And manufacturers do a sneaky swap too, my Coway 150 which is a great air filter by the way, came with a nice thick grid of hexagonal cells each filled with carbon granules - that insert alone weighs like half a kg. I ordered official filter and carbon filter replacements off their website ....got a thin carbon "foam" that weighs maybe 50g instead.
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I can't direct you to a reference. Most of what I wrote is based on two things: 1) My own experiments. You can monitor PM2.5 levels accurately with a PMS5003 ($40 on Adafruit) plugged into an ESP32 ($10 on Adafruit) and ESPHome + Home Assistant, or you can splurge and get a full suite of sensors (<$100). That's what I did because it's fun and educational. Expect to spend a few hours setting it up. It's well-documented, but it's not quite plug-and-play. Friday evening will likely suffice, but it might be a full weekend if you run into problems. Heck, if you want to monitor pressure drop across your filter, you can get a pair of pressure sensors ($7 each, or $20 for a fancier multisensor like a BME688). Or you can get an Apollo Air or an AirGradient for <$200. Or you can get something from a company like Ambient Weather for easy and fully integrated. Don't go for cheap on Aliexpress / Amazon / eBay, though, since many of these are fakes. Monitoring PM2.5 levels in my room, I would see a drop in filtration if I needed to replace a filter due to filtration issues. Fans also get louder when they're overloaded. That's a good sign I need to vacuum something. You could do acoustic monitoring too, if you were fancy :) 2) Basic theory. A good book on -- of all things -- acoustics will show you how to model air pressure as voltage, something like a filter as a resistor, and a fan as a source. That gives good intuition for how filters stack. 3) Reading web forums, where others did simila…
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I have a Coway Airmega 150, and have been very happy with it. Coway makes a variety of models and they all are well designed. Mine is on the smaller side but it is quiet, automatic, and no annoying screens or beeps.
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I (in London) bought one recently (a COWAY Airmega) to try and improve the air quality in my apartment, specifically, the dust which has been reeking havoc on my breathing because of allergies. There is a noticeable improvement but it has not solved the problem by any stretch: so while I don’t regret the purchase, and will keep using it, I am not how sure I’d recommend them for the someone without breathing difficulties / allergies etc.
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Ditto. Coway Airmega 400 for me is slick and has an integrated sensor
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Sure, I use a Coway Airmega AP-1512HH set to low permanently. It doesn't move a ton of air on the low setting, but it is very quiet and the size fits pretty well next to the robot. I think getting something quiet is key as to not spook your cats, as one of mine hates the sound of loud white-noise-ish sounds. I will say I think this one works well, but you could likely find something cheaper because you don't need to much air circulation for a litter box. I just happened to already have this one.
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Air purifiers and air monitors. It is shocking and disgusting how much dust and particles these air purifiers suck out of the air. The air monitors detect when to open windows for CO2, among other things. My allergies no longer exist. Edit: A few people have asked for recommendations. I recommend the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH for larger spaces and Blueair Blue Pure 411 for smaller spaces. For the air monitor I have the Qingping.