New Laboratory Filtration Machines From Austin Air 

Ah, the old "We don't want to answer your awkward question publicly so we'll just refund you and hope you shut up about it" technique. Well done BlueAir!

I've been doing the whole "counterclockwise first" technique to find the thread for ever since I remember. If you've ever used self tappers into plastic on multimeters like the Fluke 87 then you'll know how important this can be for longevity.

Made in Buffalo NY. Austin Air is located in the old Trico windshield wiper plant #3 on Elk St. A beautiful old brick factory building. I hope it does not let you down. I always like to brag about the good things about Buffalo.

Austin Air definitely makes good units - I have 2 Healthmates I've run for over 15 years 24 hours a day and they have over 131,000 hours on their motors - and they're still going STRONG!

3d print some diverters for that vent. you can even stick them on with magnets.

Had one of the Bedroom models for 8 years now. Completely bulletproof.

Best deal I ever bought at an estate sale/garage was two regular size Austin Air machines for $40 each, and two small size ones for $25 each. Been using them for years. The one in the bedroom is almost always on, running on low setting, unless I want more of a breeze when it’s hot out, or I have the windows open

i have one of these in my bedroom. it's been running non-stop for 3 years. no problems so far.

Give us an update on these units at some point. Kudos to BlueAir for taking the units back. Those cost more than double up here in Canada! I won't be getting one.

Austin Air are great! Healthmate Plus. I have 4 of them and love them. I have multiple chemical sensitivity and these air purifiers saved my life.

I have 2 Austin air and 2 rabit air. Love the simplicity of the Austin's.

Fran, you deserve the best! We want you to be healthy!

Looks, as AvE would say, skuukum as frig. Frankly it looks old school and very standard, easily repaired, and easy to mod!! The company could go out of business and you could still find parts

Industrial: Leave everything off that confuses the idiots on the production floor or invites them to fiddle with, build it to survive the frustrations of those same idiots and expect that the customer will just install power at the point where the device is being used instead of providing a long cable.

Thank you so much for showing the inside of the machine as soon as you removed it from the box. I wasn't sure if the pre filter around the inside of the frame that's separate from the cylindrical filter came with the machine or not. I presumed it did. However, no need to presume after having watched your video, because there it is. Thank you so much!!!

Your comment about counter-turning before starting a screw is the first time I have realized that not everyone does that by default. My father taught me that was the normal way when I was a child. This must be why so many people complain about cross-threading! :D

The pre-filter is a good touch. They cost virtually nothing for the manufacturer to incorporate, but should improve the life of the HEPA filter somewhat. Makes you wonder why most other models dont include them....

We've been using Austin Air filters ever since getting some via FEMA after 9/11. Found out recently we were neighbors back then. I lived near Bedford and South 1st.

I have had an Austin Air standard size HealthMate 400 for 10 years. The original filter lasted 5 years and the second filter lasted 5 years. I just put in the 3rd filter. It has made a big difference in my asthma and hay fever.

This is a GREAT product! My neighbour down stairs is a smoker and the smoke comes in by the inside and I am allergic to second hand smoke... I was thinking of moving but my mother lives next door of me (91 yo) and tried Every thing I could to stay there. I bought a good quality air purifier ($300) but it was useless. Even my clothes in my wardrobe smell cigarette smoke! But since I have the Austin, I have no more problems with the smell. It is VERY EFFICIENT! i RECOMMAND IT 300%. Thank you Austin!

I saw a Craigslist ad for a HEPA filter for $10. No information about brand or model. I assumed it would be a cheap knockoff unit, but I thought I'd take a chance on it at that price. I got it home and googled to see what sort of reputation it has, and this video came up. Needless to say I'm happy with my purchase.

i have ben doing the reverse screw guiding for forever. I am actually surprised how many ppl I deal with dont know this. I do it for every screw nut or bolt.

You can install nutserts if the screw holes were to wear out (which may never happen with your carful handling).

My Austin air machines have been running nonstop for 9 years besides turning them off for filter changes.

Glad you finally found something that looks promising for the lab!

Fran, I think that you will be happy with those units. My functional and Integrative medicine doctor works with an indoor air quality pro for patients with all sorts of odd inflammatory issues and this is the unit that is recommended for all her patients including me! I am in the process of getting one also. Be well!

Thanks did the video review. It was part of the reason I bought a used Austin Air Healthmate from Ebay. It does an excellent job with smoke, which is what I use it for.

