the report. The results can be seen in the full article published on their website but here are some key points that we would like to highlight about the performance of our unit: 

1.       For medium size rooms, the charts show that the AF-10 is the quietest air purifier unit currently available on the market with a minimum air change per hour (ACH) of 6. The University recommends air purifiers with a minimum of 4 ACH to effectively remove viruses from the air. 

2.       For rooms up to 90m2, the AF-10 air purifier was found to be the highest performing and cost-effective option at a price point of just $699.  

Note: unlike the AF-10, not all the units featured on the charts were tested in person by the University. Some models were researched using data provided by suppliers or drawn from their websites.