Danny as been writing about air purifiers for 10+ years. He is a major fan of home technology, which makes him the perfect person to test and evaluate products for HouseFresh
Our verdict:
The IQAir Healthpro plus is the best pure HEPA + activated charcoal air purifier on the market. It’s perfect for a large room or open space area but doesn’t come cheap with both the initial unit cost of nearly $900 plus the electricity and filter costs adding an extra $365 per year.
If you don’t mind the use of ionizer technology, then you will likely prefer to look at other units that can perform at similar levels for less cost (such as the Blueair Blue Pure 211+)
, but if you have any concerns about ionizer technology and want the best performance money can buy, then this is the air purifier you will want in your home.
IQAir has been in the business of cleaning air since 1963 and currently, all manufacturing is based in Switzerland and southern Germany. It’s still owned by the original Hammes family and is now a major player in the US and China market for air purifiers. You can even watch Frank Hammes step into a smoke chamber with only this air purifier to protect him!
This particular model that I am reviewing is the IQAir Healthpro Plus 250, which is priced at $899 and so is at the higher budget end for most home users.
This particular unit has been on the market since 2017 and has won a number of awards, including the top air purifier from the Evening Standard in the UK.
Whilst there is a ton of positive sentiment behind this particular air purifier, I am not going to let that affect my overall review as I want to clearly know if this air purifier is worth the large price tag it comes with.
Why You Can Trust This Review
As with all the air purifiers we review here at HouseFresh, we bought the IQAir Healthpro Plus with our own money, and we have tested it both in our testing room and in our home for six months to evaluate its performance in real-life situations.
The reason we do this is to be able to compare different products side by side. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise to do so using only the specifications provided by manufacturers, as we know for a fact that some manufacturers inflate (or even hide) important metrics related to performance.
We run three key tests to assess air cleaning performance, energy consumption and noise levels – here is how they go:
| Air cleaning test | We light a powerful incense stick inside our testing room (705 cubic ft), and we wait till the smoke has filled the room. We then turn on the air purifier at its highest speed and set up an air quality monitor to track PM1.0ug/m3, PM2.5ug/m3 and PM10.0 ug/m3 levels while the air purifier does its job. |
| Energy consumption test | We plug in the air purifier through an electricity usage monitor to record energy consumption (watts) when running the units at the lowest and highest speeds. |
| Noise levels test | We record sound levels in decibels when running the air purifier at top and bottom speed, with the help of a sound level monitor. |
We visualize all this data using Flourish to allow us to compare units side-by-side performing the exact same jobs in the exact same conditions. The review you’re about to read was written after running all these tests.
TL;DR The Lowdown on the Unit
“The IQAir Healthpro plus is one of the best pure HEPA/activated charcoal air purifier on the market as of 2023 BUT its outstanding performance doesn’t come cheap.”
— Danny Ashton, Founder & Senior Writer
What We Really Like:
👍 Manufactured in Switzerland and performance tested before it arrives
👍 Top performance with 300 CFM and the ability to remove odors with 5lbs of activated charcoal
👍 No use of ionizer. I’m still not sold on the benefits of ionizers long term, unlike HEPA technology which has been proven again and again to be a great way to keep the air clean.
👍 HyperHEPA is best in class for any air purifier – 99.5% of particles smaller than 0.003 microns
👍 10 year warranty!
What We Think Could Be Better:
👎 No auto function or app support
👎 The wheels could be easier to fit
👎 Price is at the top end for 300 CFM performance
The Specifications
Before we jump into the stats it’s worth taking the time to talk a little about CADR and CFM. The team at IQAir are not big fans of CADR as they believe it is biased in favor of Hybrid units (those that use Ionizer and HEPA) You can read more about their argument over at the IQAir blog.
In simple terms, IQAir doesn’t use any ionizer technology compared to others in this space (Blueair and Alen) due to health concerns and efficiency decreases from particle charging.
| HouseFresh Rating: | ★★★★☆ |
|---|---|
| Time to clean our test room: | 25 minutes |
| Air purifier technology: | HyperHEPA and V50-CELL gas and odor filter |
| Recommended room size: | 450 to 1125 sq. ft. |
| Clean air delivery rate (CADR): | 300 CFM (510 m³/h) |
| Dimensions (in inches / in cm): | 28H x 18W x 16D inches (71H x 38W x 41D cm) |
| Weight (in pounds / in kg): | 35 lbs (16 kg) |
| Noise level (low – high): | 25dB – 69dB |
| Filter life: | 4 years |
| Manufacturer warranty: | 10 years |
| Estimated energy consumption: | $165.04 per year |
Whilst a hybrid technology could clean the air quicker, if you had similar concerns about ozone or ionizers, then you would want to take a closer look at something like the IQAir HealthPro Plus.
