AirFanta 3Pro review

Today, I’m excited to review another PC fan-powered air purifier after the impressive performance we saw with the Nukit Tempest. Introducing the AirFanta 3Pro.

Even though this air purifier must be assembled before you can switch it on, the process is much simpler than other PC fan devices. If you like the idea of a Nukit Tempest but you worry about the process of building it yourself from scratch with multiple PC fans, parts and screws, then this device by AirFanta might be the perfect option for you.

The AirFanta 3Pro is a creation of Adam Wong, someone who is very active on social media platforms — you might recognize him by his handle: @Engineer_Wong. Wong started his journey developing air purifiers in 2022, right after China left the Covid Zero policy. His beginnings involved assembling Corsi-Rosenthal boxes for friends and family, powered by his engineering background. Over time, he started receiving CR box requests from the local Covid Cautious community. This led to him designing and developing a new kind of DIY box that could be assembled and disassembled easily. The AirFanta 3Pro has been available in China for over a year and has recently entered the American, Canadian, and European markets.

As with all the air purifiers we tested, we paid for the AirFanta 3Pro with our own money to experience the entire customer journey, conduct various tests and write an honest (and unbiased) review. If you decide to buy an AirFanta 3Pro after clicking on a link from this review, you will be supporting our work, as we will get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

It’s worth mentioning that we used a platform called Snapklik to buy this device from Amazon.com and get it delivered to the UK (where HouseFresh is based) as it is not currently available to buy in Amazon.co.uk. However, Wong confirmed that AirFanta devices will be available to buy in the UK before the end of 2024.

The lowdown on the AirFanta 3Pro

If you don’t want to read my full review, here are the six things we like about the AirFanta 3Pro and the three things we don’t.

The best feature: it fits inside a carry-on bag 😲

This is the only high-CADR air purifier you can bring with you wherever you go.

Adam Wong designed the AirFanta 3Pro to be not only highly powered but also portable. You will not find any other air purifier with a CADR above 400 that you will be able to fit inside a large backpack or small suitcase.

The 3Pro can be disassembled and reassembled in just a few minutes, making it the best option for those looking for devices they can travel with.

The AirFanta 3Pro from @Engineer_Wong is the only high CADR air purifier you can fit in a backpack 🎒 pic.twitter.com/AAM8663ESW

— HouseFresh (@ThisHouseFresh) July 31, 2024

You also get a long piece of cable management Velcro that you can use to wrap all the parts neatly once you have disassembled your AirFanta 3Pro:

My favorite part of that Velcro strip: makes it very easy to pick it up, place into luggage, and remove it from luggage as a single item: pic.twitter.com/9Z3bLhhQQw

— Ocean𓅃Ridge (@RidgeOcean) August 7, 2024

A smaller, lighter CR box that looks great

The 3Pro is a CR box-inspired air purifier with a PC fan twist.

The AirFanta 3Pro is basically a box with a base at the bottom, one filter at each side and a fan array on top — much like the design of the Corsi-Rosenthal box.

The thing with the AirFanta 3Pro is that it is A LOT smaller than a CR box:

While this is not a PC fan kit of the likes of the Nukit Tempest or the CleanAirKits Luggable XL, you still need to put the AirFanta 3Pro together. Now, the process is a lot easier than any DIY air purifier I have built: you just need to put the four filters in place on the sides of the base before you can clip the fan array on top. 

The first time I put the 3Pro together, it took me a solid ten minutes to figure out just how much pressure I could apply to each of the parts to clip them in place. 

But after disassembling and reassembling the device a few times, I got much faster at it and can now easily put it together in just a couple of minutes.

As I mentioned briefly above, the AirFanta 3Pro has been designed to be cheap and portable: when you take it apart, you will be able to fit it neatly inside a standard carry-on bag. It even fits snuggly inside Gisele’s Osprey Proxima backpack:

I receive many emails from readers and subscribers looking for a high CADR air purifier they can travel with, so the fact that the 3Pro can be easily packed away to move from one place to another is a huge pro.