These machines boil down to the old acronym KISS: Keep Is Simple, Stupid. Very little to break, very simple to repair, and even if original parts become unavailable, substitute parts can easily step in and do the job. I really like that the Austin systems move some serious CFM through the filter, and do it quieter than the Blueair! Yeah, the cord length stinks, and maybe I'm just being stupid but it looks a little thin... I'm sure you know already to do this, but use a good-quality extension cord. :-) Hope you're doing well throughout the heat and humidity! Up here in CT, the humidity has been in the 90-100% range for over a week now, except for one brief overnight where it dropped to 75% around 2 AM (and that felt refreshing!) and ramped back up to 90% by 6 AM. I feel like I have three cats laying on my stomach when I'm trying to breathe. Conditions are perfect for good thunderstorm activity, and we could really use the rain, but the weather isn't exactly cooperating! **cues up Phil Collins' "I Wish It Would Rain Down"**

We use the counterclockwise first screw trick in Nerf modding to avoid stripping plastic screw posts when pulling things apart repeatedly

I'm relatively a new gamer at electronics and repairing stuff, the first stuff that I was able to get my mitts on was my broken toys. Naturally I wanted them to work again, so I went over and found the nearest screwdriver, and sure enough I'll tell ya, counterclockwise thread seeking in chinesium plastic came without a second thought.

I learned the screw trick from How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot by John Muir. He recommended it as a means of starting a screw where you can't see what you are doing. It's a piece of technical writing everyone should read, especially aspiring technical writers.

Big Staples! And plastic banding! It's been years since I've seen the staples, but I still have a big screwdriver and pliers handy. The banding still shows up a few times per year but I always carry a folding knife in a pocket.

I'm with you and Dave, I just figured out the going backward to find the thread since forever, and explicitly because like Dave said, self tapping screws into plastic will teach you that lesson quickly.

One heck of a review! I am getting one next month and was worried about how well it would work.. Now I know!

Yeah -- I find I nearly always go in reverse until I feel the "click", especially in screws in plastic casings. Rarely if every have cross-threaded a screw.

Glad to see you do the reverse first screwing technique - my dad taught me that back in the 70s.

Part of my last job involved taking care of similar filters , in a hospital setting ( early 1990s). Larger and hardwired for the most part, the main difference is they had two cleanable pre filters. Very reliable.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who takes things out of the box upside down! I learnt it during a year I spent repairing consumer electronics before uni (and in the process learned way more about electronics than I did actually at uni), those big CRT TVs weighed a ton! Far easier to open the top of the box, gently rotate it onto something soft on your repair bench and lift the box off. No struggling astride the box trying to lift the item out and hoping the box falls away.

So glad you can now breathe easy. And I love your theme song!!!

Countering also helps starting fine threaded machine screws too. I've been doing it for 50 years. Works for me.

Get some m3 nut serts for the bottom cover and some m3 screws done and done.

The big cylindrical filter cartridge is what we have in the metal industry, cutting, welding, grinding. We use cellulose HEPA with flame impregnated retardant.

It's nice to see some things are still built simple and rugged. No overly complicated control panel, no added aesthetic plastic junk, no obnoxiously bright blue LEDs, even the shipping package with the staples says industrial grade product inside. Self-tapping screws for a user-serviceable part does seem a bit odd at first, until you think that it's only meant to be replaced every 5 years. Though given the power of the fan and being in an urban environment it's going to get gunked up much sooner than that. I never knew the reverse screw thing was a learned "trick" either, never really gave it a second thought. I think of all the threaded filters and adapters for my cameras and telescopes, they'd be awfully tough to connect without the initial back -up to find the thread.

Been doing the going in reverse thread trick for over 30 years. It's also useful for non-self-tapping screws to prevent cross threading.

So glad you were able to get returns/refunds on the Blueair machines!

the reverse screw to find the thread trick is very useful for anything vintage where the plastic might be brittle (game consoles). good stuff

Looks like a winner to me. We have birds so I have been looking for something like this. On the sheet metal screws, since the filter change appears to be very low frequency, I would think they will be OK / you know, just don't torque them too tight. You can always bump the screws up in size if there are issues downstream such as going from a #8 to a #10 with some minor hole resizing.

my dad was a ww2 aircraft mechanic/crew chief, taught me the reverse thread trick when I was very young. He said they had to work on the planes with no light whatsoever on the airstrips in north Africa so as not to be detected...

Glad you got sorted with Blueair. Looking for a filter system for home use. Very sensitive lungs so quality matters for me.

If you have central air, a HEPA filter insert may be sufficient. The various stand alone units were all the same for me: inadequate beyond dust control. The ultimate was expensive IQAir, which I also liquidated. In the end, I put an exhaust fan in the window, to get adequate ventilation when I could open windows. Otherwise, run central air with HEPA insert.

