The Powermatic PM1250 electrostatic air cleaner just dropped in price on Amazon, from $750 down to $550, a difference of $200.
It has a 0.1 micron particle filter and delivers up to 754 CFM of air flow.
Powermatic says that the woodworking filter operates “quieter than normal conversation,” with a 50.8 dB noise rating on its high speed setting, and 41.2 dB on low.
Advertisement
The filter is advertised as being capable of cycling the air of a 680 square foot space (“similar to an oversized 2-car garage”) five times per hour.
The PM1250 can be mounted to the wall or ceiling, or placed on a workbench. It can also be placed on the floor or other horizontal surface, but I’m betting it’s most effective when the airflow is as close to your breathing height as possible.
A carrying handle helps with portability.
The filter should be cleaned with a vacuum every 1,000 hours, and is designed for up to 3,000 hours of use.
Replacement filters (SKU 1791332) look to be readily available and are priced at $150 each.
Sale Price: $549.99
Advertisement
It’s unclear how long this sale pricing will last. The $550 price is available through at least two retailers (Amazon and Acme Tools), while others still show ~$750 pricing.
I added this to my Amazon “save for later” shopping cart a while ago, and debate its usefulness for my workshop and needs every time it goes on sale.
One of the benefits is that you can move it to where dust is being generated, for higher efficiency, but that also requires that you have the space for this, which I often do not.
Reviews seem positive overall, and I like that it has a lower noise rating than most other woodworking air filters and cleaners.
Chris
Still such a rip off for what is essentially a fan and filter. I can’t believe the filter alone is $150.
Bonnie
Every air filter and dust collector is essentially a fan and a filter. But the quality of fans and filters varies wildly. Any filter lasting that many hours, assuming the rating is accurate, is going to have to be extremely expensive. For comparison, JETs overhead aircleaner recommends replacing the filter every 200 hours, and Grizzly says to check and possibly replace every 40.
TomD
The key I’ve found is protect the expensive filter with cheaper reusable filters (K&N makes some for furnaces you can repurpose).
Bonnie
The squirrel cage ones are typically designed that way. You still need to wash/replace the inner filter pretty often. Even quicker if you have a cheaper outer filter, which I know I’m guilty of doing.
Andrew
And my furnace filter gets about 30 days, so I’d need 4 of the, but at $20 a pop, I’m still coming out ahead vs the Powermatic version. I have no idea how long the box fan might last, but at another $20 it doesn’t matter.
Jim Felt
I mostly agree with your assessment but perhaps the not so obvious answer is “limited sales potential”.
After all what other device actually uses these odd round filters? What would likely raise overall sales numbers and allow the price to be cheaper? I dunno.
Most all of our conventional HEPA level forced air filters get changed at least quarterly and they’re $20/25 per…
MoogleMan3
They really tool the filter taped to a box fan diy trick and commercialized it…
Profit margin on this one must be insane, because there’s no way that cost anywhere near even $100 in materials and labor to make, let alone $750…
Arthur
Amazon has a 2-pack of 20X20X4 MERV 12 filters for $39. According to the MERV rating chart (https://learnmetrics.com/merv-rating-chart/) MERV 12 takes out 90% >3.0 micron. Smaller partilces pose the greatest hazard because they can go deeper into the lungs.
COVID sparked interest in MERV 13 filters because that’s where large virus filtering begins, but there’s a big static pressure jump between 12 and 13 – my residential AC went from .49 SP to .77 SP when I tried going from MERV 12 (what I have always used) to 13. And, to get >95% of .1-1.0 micron filtration requires MERV 16 or greater, and now you’re in the $90-100 per filter price range.
I picked up a used 120 volt 1400 cfm furnace blower from my AC guy, and plan to build a plywood ceiling-mounted box for a 20X20X4 MERV 12 and dump the exhaust outdoors. I want to mount some t-Track to the ceiling and put T-bolts on the back of the box so I can slide the filter box between dust-generating work stations; the problem is finding flexible ducting to handle the CFM and SP. Furnace blowers have different speeds – the one I have has 4: low, med low, med high, high, depending on how the wiring is connected. Grizzly has 8″ round flex duct for dust systems, but 8″ round = ~50 square inches, 8X12 galvanized oval duct has ~75 square inches, which I do not think is big enough to use all of the blower’s capability. The answer may be 2 filter boxes, one fixed and centrally located, one movable on T-Track, both connected to a plenum for the blower and wiring the blower on low or med-low speed.
Koko The Talking Ape
I helped buy and install this air cleaner for the tool library where I volunteer. It’s amazingly quiet. Even at its highest setting, it’s barely audible. And the narrow, flat form factor makes it easy to mount, even on a ceiling crowded with hanging shelves, ducts, lights, etc. The tilt mount makes it easy to aim if you have to set it on a shelf or on a table. The pre-filter is easy to clean: you just reach up with a shop vac extension wand and brush it off. The shop steward I know the best says it’s the top of the line air cleaner out there. And when you touch it while it’s running, the vibration is almost imperceptible. That means quality bearings and high tolerance manufacturing. No sloppily molded turbines here.
To the people who doubt it’s value: I don’t know what kind of profit Powermatic is making on this thing, and the price drop hints that it’s substantial.
But I can say that these air purifiers need a lot more engineering than is apparent. For one thing, both the motor and the turbine have to be designed specifically for the desired air flow, noise, duty cycle, pressure drop, cost and longevity. The filter has to be designed not just for filtering efficiency but for a pressure drop (analogous to a resistive load in an electric circuit) that the motor and turbine will handle. Etc.
A box fan is designed for an entirely different set of criteria: higher air speed, zero resistive load (because there’s no filter), a duty cycle of a few hours, longevity of a few years, etc. So a box fan with a furnace filter will be cheap, but it will be noisier and have a shorter lifespan. Replacing the filter will also be more difficult and time consuming. If you aren’t careful how you seal the filter to the fan, it won’t be as effective. Etc.
That DOES NOT mean you should buy this Powermatic instead of a box fan with a furnace filter, or even that the Powermatic is a good value. It just means you shouldn’t automatically dismiss the Powermatic as an overpriced box fan with a furnace filter slapped on. It isn’t.
Mark Fogleman
Air cleaners are not a replacement for capturing dust at the tool. The best ones take over ten minutes to clear the air to safe levels after using a saw/router/sander in a two car garage size shop. The most dangerous dust is invisible to the unaided eye. PPE needs to be worn when this is your only dust control measure or it supplements an inadequate dust collector.
jake
CARB-Certified devices at https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/list-carb-certified-air-cleaning-devices are shown to be using either “Mechanical” or “Electronic” filtering technology.
The PM1250 electrostatic cleaner type is identified to be “Electronic”. Are you familiar with any “Mechanical” type shop air cleaners for folks who have high sensitivity to ozone?
Hoser
Knock another $200 off and it’s still overpriced. No remote, no timer, just “engineered fan blades” lol. You could buy a good name brand hanging filter for about half the price that has multiple speeds, a remote, and moves a much higher volume of air. Oh but it’s quiet you say?? That’s great, I was really worried about hearing it over all the other tools that are being used in the shop 🙄. . . . .