Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
- Round air purifier or larger rooms (up to 390 square feet in size)
- Permanent True HEPA filter removes 99.97 percent of common airborne pollutants as small as 0.3 microns
- Glass-fiber HEPA material also helps remove airborne particles, viruses and bacteria
- 360-degree airflow, 3 speeds, carbon pre-filter
- Measures 18 by 18 by 19 inches; 5-year limited warranty
True HEPA filter removes 99.97% of all airborne particlesfrom the air passing through the filter such as pollen, cat dander,household dust, tobacco some & mold spores
Rating: 
(out of 209 reviews)
List Price: $ 210.99
Price: $ 159.99
Review by Richard Wong for Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
I appreciate it.
Rating:
In this review, I will first summarize the major points and focus the details afterward. This way you can stop reading when you get the level of details you need. The definitions of “HEPA” and “CADR” are placed at the end of this review. Please vote for this review if you like it
**Kimmer (another reviewer) has kindly uploaded a wonderful youtube video to demonstrate the noise level, title: “Honeywell Enviracare 50250 air purifier”. Since your computer speaker will affect the demonstrated noise level, make sure you gauge the noise to Kimmer’s voice.**
Pros: Powerful, inexpensive, permanent HEPA filter, easy to maintain, 360 degree air intake and output, portable, accessible replacement parts, good support from Kaz, a 5 year limited warranty.
Cons: Noisy, high power consumption, not stylish.
Previously I owned the Honeywell HFD-130 Germicidal Tower HEPA Air Purifier with Permanent IFD Filter, but due to its ozone emission and my respiratory problem, I returned it back to HomeDepot. I got fully refunded and bought this Honeywell 50250N on the same day and loved it. I have a mild allergy. I sneeze and experience itchy eyes when I am outdoor, but stop when I am at home (where my purifier is). I recommend two important points when shopping for a purifier: (1) always examines the CADR number. It is a decent performance indicator, (2) always buys an air purifier adequate for your need. A 100 sq ft purifier will not work for a 1000 sq ft living space.
Honeywell 50250N is a true HEPA filter purifier with a 250 CADR, which translates into a recommended 375 square feet usage space. Currently, this purifier is being sold at ~$160. It has been quoted as the only purifier 99.97% of airborne particles that is 0.3 micrometer. The removal success rate is usually equal or higher for larger particles and for slightly smaller particles (down to ~0.01 micro), but performance drops drastically for much smaller particles. HEPA can effectively trap pollens, fine dust and smoke particles — the major causes of allergy. “HEPA-type” and “HEPA-like” purifiers fall short of this requirement, and there is no strict guideline for their exact definitions. Historically, HEPA was a top-secret technology developed to filter radioactive aerosol, part of the Manhattan Project. HEPA is not designed to remove odors and VOC (volatile organic chemicals), since they are much smaller than the effective range of a HEPA filter.
CADR (clean air delivery rate) is certified by the AHAM (Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers). CADR is expressed in units of cubic feet volume per minute. The suggested floor space is usually calculated based on a 8 foot ceiling and a 5 air change setting. For example, Honeywell 50250N produces 250 cubic feet of clean air per minute or 15000 cu ft per hour. Divides 15000 cu ft by a 8 ft ceiling and by a 5 air change equates to a recommended floor space of 375 sq ft. A shortcut is to multiple the CADR number by 1.5: e.g. 250 CADR X 1.5 = 375 sq ft. Although the recommended floor space value is easier to relate to, there is no legal guideline for the calculation. Neoair’s most powerful purifier, Neoair Plus, has a suggested 600 sq ft floor space, much larger than that of Honeywell 50250N. In reality, Neoair Plus has a CADR
Review by niki for Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
Rating:
I have suffered from allergies all of my life, but especially the last few years, they have gotten progressively worse. Last year, I lived in an apartment over two chain smokers and was constantly congested. I started researching air purifiers because my medications weren’t helping enough on their own. I ended up deciding on this unit for my living room/dining area, a Hamilton Beach 04163 for my bedroom, and another Hamilton Beach 04163 to go on the other side of my living room as well since the living room/dining area/kitchen was all together and not separated by doors and was too large an area for only one cleaner to handle efficiently. I have been very satisfied with this unit. I got it in December 2004 and it has not given me any problems. I have had to change the pre-filters a few times (you usually have to change them every three months or so) but have not yet had to change the HEPA filter. I like the way this system has what it calls Intellicheck which lets you know when it is time for the filters to be changed, as well as the way that it has the 360 degree technology. The unit looks kind of like a barrel so that the clean air flows out of the top all around it. I don’t notice a cleaner air smell like I have heard people talk about, but I can definitely tell a difference in my allergy symptoms when I am running my air cleaners or not. And when I put my Hamilton Beach air cleaner in the living room which has an auto setting that detects the air quality, it had the air rated as being good from the beginning, which I believe is due to the Honeywell 50250 which had been running 24/7 a few days prior to that since the Hamilton Beach air cleaner in my room had the air quality as poor when I turned it on the auto setting. I still have to take my allergy medications that I was prescribed, but there is a definite difference between when I just take the medication and when I take the medication and use the air cleaners.
I hope this review helps. I also like the fact that it has a carrying handle at the top, and I don’t find it very noisy. It has a white noise to it, but I have not experienced any problems not hearing the television or not being able to nap in the living room while it is on.
The replacement pre-filters are easy to find for this unit. The HEPA filter seems a little harder to find in retail stores, but it does not have to be replaced as often so it is not too bad.