I bought the small BlueAir based on your original purchase. The $800 versions obviously would do a better job, but I'm satisfied using it in the room while I WFH. Originally purchased for snore-control.

Interesting video! Apparently, Blueair made the right decision after you video complaining about the weird odors... Anyway, these industrial machines look perhaps more appropriate for any lab or storage place. One question is the other measures you have to have the cleanest air: if you have some solder bench, or some place you use solvents (paint, glue...), the ideal option is to catch the fumes and polluted air and reject it outside (you can be required to filter that exhaust anyway...). So creating a permanent negative air pressure is interesting as you can also manage to filter the incoming air. These filters are then at their best to catch the last pollutants. The "bedroom" use of such machine is something difficult to appreciate with the noise levels you measure. Anyway, if you measure it directly in the exhaust direction, the noise is normally far more consequent. The measure (at three feet) from the other directions can give good indications of the real noise you can expect, knowing it will be difficult to ignore in a "quiet" bedroom environment. Such things are notably difficult to appreciate, as you can have a quasi silent 25dB to a 45dB in a downtown busy environment. The "emerging" noise is there frankly different as you can guess. The other question is also about low frequency noises, difficult to measure with a "simple" dB meter, that can imbalance your health and sleep with beats. You can particularly expect such problem if you use 2+ machines in the same environment...

Thanks for the review I was looking for a good review going to grab one right now !

Sound Level Measurements According to the manual for the General Radio/IET 1565-B manual, sound level measurements are made 1 meter from the source, with the meter held at a right angle to the source. Also, they say to hold the meter out in front of you with your body turned 90 degrees from the source to minimize reflections from you influencing the measurement. Just a suggestion for consistent results. Thanks for the video and hope this filter unit keeps you safe.

Amazing what an exposee will do to presuade a company to do the right thing.

Looks like a split phase motor with a run capacitor. You'd think that the top would be hinged, and a button to open, and remove the filters. But that would add another two dollars to the production cost.

I remember using the counterclockwise first technique back in the 80s when working on Philips FM900 two-way radios. They had annoyingly decided to use self tapping screws in the die-cast aluminium chassis.

I learned the counter clockwise trick many years ago too

I'm pretty sure they save tons of manufacturing time and labor by using the self-tapping screws and not having to tap all the holes beforehand. No biggie, they work fine.

Going backwards to find the thread - yes, it was an old trick and I learned it in 2006 or so, when I was volunteering at a campus radio and doing electronics maintenance. Good thing to see good quality equipment still made, and I also wonder how long it's gonna last.

I, too, have invented that reverse-turning trick for self-tappers. It just seemed logical to find the existing thread instead of cutting a new one. I can't remember anyone ever teaching me that, I've been doing that ever since I can remember.

we have an Austin Air plant over here in Buffalo NY woohoo

It's kind of amazing that those filters are able to last up to 5 YEARS! That's absolutely bonkers, and also very respectable since most corporations would be happy to sell people a $300 filter once every 90 days.

I learned the reverse screw trick years ago when I worked for Burroughs (UK) in the early 80's, I still use it for replacing computer cases on a daily basis. Must have been "invented" in the US.

We have one of the healthmates and with 2 cats living downtown Toronto we replace it after about 2 years. So we get a discount each time but it doesn't last quite as long as they say. To their credit, they do give the discount each time so far. It's a VERY simple unit inside and that's the reason the filter replacement is so expensive. It's really a cheap tin box around a fan and a super-complex filter. I think the latest one I got was refurbished or something. Something was weird about it and it had a dent. It's working, though.

The bottom should have locking clamps instead of sheet metal screws. I would modify that as soon as the warranty is up.

I have a technical question on these. I'm wondering, is it safe to attach it to a remote power switch to power it off and on? Or would that be bad for the motor to power it on via a switch?

Tinnerman nuts. That's what you need to replace the sheet metal screws holding on the lower cover. With them, you can use either sheet metal or machine screws. I also would like an update after you have used the new filter machines for a few months.

Yeah. I've been using the backwards screw method for years. :)

Austin Air has a European distributor -PureNature - the units are branded with the name Allermed.

Oh man, as a kid I stepped on one of those big staples, right into my big toe. Those look great, though I shiver to think what replacement filters must cost.

