Oreck Tower Air Purifier

The Oreck Tower Air Purifier is a slim and sleek air purifier. This model uses the same technology as the Oreck Proshield and Proshield Plus purifiers. It uses an electrostatic filter to clean the air.

Features

Oreck Tower Air Purifier

• Portable
• Permanent filter
• 5 stage filtration
• Filter clean indicator light
• 4 speed fan with silent and turbo mode
• Energy efficient
• Optional fragrance packs

Type of Filter

This tower air purifier uses an electrostatic filter, called a Truman Cell. This air purifier claim to remove particles 0.1 microns and larger with 95% efficiency.

This may sound great, but it is not that great. Other electrostatic air filters are 99.9% efficient.

The problem is the 5% it misses are likely the smallest particles. The ones most likely to cause breathing problems.

Oreck boast of their 6 stage filtration system. We only counted 5 stages. You can read more about Oreck 5 stage air purifier filters here.

The tower air purifier has an odor absorber. This is optional and you do not have to use it in the air purifier. It will help remove some of the odor from the air. It is too small to do a lot though.

This purifier has optional air fragrance packs. So it will at least cover up the odors that it can't remove.

Maintenance Cost

The Oreck Tower Air Purifier has a low cost to maintain. The pre-filter and the filter are permanent. You don't have to buy replacement filters. Wash the filters, let them dry and put them back in and you're good to go.

There is a filter light to tell you when to clean the filter. Be prepared to clean it once a month. For best results you probably should clean it at least every 2 weeks.

Sometimes these machines can make a loud snapping or buzzing sound. Oreck calls this "arcing." This is what happens when a large piece of dust gets caught in the filter. If this sound continues for a long time, you will have to clean the filter.

The odor absorbers are advertised as good for 1 year. You will need to replace them. They cost about $50.

The Oreck Tower Air Purifier also has scent catridges. These are optional and cost about $10. The catridges last about 1 month.

Technical Details

The Oreck Tower Air Purifier can clean the air in a 900 square foot room once an hour. This may sound impressive. In order to notice a real difference in the air quality in a room the air exchanges per hour should be a minimum of 4. 6 exchanges an hour is better. This is no where even close to that.

In a 900 square foot room there are 7200 cubic feet of air (we are assuming 8 foot ceilings.) This purifier can clean all this air 1 time. That is not very good. We want a minimum of 4 exchanges an hour. To get that this purifier would have to be in a 200 square foot room.

This machine was not submitted to AHAM for testing so we don't know what the CADR rating is.

This purifier has 4 speeds. The lowest speed is silent mode. The highest speed is turbo mode.

This model is energy efficient using about the same amount of energy as a light bulb.

Warranty

This purifier comes with a 5 year warranty on parts and labor. This is good only for the original owner. If you buy a reconditioned purifier, there is only a 1 year warranty.

Oreck also gives a 30 day risk free trial. If you are not happy with the air purifier, you can send it back for a full refund. They will even pay the shipping for you.

The Truman Cell comes with a lifetime warranty. If it breaks Oreck will replace it.

Customer Reviews

• Some customers report it works wonderfully.
• It removed all the dust from my bedroom.

• Described as a noisy fan.
• Several customers report it stopped working after a few months.
• It stopped my allergy symptoms.

In an interest to be fair to Oreck. Many of the people who complain about the air purifier not working are probably the same ones that are not cleaning the collector plates often enough.

Our Recommendations

Our recommendation for the Oreck Tower Air Purifier is the same as for the other Oreck Air Purifiers. We just don't think it is worth the money you have to pay or the time you have to spend cleaning the "permanent filters."

This unit is expensive. In order to provide the minimum 4 air exchanges an hour, you have to use it in a room that is 200 square feet. So it would only work in a smaller room.

The filtering system is not that great. 95% efficiency is not something to be proud of. Oreck makes it sound great, but it isn't.

If you really want an electrostatic air purifier that is very efficient we would recommend Blueair air purifiers. They can remove 99.9% of particles this same size.

Be careful because the air revitalizer does produce some ozone. This is optional so you can keep it turned off. We recommend that if you have asthma you keep it turned off.

In general we would not buy this model for ourselves so we don't recommend it to others.