Home > Consumer Reviews > Honeywell HHT-011 Compact Air Purifier with Permanent HEPA Filter

I bought this after reading about the quiet reviews but I find that these reviewers must be loosing their hearing. I place it at the end of the room and at the lowest setting, this unit sends a hum with the same level as a room fan in medium setting. You can still sleep with it but the noise is ever present and it is not silent as others claim. I turn it on medium and high setting in my 10'x12' bedroom only when I leave for work, otherwise low setting. I have reservations about using this unit for the baby's room because of the level of noise it emits. There is a separate knob for turning the ionizer ON or OFF depending on which camp you are on about ionizers. Ionizers produce ozone. My opinion is that ozone are okay in low levels so you can turn the ionizer on momentarily when your not in the room. The reason ozone producing ionizers are used in the air purifier industry is the ability of ozone molecules to neutralize offensive odors. Honeywell does not recommend turning ON the ionizer for asthmatic users so this is a great option. The nightlight can be turned OFF but I like to use it and leave it ON. Minus 2 stars for the noise level otherwise works great! My HHT-145 tower in the living room has 12 fan settings and it can be set to almost dead silence at the lowest settings. If you have a bigger room, get the HHT-145 tower model. I am giving the 5 stars to the HHT-145 model. Both models use PERMANENT HEPA like (traps 2.0 microns or larger particles) and not a true HEPA (traps 0.3 micron or larger particles) but I can live with this. You should use a true HEPA or HEPA like vacuum cleaner to clean the filters since you cannot simply wash/rinse them clean =(.

I initially bought this honeywell air purifier for my bedroom to remove dust and to reduce odors. But I had to return it twice because it was defective.

Pros:
-Saves you money, it's the only air purifier with a permanent filter that you can just vacuum to clean.
-Noise is acceptable on low, for the price.

Cons:
-Serious quality issues. It's seemingly a gamble if you're going to get a working one, i had to return it TWICE!:

1. The first unit I received had a faceplate that was warped and did not stay on. I don't think it would filter with the faceplate half on, so had to send it back for a replacement.

2. The replacement unit faceplate was normal but the ionizer made a static clicking noise when turned on. I called their customer support and they told me that is not normal and I need to get it replaced. Note: the first unit did not do this.

- Under normal conditions it didn't seem to work that well. After running it for 12 hours on high, then 12 on low, it did not completely remove odors in my bedroom and the Ionizer was only slightly noticeable.

-For people who need it to be almost silent on low, this isn't going to work for you. I could sleep with it on but the noise was noticeable. On medium to high, like one reviewer said, you're going to have to turn the tv up!

Conclusion:
The greatest strength of this purifier is that you don't have to buy replacement filters. But I got two defective ones in a row so I have to strongly suggest you look at other purifiers or another brand.


Side note: Amazon.com was awesome about replacing it and refunding it, when a product is defective they give you a label to print out and you just put it back in the box and drop it at your local post office to return it for a full refund or replacement. I've always had a good experience with amazon they go above and beyond to keep the customer happy. Still this thing wasted a lot of my time returning it, so think twice.

I bought this unit to help clean the air of my bedroon which is in the habit of getting too dirty of small dirt, organic and moth particles brought by one's cloth with everyday use and cleaning (small, tiny particles of our clothes do tend to come away by normal wear). This unit is cheap and is able to do the cleaning of a small sized room doing a good job at it. In over a year of having this unit cleaning the air in a daily basis, I've noticed that the air flux coming out of one of the openings of the unit was getting smaller and smaller (and eventually the unit was acting if as it was sucking the air in from one of the exhausts), until one day, the unit stopped working. Either the fans where misplaced from the fabric as one of them (there are two) seemed to suck the air as opposed to throw it away, or the motor was dead: all the unit did was a buzzing noise when turned on and the fans stopped rotating.

I thought either a replacement motor or a correct placement of one of the rotors was due, and I didn't want to buy another unit for a year's service only.I tried to open it myself but soon found out that there where strange screws I couldn't work on, so I took it to a home appliance technician to take a closer look... when we opened the unit the problem was obvious: there where TONS of dirt accumulated over all the interior! dirt... moth.. you name it, everything was there. No motor replacement needed, no changing the fan's rotors... the fix: to clean and re-lube all the interior. The dirt accumulatted over a year to efectively stalled the motor and prevent it from rotating the fans. How did all the dirt ended in there? It is supposed to clean the air after passing the 2 filters and before reaching the inside! The fact is this unit is so cheaply designed that it has small openings all around it, efectivelly letting dirty air inside in a way it was not intended to. THE FIX:

a) If your unit is old (6-12 months), clean it first from all the dirt on the inside (depending of how dirty your air is)
1) Remove the plastic grid that holds the 1st filter.
2) remove the 2nd (HEPA) filter
3) I used kids plasticine to seal the openings all around the exterior of the base of the HEPA (2nd) filter: this is where 2 separate moldings "snap" together, but leaving lines of "openings" that let air pass unchecked.
4) Return the filters and the grid
5) Use any kind of adhesive-tape (masking tape would be good) to seal the "line-opening" that goes all around the exterior of the unit from the "right" side of the grid all the way to the "left" side of the grid. This line is the snap juncture between the base of the unit and the molded top where the controls are.

In this way, MOST of the air will now have to pass thru BOTH filters and the air leacking to the inside would be minimized. Happy air.

Bought this for our bedroom in which our 5month old sleeps in there for now, very good on low for white noise however low isnt enough it doesnt seem and medium and high is a little loud, no problem though just crank it up when you arent sleeping. This unit will cool the room down a bit though, been using it throughout the winter and needed a space heater to make up for the cool air it produces (should be perfect for summer), but no biggie cool air is fresh air. Cleared out the slight dog smell and air is definately cleaner. I would recommend this product, does its job well on high and holds its own on low.

My husband and I purchased this after quite a bit of research. Our new downstairs neighbor is a heavy smoker, which made our apartment stink like crazy and made our allergies MUCH worse. We keep it on nearly 24/7, usually on the medium setting at night and the high setting with the ionizer on during the day. Sometimes when the ionizer is on it clicks, but not always.

The bottom line is that it makes a huge difference in the air quality. Only on the calmest of days when our neighbor is smoking like crazy do I smell smoke. I usually just more the purifier to near the vent to help.

As for the cleanable filter--it's great. Since it is on constantly I have to clean it every month or month and half. It's pretty easy though, you just pop off the cover, rinse the outer filter and vacuum the inner filter.