1:05 For a minute there I read "3 speed centrifugal Fran"! #o) Good to see this all worked out for you Fran. 8o)

If you don't feel adverse to slightly modifying the casing, replacing the sheetmetal screws in the bottom with nutserts (AKA "rivnuts") and machine screws might not be such a bad idea. Nutserts are pretty good for DIY enclosures as well.

Replace those holes with rivet nuts, brand name is RivNut by Bollhoff, although with filter changes a maximum of every 2 years and careful rethreading it should last until the filters are no longer produced. I would also love to see updates as often as possible. I’m limping with Whirlpool consumer grade until I get my habitat sealed up.

(2:09) - Only those staples aren't copper. They're copper plated steel. You got a magnet handy ? That'll tell ya ! >

I learned a very long time ago that goin backwards before goin forward is always the best, especially in plastics! I dont remember where I got that trick from. Its mandatory in cheap chinese plastics, it prevents rethreading plastic which i think will weaken it and more likely stripping the plastic.I even do it in wood!

I've seen some compliment BlueAir for taking back the filter but if I understand the timeline of events from watching previous videos BlueAir didn't offer a refund till her video about the problems was made to her 200,000+ subscribers. I've seen similar type of customer service from places like Twitch, Twitter and RU-vid. People who have a huge audience getting better service from a company because of the possible bad press that could result from someone who has an audience. When the company should treat every customer the same. I'm glad Fran was able to get a satisfactory resolution from BlueAir but it doesn't help improve the company's reputation in my eyes, I'd never buy from BlueAir. The Austin Air filter does look very nice though and is one I'm going to check into further.

Blueair only gave you a refund because of the last video you made. They would have just carried on ignoring you otherwise. I'll still be avoiding them.

I’m considering one of these for my bedroom but I just don’t know what size to get because I have high ceilings.

I have serious issues with ozone pollution and can attest that this is the only filter that cuts it for me. The magic is in the fact that it's based on carbon filtration.

Conway has worked well for me 👍

That filter media looks pretty legit, but in addition to the threaded inserts, rolled edges on the sheet metal would be nice, and some corner bracing on the bottom of the cabinet so it doesn't need to get squished into shape to fit the base on. What would that cost, like an extra 50 cents per unit during manufacturing? I guess telling people use gloves is free lol

Sweet air for Fran!

Sorry but have to voice this, in the spirit of keeping experiments in control, where variables are kept equal. In my past post about your finding the filters you bought had a premature sour smell, I asked you to consider that your previous filtration may have been way inadequate, so that these new filters could have clogged prematurely. Instead of buying a new set of filters to test that possiblity, you've gone to a different company's filter machines altogether. So, what will you have learned about the previous machines if your new machines work fine and the filters last for the expected duration? Nothing. The previous machines could have superiorly removed all the containments and clogged early. Your new machines could now be in a pretty clean location. And heck, their first filters might last longer than expected.

So super nice work

Reverse Screwing has been around from the Old Wood Building with Screws Starter so older the 300 Years.. And that is about the Time We started making a Mess of the Whole area Around us..But Remember Plants Help Too..

In this video, Fran introduces basic common sense life hacks. ;)

But you're not supposed to use extension cords for more than temporary and you're supposed to have an electrician come and wire in some Outlets exactly where you need them every time. Yah

looks like a standard industrial filter and as other have said the motor should last a long time.

I think the staples are there to annoy people who use mini chainsaws to open boxes.

The Austin Air is legit. Should do its air cleaning job well. But geez, it is sooo noisy. Like your dad is working a lawn mower in the backyard next to your bedroom.

Thank for this video! Very helpful. :) Is there a way to confirm that the air is actually cleaner as a result of the purifier? Is there some sort device we could buy and use to test in our homes?

Hi Fran! One year later. Are you still happy with this beast?

I would have preferred to see something like Dzus style fasteners on the removable bottom plate, this would have made maintenance of the filter unit much easier. As for the unit moving an ‘Ass ton’ of air...can you please quote this value in metric units! Great video Fran.

1m , 3 foot when testing sound levels. allowing for low freq development space

Hello I’m thinking about two different ones can you give your opinion? Option #1 Austin Air Bedroom Machine HM402 Option#2 Airpura P600 PLUS Air Purifier - For Comprehensive Filtration This is for a Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease family member.

My 2013 Honeywell HEPA is still chugging along :D Looks like they've doubled in price (130->260). Then again that might just be inflation, lol.

Huh. I thought everyone knew the counterclockwise screw trick. Weird. Nobody taught me that... just figured everyone did it. It’s so common sense. 😂

"A$$ ton" 😂 Great reveiw. 👍

You didn't invent the technique, but you definitely did popularize it.