Looks Like a Huge Printer but Does the Job
“Is it a printer?”
Was the first thing my wife said when she saw it, and I have to agree it gives off office printer/copier vibes and it’s certainly not small. You can see how it compares to the Levoit PUR131 in the photo below:
One thing I did appreciate was that you receive a certificate of performance as soon as you open the box. IQAir’s team in Switzerland makes sure that every unit is tested before it goes out to you. As you can see from the certificate my unit actually performed better than the published rate with Speed 6 providing 494m3/h vs 440m3/h.
Whilst the size is large, once open it up, you see that no one inch is wasted on anything not required.
The main case is basically a plastic shell that houses each of the different filters with a fan at the bottom that draws air up through the pre-filter and into the other filters.
So whilst it is big, it’s not like you have a large unit full of empty space, the engineers at IQAir use every inch to fill it with filters. This means that will be getting a good amount of performance for the floor space it takes up.
I am currently using the IQAir Healthpro Plus in my hallway and whilst it did get a strange look from my wife the first morning I set it up, it’s now a part of the house and doesn’t get in the way.
Setting up the IQAir Healthpro Plus
The IQAir Healthpro Plus comes well packaged in a large box and includes the certificate of performance before you remove the unit from its packaging. The remote, wheels, and power cable are packed separately.
You need to know that the wheels need to be attached to the body of the air purifier. You just need to connect them to the brackets at the bottom of the unit so it should be a straightforward job for you…
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a straightforward job for me. Unlike most castor wheels, these didn’t just click into place with the brackets. I found that by putting my entire weight on, I could click them into place – that being said, I did worry about the possibility of breaking the whole thing.
This was the only complication I ran into when it comes to using the IQAir Healthpro Plus. I will be okay as long as I don’t need to remove the wheels for whatever reason, as I worry they are now latched on super tightly and might break apart if I force them out. This is something that IQAir could definitely improve in future versions.
Outstanding Filter Technology
The IQAir Healthpro plus is heavy at 46Ibs and I was worried how much of that weight was wasted as part of the chassis.
I shouldn’t have been worried because most of the weight of this unit is due to the filters. The V5-Cell which is the filter that deals with odors and VOCs is alone over 5lbs of activated carbon and KMn05 alumina.
Upon closer inspection, one can see the individual pellets of activated carbon inside the V5-Cell Filter:
How IQAir’s HyperHEPA Filter Works
The initial pre-filter stops large particles like pet dander and dust particles. These are pulled into the fan as air passes through the V5-Cell, removing gas and odors before the air is finally pushed through the primary HyperHEPA filter.
The benefit of this layout is that only pre-cleaned air passes through the most expensive HyperHEPA filter which can be found for around $200 whilst the pre-filter is half that price.
According to IQAir, you will need to replace the pre-filter every 18 months, but you only have to replace the HyperHEPA every 4 years which compares favorably to other high-end air purifiers.
Simple and Straightforward Controls Without Smart Functions
The buttons on the control panel at the top of the IQAir Healthpro Plus are easy to use, without unnecessary options or cryptic icons.
This fairly simple system offers users the ability to increase fan speed with the touch of a button, and also check out the amount of time left in the filters before they need to be replaced:
Compared to a lot of other air purifiers it’s a fairly simple system with the ability to increase fan speed and also check out the amount of time left in the filters.
The IQAir Healthpro Plus comes with a remote control. I quickly stored it because there are small children in my home, who like to play with remotes and hide them in place. I prefer to use the buttons on the control panel anyway.
I was a little disappointed not to see the implementation of a smart mode like we have seen on other units like the Levoit Core 400s. It would be great to know that the air purifier will come on automatically when it senses pollutants in the air, but that is not an option with the IQAir Healthpro Plus.
That being said, the controls include a timer button so you could program a routine for the air purifier to switch itself off at night or when you leave the house, for example. Although, you have to set this manually each day, setting hours for the air purifier to turn itself on and off.
