Holmes HAP424-U Air Purifier

I'll start by saying I have pretty bad indoor allergies. I just moved into an apartment about two weeks ago and after the first night, I woke up the next morning feeling terrible. I thought I was just coming down with a bit of a head cold. After only 48 hours after moving in, I noticed the intake fan filters on my computer (custom built by yours truly) were clogged with loads of dust. Normally the filters need to be washed around once per month, not every two days. I wasn't getting sick, it was the ridiculous amount of dust in the air that was screwing with my lungs and sinuses. The carpet in the bedroom had been poorly maintained and didn't look like it had seen a vacuum cleaner in more than a year. If I could have my way I would pull it up and install some linoleum, tile or hard wood to ease my allergies. Since I'm just renting, I had to get creative. I vacuumed the carpet thoroughly and over the course of several days, scrubbed the carpet with a steam cleaning machine. Most folks...Read more

I think this is a good air cleaner at a reasonable #.

+ Small footprint (about 10.5" across) vs the typical 14-18" units
+ highly directional (swivel 80 degrees)
+ simple controls, it even has a remote for across the room use
+ Quiet volume (except on HIGH)
+ Easy access to the filters (x2)
+ Static discharge (negative ion) feature

- The aircraft designed fins are difficult to clean (after a while)
- Expensive proprietary filters (they all are but still???)

The unit has a door which swings open from the rear, to provide access to the 2 (included) filters. The filters are on grooved tracks; which when moved 3/8 of an inch slide out. The exterior most barrier can be vacuumed gently. This is for medium rooms (rated up to 12' x 16').

Don't buy Holmes® HEPA type Tower Air Purifier - HAP422B-U. The only virtues are superficial: the towers look elegant and take up little space. And OK in the summer it acts as a cooling fan. I don't know that it does any more than a fan.

However it came with little instructions, with no pictures, diagrams or any real explanations. Right now I am scouring the net for an 800 number. The filter is almost impossible to change. The door has to be forced open to near breaking; and while you're lining it up to close it back, three of the items keep slipping out of place. Putting it on the floor to do this doesn't help because it rolls around. I'm still not sure the door is completely shut.

I can't find any numbers to call, no online instructions, and I can't get the red change filter light to turn off now that I've changed the filter. The ion light is cool but there's no instructions as to when and how to use it.

The production must have been...Read more