Blueair 203 Air Purifier

The Blueair 203 is a great air purifier for a small room. It will work great in a kid's bedroom or a small home office. It will clean a room up to 175 square feet. Like all Blueair air purifiers it is made from all steel.

Features

Blueair 203

• HEPAsilent filter
• Optional activated carbon filter
• All steel construction
• Mechanical controls
• Quiet operation

Type of Filter

The 203 combines a mechanical and an electronic filter. This is a HEPA type filter. Most of the time when you see an air purifier that uses a HEPA type filter it is an inferior product. We were happy to find out that this is not true with this air filter.

The mechanical filter is made from polypropylene. It is less dense than a normal HEPA filter. An ion chamber precedes the filter.

The particles in the air are charged. This causes them to stick to the filter better. This filtering system is capable of removing up to 99.97% of airborne particles 0.1 microns and bigger from the air. This will remove dust, dust mites, pollens, and other allergens.

There is an optional activated carbon filter. Blueair calls this a smokestop filter. It will remove some of the gases, chemicals, and odors from the air.

We think if you want serious odor or chemical removal you should think about an air purifier by Austin Air, IQAir, or AllerAir.

Maintenance Cost

The 203 has an expected filter life of 6 months. The mechanical filter must be replaced.

• The regular filter is $50.
• The smokestop filter is $80.

The yearly upkeep cost is either $100 or $160.

Technical Details

This will clean a room up to 175 square feet. That's a room 15 feet by 12 feet. It will work well in a small bedroom or a home office. Remember, the smaller the space the better job of cleaning this will do.

It is certified by AHAM with a CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) of:

• Smoke: 115
• Dust: 115
• Pollen: 115

It will provide 5 air exchanges per hour.

It has 3 different speeds. The lowest speed is fairly quiet and is recommended for nighttime. The highest speed can move a large amount of air, cleaning the room quickly and is a bit noisier.

The Blueair 203 measures 17 inches X 10 inches X 21 inches (L X W X H).

It comes with a 5 year limited warranty on material and workmanship. Within the first 30 days Blueair will pay for all shipping charges. After 30 days, they will only pay shipping back to you.

In order for the warranty to be valid filters must be replaced every 6 months. Like Alen, there is a filter subscription service. They will automatically ship you a new filter every 6 months. This means you don't have to worry about when to change the filters. Just change it when you get a new filter.

Our Recommendations

We like this air purifier. It is quiet on low speed. It does a great job of filtering out allergens. This will work well for an allergy sufferer. This works well in a small space.

We like the option of purchasing a activated carbon filter. We highly recommend that if you purchase this one, you also buy the smokestop filters. However, if smoke and odors are you primary concern, we would recommend a different air purifier.

The maintenance cost is a little on the high side. To keep the warranty you have to replace the filters twice a year. This means that each year you are going to spend either a $100 for regular filters or $160 for smokestop filters. This doesn't seem like much, but it can add up over time.

Overall, this is a very good air purifier for allergy or asthma suffers to use in a small room.