Review by Lillith for Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
Rating:
Let me start off by saying that I suffer from being allergic to cigarette smoke and my husband and I live in an enclosed apartment complex. This is made worse by the fact that the front door doesn’t seal up against the frame and smoke from the hallway leaks into our apartment with other odors and smells. Now let me add that that my husband suffers from severe allergy’s and takes medicine daily for his condition. Did I mention that we have two cats and a pug. Life was miserable in our 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment, till this little puppy showed up. It’s just like the picture describes it, like a barrel, the nice feature on it is the Intellicheck, this little feature tells you when to change the filters and it’s quite easy the pre filters just lay on the hepa filter and are held in place by two pieces of Velcro. They do need to be changed about ever two months though, this may be more then normal because of our pets. But since we got the first one for the living room we added one more to the bedroom. Now you walk down our hallway gagging on the scent and odors but as soon as you open our door you are greeted by the clean smelling air and the sound of the filter cleaning it. Okay it is a little loud but don’t let that discourage you. Wait till you get it home and turn it on full blast. It is a little noisy but when you go up to it, you can feel it sucking in the air from all around the unit. Then the freshly cleaned air gets pushed up through the top of the unit in a circle around the unit. It really does clean the square footage it claims to. Now I no longer complain about the smoke in our apartment and my husband also enjoys less sinus and nasal pressure. We did our homework on this one and read all about the Honeywell 50250. Before we decided to buy ours and were glad that we did.
Review by Bob Matthews for Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
Rating:
I own the Honeywell 50250 and loved it. I bought it because it was a Consumer Reports’ best buy. It cleaned the air of cigarette smoke better than anything I’ve ever owned. But, mine quit working after 2 months. The switch gave out.
It has a 5 year warranty, but according to the instructions, you have to mail the unit back, which is a huge bummer. It’s not so much the fact that you have to enclose a check for $15 to get warranty service, but the fact that I’m gonna have to trudge down to the post office. I can’t recommend anything that costs > $100 and quits working after 2 months. By the way, even though this is branded as a Honeywell, the manufacturer is a company called Kaz, according to the instruction manual.
Review by M. Harber for Honeywell 50250 99.97% Pure HEPA Round Air Purifier
Rating:
I have purchased several Honeywell air cleaners recently for my family (children, parents and brother’s household) and have been very pleased with their performance and and engineering. I was looking for an air cleaner for my daughter’s room and was given an older model by friends who had used it briefly before buying an Ionic Breeze instead due to the noise level- the only reason I didn’t rate it 5 stars. While that machine is a Sears labelled appliance, it is identical to a small Honeywell. It has effectively reduced her symptoms, and the noise hasbn’t been disagreeable on lower settings with any of the machines. Using the higher settings an hour or so before bedtime and reducing the fan speed to low during the night produces a ‘white nboise” that I find soothing.
Replacement filters (permanent) arte readily availabvle and economical (under $15.00 at Amazon). Other Honeywell air cleaners we have purchased differ in that they have no ionizer (not recommended by medical authorities- i am myself a family physician) and in their capacity. All of the machines I have bought are the round hassock-shaped ones and this is an imiportant design feature in that these models use either og two sizes of replacement permanent filters as above. Larger models may use up to three stacked filters in place of the original and expensive non-permanent filter. All use a cut-to charcoal-containing pre-filter which may be vacuumed periodically and used for substantially longer than the packaging indicated (at least 6 months). The HEPA filters may be vacuumed as well, a simple maintenance task.
The filter that comes with a filter that is NOT permanent but is instead a “long-life” singlre filter with a recommended replacement interval of five years. It does not have a “permanent filter”.
one of the big pluses for these machines is the excellent 5-year warranty. No machine in this price range except a few Hunter models offer a 5-year warranty, and Hunter permanent filters are far more expensive and hard-to find. I have noted some complaints about warranty service in other reviews of Honeywell products, but nonetheless it is still a very good value.
I ofund some of my machines in the local Goodwill for $10 or so- check it out!. On new machines, I really couldn’t beat the Amazon deals substantially and ordered one of these and another odel for family. My brother was so impressed he went out and bought 2 other machines (regrettably, not Honeywell) for his fairly severe allergy problems. t wouldn’t count on these machines to eliminate strong odors vcompletely but they do make a difference.
I would add a final note about my experience with central air conditioner filters. A NMERV of 8-10 is sufficient to remove almost all common allergens. Higher filtration requires larger surface area to prevent excessive air obstruction. We bought a filter some time ago that we couldn’t use for that very reason. The most economical is the Lysol brand filter available in Lowes stores.
Removing bacteria from the air is unimportant- “air sdanitizer” are a waste of money. Airborne bacteria rarely survive long and DO NOT cause odors in and of themselves- they must be in a nutrient rich medium and actively growing to cause odors. As for mold, remember that removing moisture is the answer to that problem. A relative humidity of 40 % or less will take care of mold and mildew very nicely. So, use your AC, dehumidifier, or pipe wrench as needed to control moisture problems. As for vacuums, they all work- IF YOU USE THEM! A central system that exhausts to the outdoors or a garage area that can be aired is a great option. bagless vacuums, water trap vacuums, etc really don’t make much difference in air quality. We find that using simple bedlinens in the children’s rooms which can be tossed in the dryer for 10 minutes are useful ways to control dust mites and remove some of their allergens. Stuffed animal toys can also be given a spin for the same reasion.
Sorry if I get carried away, but I have always felt a duty to teach my opatients to take care of themselves. I hope this has been helpful. The Honeywell air cleaners are a great way for allergy sufferers to take control of their symptoms in part.