AirFanta has created an amazing design that is small and lightweight. Other DIY or PC fan air purifiers we tested are quite bulky (I’m looking at you, CR box!) and can be pretty wide due to the use of 20×20 filters:

Another thing worth mentioning is that your AirFanta 3Pro will come with a 110-220v AC to 3-12v stepless DC power adapter which will allow you to control the speed of the fans and the noise output.

Something that I really appreciate about AirFanta and Adam Wong is how committed they are to keep improving their devices based on customer feedback. A few days after we ordered our 3Pro, I saw a tweet from Wong in which he announced the introduction of a handy Velcro strap in response to an idea from @ParentMishmash:

Thanks to the advice from @ParentMishmash
I decide to add a piece of cable management Velcro in the 3Pro package from today.
It would help the installation.
Please note that the batches that already on the way to US and Canada don't contain this. pic.twitter.com/6hkFdoOhhJ

— Adam Wong (@Engineer_Wong) April 18, 2024

As mentioned at the top of this review, you can use this very same Velcro strip to strap the filters + fan array + base together once you have disassembled your 3Pro to ensure all parts fit nicely inside your suitcase or backpack. Simple yet effective!

Four HEPA 11 filters with the option of activated carbon

Custom-made filters with an expected life of 6-12 months. Wong stated that, in most cases, they can last a full nine months before they need to be replaced.

Unlike actual DIY air purifier kits, you won’t be able to simply pick up some HVAC filters for your AirFanta 3Pro.

The filter in the 3Pro have been designed to be portable yet powerful. This means that you will need to buy the official AirFanta filters when the time comes to replace the ones in your 3Pro, but I imagine that we will start seeing generic alternatives once the 3Pro becomes more popular.

When buying a 3Pro, you can choose between HEPA 11 filters only or HEPA 11 with activated carbon. We have both because we wanted to test the performance of the 3Pro with and without activated carbon.

When it comes to the HEPA 11 design, AirFanta states they developed a new pleating technology in order to produce powerful filters in such a small package. The 126×11.4“ particle filter material has been pleated eleven times into a much smaller 11.4×11.4×1″ area.

For those needing to tackle odors and gases, the best option is the carbon filter. It is a bonded filter (similar to those we see in Levoit devices) that combines a 15mm thick HEPA 11 filter with a 10mm layer of activated carbon. 

We are currently working on our written review of @Engineer_Wong’s AirFanta 3Pro, including new air cleaning performance data using HEPA + Carbon filters 🤓 pic.twitter.com/vYrDG3eGAm

— HouseFresh (@ThisHouseFresh) September 5, 2024

Whether you choose to go with the particle filter only or the particle+gas filter, you will find that AirFanta filters come with an aluminium cover on the outside that protects the air filter and serves as a (sort of) pre-filter for large dust particles.

It has been designed to be small enough to be used in a carry-on bag, so an HVAC-based system would be too big. This means that right now, there are only OEM filters, but if this device becomes popular, I would expect generic options, as other manufacturers will profit from selling filters of this size. 

The AirFanta 3Pro cleared our test room in 17 minutes

Yet another excellent PC fan-powered DIY air purifier. The 3Pro is nearly as fast at cleaning the air as the Smart Air Blast Mini.

The AirFanta 3Pro has not been sent to AHAM for a CADR test just yet. Independent tests are particularly important in cases like this to help inform consumers before they buy a device. 

I’ve been really keen to test the AirFanta 3Pro because there has been a lot of hype around it — especially after Rob Wissmann and David Elfstrom completed their own CADR tests:

• CADR: at 13V: 436 CFM
• CADR at 12V: 413 CFM 
• CADR at 9V: 328 CFM 
• CADR at 6V: 213 CFM 

With a CADR of 436 CFM, the AirFanta 3Pro is one of the most powerful HEPA air purifiers on the market today. When running at its top fan speed, the 3Pro can provide 4.8 air changes per hour in spaces up to 681 sq. ft. This is incredible for a device that costs less than $150. 

I’m happy to report that the hype is completely warranted. Let me walk you through how the 3Pro performed in our tests.