The IQAir Healthpro Plus Cleared Our Test Room in 25 Minutes
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, we always test every air purifier performing the same job (cleaning the air from pollutants emitted by a powerful incense stick) under the same conditions (inside our 705 cubic ft testing room). This allows us to compare different air purifiers like for like.
I used an air quality monitor to track air quality changes over time to find out how quickly the IQAir Healthpro Plus can reduce the amount of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 particles in the air. These tiny particles are responsible for the bulk of health issues relating to indoor air pollutants as they can make their way deep into the lungs.
The IQAir HealthPro Plus took 25 minutes to get the room back to a reading of 0.01 PM1, 0.16 PM2.5, and 0.16 PM10.
You can see the full data here:
You can see the sheer power of the IQAir Healthpro Plus by looking at how quickly the air sensor changes when put close to the airflow exit on this air purifier in the video below:
From an air cleaning performance perspective, the IQAir Healthpro Plus performed as well as I expected and I can now understand why Frank Hammes was so confident about using this air purifier as his primary air supply in the video I shared at the start.
Air Cleaning Performance Test Results
The table below allows you to compare the performance of the IQAir Healthpro Plus against the top 10 units we have tested:
The IQAir Healthpro Plus is the one of the best pure HEPA + activated charcoal air purifiers on the market, but it is also quite pricey.
Noise Levels Test Results
Here is how the IQAir Healthpro Plus compares against units with a similar air-cleaning performance in regards to noise output:
If you are interested in hearing the noise to find out just how loud the IQAir Health Pro Plus is then be sure to check out the video below showing noise levels generated by the unit as you move from the lowest to the highest speed levels:
The Cost to Run an IQAir Healthpro Plus: $365.04 Per Year
A big unit like this does cost a lot more in the initial outlay, but another thing to consider is the extra costs for electricity and filters.
1. Electricity costs = $165.04
Rather than take the averages from the manufacturer’s website, I tested the electricity usage for each different speed for this air purifier:
- Speed 1: 21 watts
- Speed 2: 38.7 watts
- Speed 3: 57.7 watts
- Speed 4: 81.6 watts
- Speed 5: 113.9 watts
- Speed 6: 156.5 watts
Using the Department of Energy’s appliance energy calculator, we can see that at its highest setting, this air purifier will cost $165.04 per year.
2. Filter costs = $200
Another area to consider is the replacement of filters. The genuine IQAir HyperHEPA and V5 filters are currently out of stock on Amazon but the pre-filter is available at $155.78 – remember the pre-filter needs to be changed every 18 months.
There are a number of generic filters that fit the IQAir Healthpro units with packages of all three including V5 and HyperHEPA coming in at $249.99. That being said, these filters are not built by IQAir so performance may not be at the same level.
Whilst you would hopefully not have to change all the filters every year, you would expect to budget at least $200 per year for filter running costs on top of the unit’s costs.
Bottom Line
I had high expectations for the IQAir Healthpro Plus and its performance in our real-world tests didn’t disappoint.
Yes, it isn’t cheap but any level of performance of 300 CFM doesn’t come cheap with comparable high-performance units such as the Blueair classic 405 at $599 and the Alen 75i at $749. These units can perform at this level for less money due to their hybrid use of an ionizer combined with a HEPA filter.
IQAir is clear that they don’t recommend Ionizer technology but I could totally understand situations such as large amounts of smoke that you would benefit from this extra power without the extra cost of a pure HEPA /activated charcoal system.
The question of whether you should get a unit like the IQAir Healthpro Plus will depend on your position on using hybrid systems that utilize ionizers. If you have any concerns about ionizers or specific health ailments then the Healthpro Plus is currently the most powerful HEPA/Activated charcoal unit on the market. If you don’t want to get the odor and VOC filter you can buy a version that has a more powerful HyperHEPA performance at $50 less which is the IQAir HealthPro (no plus) and IQAir Healthpro compact which might make more sense depending on your specific use case.
SOURCES
We calculated the monthly energy consumption costs with the help of the Department of Energy’s appliance energy calculator. We calculated yearly costs associated with running the IQAir Healthpro Plus for 24hs a day for 365 days. We chose to run this calculation utilizing the US average utility rate, which is $0.12/kWh as of February 4th, 2023.
Last update on 2023-09-22 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API