Puritii is an interesting air filtration system to discuss. Their claim is that their 11 layers of filters will be far more effective than other purifiers with more concise, focused filtration. After our testing, we found that the Puritii Air Purification System did score high on reducing particles and contaminants at levels that fit our Best 10 requirements, and it does have an innovative, sleek look that we find attractive. However, while this purifier lives up to its promise of cleaning your air, it champions pseudoscience that gives us the opportunity to debunk some air filter myths.
We took a look at the various filters included, and we found that a few make claims that have no reliable scientific evidence backing them up. There are a lot of filtration systems out there and many tack on extra filters to sound like they're doing more so unsuspecting customers believe a higher price tag means cleaner air. For instance, their Zeolite filter. Zeolite is a natural mineral, which they claim (like many other purifiers) is supposed to be better suited for the removal for gaseous compounds like formaldehyde and ammonia. In fact, there is no reliable scientific evidence to show that zeolite is able to remove any gaseous compound better than specialty impregnated carbons. So why is Zeolite used? Zeolite is an inexpensive “filler” that is less expensive than activated carbon. But the concept of using two different substances to control gases and odors sounds quite promising to an uneducated customer, so by paying less for another cheap filter they can raise their price by an arm and a leg.
The same concept applies to their potassium permanganate filter, which is in more and more purifiers as manufacturers try to stand out from the crowd, despite being generally ineffective for the gases that can actually cause harm
to humans. They also claim that two of their layers are “VOC diffusers” except there is no explanation on either layer of what is in the filter that diffuses VOCs – it only states it’s a “honeycomb” filter which is a common filter shape. Carbon filters are the standard for diffusing VOC and of course they are already using carbon in their first layers, so we imagine these are redundant filters which will just cost more to change out over time. Finally, their 11th layer is an “ionization stage” which does nothing to filter air and is widely understood as a gimmick within the scientific community.
Highlighted features of Puritii:
- Remote Control with speed settings and option to de-activate the ionizer
- Filters 303 cubic feet of air per minute
- Removes 99% of pollutants
- Reduces viruses and bacteria.
Conclusion:
With all of this hyperbole, you may wonder how this purifier made our top ten, but our hunch is that their test score on filtering the air came out as strong as some of the top purifiers our list because there simply are so many filters for the air to pass though! This does impede the speed of the air flow of course, it will take longer for this machine to clear a room and it won’t cycle as many times as other purifiers on this list. And of course, you’ll spend more changing all those filters. But it does look sleek, and it does do a great job cleaning contaminants where other fail – but it clears the same as other purifiers on this list. We wanted to include this one to nod to the various kinds of purifiers out there, but due to the filler filters, we believe that it’s price point is overblown.