First stop is the particle removal test. We tested the AirFanta 3Pro in the same room, where we tested over 80 air purifier models since 2020. By testing every device in the same room (728 sq. ft.) performing the same job (removing incense smoke), we can quickly compare performance across devices. This year, we improved our air cleaning performance test by introducing a second laser particle sensor (a PurpleAir Zen) to record PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 particle levels in real time while the air purifier is doing its thing.

The AirFanta 3Pro removed all traces of PM1 particles from the air in a swift 17 minutes using the HEPA-only filter:

Swapping the filters for the HEPA + activated carbon option added three more minutes to the test, bringing the time to clean all traces of PM1 smoke pollutants to 20 minutes:

This matches the incredible CADR score tests performed by David Elfstrom and Rob Wiss, and compares quite favorably with other air much more expensive air purifiers.

As you can see in the table below, the AirFanta 3Pro is not only affordable but also incredibly fast at cleaning the air:

Our air cleaning performance test showed that at its highest fan speed, the AirFanta 3Pro is as powerful as devices costing upwards of $450:

Noise levels, compared

The second most important thing to look at when choosing an air purifier is the amount of sound it generates. A device that is too loud is unlikely to be used regularly or, even worse, is likely to be switched off. That is why we record (from 3 ft. away) the sound levels generated by every air purifier we test running at each fan speed in the same location (our basement). 

The AirFanta 3Pro comes with an AC-to-DC power adapter, which includes a dial for adjusting the voltage and the sound level generated by the air purifier.

You might be wondering how this compares to other devices, especially other PC fan-powered air purifiers. Check out our table below:

The thing with noise levels is that they can be quite subjective, as what one person deems as noisy might not bother the next person. That is why I recorded the sound test so you can listen to the AirFanta 3Pro with your own ears:

Compared to other PC fan devices like the Nukit Tempest and Clean Air Kits Luggable XL-7, the AirFanta 3Pro is much louder at its highest fan speed. However, it’s still in line with the top-speed sound levels of the traditional retail HEPA devices we have tested. 

Most people are likely to want to use their AirFanta 3Pro on a lower fan speed as 56.3 dBA can be quite disruptive in situations where noise is an issue (e.g. classrooms, offices, TV rooms, etc.) so we made sure to test the performance of this device at two different voltages. 

At its lowest fan speed (4.84v), the AirFanta 3Pro cleared our test room in 31 minutes while generating 38.1 dBA, which is quieter than a refrigerator humming in the background.

Now, 31 minutes is a long time for such a powerful machine, so I pushed it a little more.

At medium speed (or 8.01v), the 3Pro managed to clean our test room in 17 minutes (only 3 minutes slower than top speed) while generating around 47.2 dBA — a little louder than your average modern fridge.

A few months ago, I started re-testing all our air purifiers to gather performance data for the lowest fan speeds. 

In the table below, you can see how the AirFanta 3Pro running at low and medium fan speeds compares to other devices running at speeds that generate similar levels of noise:

When we account for sound levels, we see the performance of the AirFanta 3Pro getting beat by the CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7, which manages to clean our test room in 20 minutes even when running at only 38.8 dBA.

However, I need to mention here that the Clean Air Kits Luggable XL-7 costs upwards of $200 (plus filters), so considering the low cost of the AirFanta 3Pro ($149.99 including filters), I am super impressed. 

What impresses me the most is how incredibly well the AirFanta 3Pro compares to the shop-bought HEPA air purifiers I have tested. At its top speed, it is faster and quieter than most of the devices we have reviewed here at HouseFresh.

The cost to run an AirFanta 3Pro: $125.23 per year

Similar long-term costs as you get with units like the Smart Air SA600 but much higher than other PC fan-powered devices.

As always, I calculated the long-term costs associated with running your AirFanta 3Pro all day, every day at its top high speed for a full year — an unlikely scenario as you’ll probably want to have it running at a lower fan speed, but it’s a good baseline for running costs.

1. Electricity costs = $46.56 per year

When running at 12.6v (its highest fan speed), the 3Pro hit 43.23 watts. 

