3M Filtrete Ultra Clean Air Purifier, FAP02-RS
by 3M
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of 3M Filtrete Ultra Clean Air Purifier, FAP02-RS
Customer Review: Awesome! - Money saving tip:
Summary: 4 Stars
The filter is amazing, looks awesome, and quiet. My main complaint is that the fan speed selector has tiny lights on it that, in a way similar to xmas "chasing" lights, appear to spin at various speeds. The problem I have with this is that there's something frustratingly addictive about playing with the fan speeds and watching the lights! Other than that, great all around!!
Now, the money saving tip: There's a certain department store out there with a carbon/charcoal mesh and blue mesh trim-to-fit air filter for $10 (the store is based in Arkansas and has the word "Mart" in it). If you set that up as a "pre-filter" of sorts, you'll not only get nearly a year out of your 3M one, but you'll get rid of odors much better. I believe the $10 filter is made by WEB - I've been able to cut it in such a way as to get 3 pre-filters out of each.
Customer Review: Nice, but not inexpensive to operate
Summary: 4 Stars
I have two of these in my home, one in my office and one in the bedroom. I definetly notice a difference in using them.
For anyone that may be wondering, this device uses appx 80-85 watts at full speed, 50-52 at medium, ~37 watts at low speed, and 1-2 watts plugged in but not running. That, coupled with the $20 replacement filters doesn't exactly make these things cheap, but I think it's worth it.
I think it is worth mentioning that you can get "custom" filters for less than the cost of the 3M filters. There are several websites where you can tell them the dimensions of the filter and they cut them up for you.
Customer Review: Great Unit, but replacement filter is expensive and pain to get
Summary: 3 Stars
I have two of these units and it works very well. However, I have been having a hard time finding replacement filters. I ordered a 4-pack replacement filter for 21 dollars (part# FAPF02-4, which no longer on web site) on Amazon in Feburary and still in backorder. (and projected to be backordered until October) I could not find replacement filters anywhere!!! Now, Amazon is selling "ONE" filter for $20!!!! What!?!!?!?!??!?!? Out of necessity, I have to get it at a high price because both of my filters are clogged up! For a three month replacement filter, it is quite expensive. If they would had initially sell "one" filter for 20 bucks, I probably wouldn't have purchased it. Looks like a scam to me..... bait and switch!Customer Review: bunco
Summary: 2 Stars
The room air filter market is full of bunco. This one is no different.
3M is notorious for selling high filtration replacement filters for return-air registers on residential central HVAC systems. Most homeowner purchasers are not aware that the restrictive filter more than doubles the static pressure drop and will almost always exceed the specified limit of the system unless a second or third return air register is installed to double or triple filter surface area.
The bunco with room air filters is their pitiful capacity given the amount of noise they make. 3M claims this one works for rooms up to 160 square feet but they don't claim how many cubic feet of air the unit moves per minute (CFM). Most manufacturers who do claim CFM use the rating of the fan and motor without the filter media attached.
A 160 square foot room is about 13 x 12 feet -- a typical bedroom. With 8 foot ceilings it would have 1280 cubic feet. To attain five room air changes per hour, the unit would need to move about 107 CFM. Five air changes per hour is a rule of thumb -- keep in mind that the unit will not have a laminar air flow and some of the room's air will remain unfiltered while other air will be recycled through the filter many times.
To achieve 107 CFM through the filter media, the fan would actually need to be rated closer to 200CFM. This is the equivalent of four typical bathroom fans. It would be about the same as a cheap kitchen range hood (the kind that are under the microwave over the stove) on the high setting. The bottom line: even the highest quality 200CFM fan compact enough to fit in this unit will be so noisy that it will interfere with basic conversation. Remember that you cannot get far away from this unit either -- because it filters rooms 12 feet across, you'd need to be no more than a few steps away receive any benefit.
Because people report the filter media fills up with dust, isn't that better than no filter at all? No. The unit's ciculation of the air actually stirs up the dust it catches in the filter. Without the blowing, the dust would settle to the ground where it could be picked up with a mop in a few seconds without blowing it up in the air. If you have carpet, a quality vacuum with an efficient filter (Miele) would work best.
This type of unit (or more typically a box fan with a cheap furnace filter) does have an application in source control -- for example in a room where you're sanding the dry wall after taping or a shop where saw dust is being produced. But for continous operation it is not practical or beneficial.
The right way to keep your home's air clean is: source control, ventilation, filtration (in that order). If you have a mess in your air, fix the source of the problem first. Then ventilate your home because fresh air is usually better and always far simpler to obtain than filtered air. Filtering dirty air is far more difficult than just blowing it out -- it's comparable to trying to filter your effluent instead of just bringing in some clean water. Moreover, when you realize that ventilation should provide as much as 1 air change per hour, it should hurt to realize how that precious, expensive filtered air is just going to be blown out almost as fast as you can make it.
Customer Review: Ditch the fan, keep the filter
Summary: 2 Stars
The filter seems to catch a lot of particulate, yet it seems like the fan is creating very little suction. It seems like the fan and housing is constructed such that it puts out a lot of air* but barely feels like it's sucking in any.
I can't afford to do a scientific test on this, but if I could...
3M makes Filtrete filters in multiple sizes, so I would get a fresh replacement for this unit, as well as a large HVAC filter that I would tape to the back of my big box fan, measure with an airflow meter, vacuum each filter into a empty bagless canister after 2 weeks of runtime, and compare the volume of particulate each pulled out of the air.
My hypothesis is that the box fan would be more effective at cleaning the air in the same amount of time.
As far as noise, I am a professional voice-over actor and I had to turn it off during recording.
*It blows so hard it severely irritated my ear canal from the pressure when I left it running in my bedroom overnight. I wouldn't have left it on, except the air quality was really bad that night.