But we didn’t stop there. We tested the AirFanta 3Pro at different voltages to see how each fan speed affected the energy usage. See for yourself:

If you had to leave this device running 24/7, it would only add $46.56 to your yearly energy bill.

We can compare this with other devices we have tested:

At 43.2 watts, the AirFanta 3Pro is more energy-efficient when compared to many popular units such as the Winix 5500-2 or the Levoit Vital 200S. However, compared with other PC fan-powered air purifiers, it’s clear that the 3Pro consumes more electricity at its highest fan speed. 

I thought it would be interesting to see how the 3Pro compares to other devices when running at lower fan speeds, and I was right. You can see in the table below how you will get much higher air cleaning performance than traditional HEPA-style devices running at the below the 15 watts level:

Once again, we see the CleanAirKits Luggable XL-7 smashing it out of the park here as the only air purifier on the list that is more energy-efficient and more powerful than the AirFanta 3Pro.

2. Filter costs = $78.67 per year

Just as you would with any other air purifier, the filters for the AirFanta 3Pro will need to be replaced every 6-12 months depending on usage.

The 3Pro comes with four filters. The HEPA only filters will set you back $59.00 (set of four) where the HEPA + carbon filters cost $74.99 (set of four).

Adam recommends replacing the filters every nine (9) months, which means that two sets of filters will last you a year and a half. Doing the math, running your AirFanta 3Pro will cost $78.67 per year in HEPA only filters and $99.99 in HEPA + carbon filter replacements.

When combining the low energy usage with these filter prices, the AirFanta 3Pro annual running cost rises to $125.23 assuming you use it at it’s highest fan speed 24/7 every day of the year. 

We can compare this to other devices we have tested:

The running costs for this device running at full speed are similar to those of standard HEPA retail devices, but you do get much higher performance levels especially when you consider the much lower initial purchase cost. 

DIY from Clean Air Kits and the Nukit Tempest, still beat the device thanks to the default low energy usage and the ability to use standardised HVAC filters. 

Bottom line: Is the AirFanta 3Pro worth it?

It’s totally worth it. This is the only air purifier with a CADR above 400 that you can travel with.

Here’s the thing: if you were to have come to me selling an air purifier with a CADR of 436 cfm for $150, I would have assumed it was some sort of a scam. The sheer power of such a device would surely cost a lot more, right? 

Adam Wong says no.

The AirFanta 3Pro can provide large rooms with multiple air changes for a price that is three times cheaper than what you normally pay for a standard, shop-bought HEPA air purifier. That is an incredible achievement that goes to show how brilliant Wong is and how much he actually cares about creating truly affordable solutions to clean the air. 

While the 3Pro is not totally plug-and-play (as you need to fit the filters and put the fans in place), it is MUCH easier to put together than all the other PC fan-powered DIY air purifier kits I have tested. That said, the 3Pro is also louder than all of them, so that is something to keep in mind.

For those looking for an air purifier they bring along when traveling or to events, there isn’t anything on the market right now that matches the high CADR of the AirFanta 3Pro. You can simply disassemble the device and pack it in your suitcase or backpack just to reassemble it wherever you need it. 

For those wanting a quiet and energy-efficient air purifier, they can leave running in the background even when having work calls or meetings at the office, then a PC fan kit like the Luggable XL by CleanAirKits or the Tempest by Nukit will be a better choice — just know that they will both cost over $100 more than the 3Pro.

Now, is sound is a concern but your budget can’t stretch beyond $150, then remember you can run your AirFanta 3Pro at lower fan speeds. It will be much quieter and still outperform the standard retail HEPA air purifier you can find online, costing you less upfront and in the long run.

I really love this device, so I expect you will find it across many of our lists of recommended devices. 

One last thought before I leave you: I believe everyone living outside the U.S. will really benefit from the AirFanta 3Pro, especially those living in places like the UK, where finding box fans and HVAC filters to build your own Corsi-Rosenthal box is virtually impossible. As if that wasn’t good enough, the 3Pro has a much smaller footprint than the standard CR box, is definitely quieter and offers much more adjustable fan speed options.

Do you have any questions about this device that I didn’t cover in my review? Drop a comment below, and I’ll reply right away.