Air quality is of great concern to us as a family. With an asthmatic hubby and two young kids who inherited the asthma genes from him, I am constantly worried about air pollution and how it will affect them.
Hubby and I have previously discussed purchasing an air purifier for our home. However, the ones found in the market these days are so darn expensive. We just haven’t been able to get one considering all the other stuff we have to spend for.
So, I was really excited when my friend from grade school, Lyrio Baltazar and her hubby, introduced us to Smart Air last month.
Smart Air
Smart Air Filters is a social enterprise that promotes DIY air filters as a low-cost solution to indoor particulate air pollution in China, India, Mongolia, the Philippines, and other countries where air pollution is causing health problems.
It all started in January 2013 in China when PhD student Thomas Talhelm wondered why air purifiers cost so much. He bought a HEPA filter on Taobao, strapped it to a simple fan, bought a particle counter, ran some tests, and published the results on a blog he called Particle Counting.
A few magazines wrote about Thomas’s “rediscovery,” and then the Beijing Energy Network suggested he lead DIY workshops to help other concerned Beijingers build their own. That led to the creation of Smart Air in 2013. Now, Smart Air is finally here in the Philippines! My friend, Lyrio and their team decided to bring Smart Air to the country because it’s their advocacy to help Filipinos breathe cleaner air.
Smart Air Purifiers and Filters
We were presented with the different kinds of air purifiers and filters that Smart Air offers. They are the following:
DIY 1.1 Air Purifier
We learned that we don’t need to purchase expensive air purifiers just to improve the air quality in our homes, especially if the size of our rooms aren’t really that big. The technology behind the DIY air purifier is super simple – it’s just a fan and a filter! Yup, that’s all you need to have an effective purifier.
This costs only Php 2,450, a lot cheaper than what you will find from other brands. The DIY is meant for rooms that measure 15 sqm or less. This is what we use in our master bedroom now.
Cannon DIY Air Purifier
This one is just a bigger version of the original DIY with a larger fan. It works for rooms up to 30 sqm and costs Php 5,600.
Smart Air Blast Mini
Now if you have bigger rooms at home (or for offices and other places too!), you might want to consider the Blast Mini. It’s basically a fan and a filter in a box. It’s good for rooms up to 85 sqm and costs Php 20,250.
Smart Air Blast
For really big rooms though, there’s also the Blast, a bigger version of the mini, which costs Php 25,000. It can effectively purify the air in rooms as big as 130 sqm.
What else do you need to know?
- Smart Air purifiers are quiet. And when I say “quiet”, I really mean that you can barely hear them at all. Yes, even the Blast is a lot more quiet than that air conditioner you have at home.
- Smart Air purifiers are powerful. You’ll only need 1 Blast compared to 5 of Blueair’s 203 model. Smart Air is definitely the strong and silent type.
- Smart Air purifiers have undergone over 200 tests on noise, particle capture, wind speed, and power usage. During the launch, we were shown the reading from a small machine called a Particle Counter, which measures the air quality. At the end of the event, they showed it to us again with the reading after turning on a Smart Air purifier in the room. It really did improve the quality of air a lot!
- Smart Air Philippines conducts workshops for anyone interested so that they can increase awareness on air pollution and let people know that it doesn’t have to cost them an arm and a leg to have cleaner air at home.
- You can purchase Smart Air from their Online Store and the products will be delivered to you. They also offer pick-ups or meet-ups in Ortigas.
- Based on Metro Manila’s air quality (and your usage), you’ll only need to replace your filter once every 6 months. Smart Air Philippines offers the replacement air filters by piece or by bulk.
By the way, this is what a clean filter looks like.
While here is what it looks like after six months.
Isn’t that just super gross? Imagine all that in your air – the air that you and your family breathe every day. Wouldn’t you want to do something about it? Now you can, very affordably with Smart Air.
Clean air should definitely not be a luxury. We all deserve to breathe cleaner air, don’t we? Check out the Smart Air Philippines website for more info.
I’ve been meaning to buy an air purifier for our home too but it is just too expensive. Ganyan din sa aircon namin, that’s why I always use 3M Filtrete. I’m glad that there are more options that are cheaper but I’m hoping na mas bumaba pa price kung dadami na sila sa market. 🙂
Hi Michi! We are very happy to introduced these low-cost purifiers to everyone here in the PH. Pricey kasi ang mga purifiers sa market kaya not all could afford to have one. Especially those who have health issues like heart problems and Asthma. The price of Smart Air is LESS than 50% of what is in the market. Pati ang filters ay very affordable din! Like our DIY 1.1 which is only Php2,450, the price of the replacement filter is only Php750! That’s amazing right? Kaya my hubby and I feels good about the idea na we’re able to bring Smart Air here sa atin. That we would be able to help most people to breathe clean air in a price that they could afford. =)
For more details kindly visit our website smartairfilters.ph
Breathe safe!
-Lyrio
Thank you for this. I will check this out as weve tried an air purifier before and it indeed helped solve some of our conditions at home. All along it wasnt effective. When we returned it, that was the time i realize its importance.
Didn’t know air purifiers can be affordable. Thanks for the info, mom.
Uy gusto ko to! Yes, prang laging mahal ang air purifiers, but the first one is budget friendly. Yun nga lang, we’re going to need to buy an electric fan that we can use for it, pero magkano lang naman yun haha. We badly need this here. I checked the link, meron below 1K. What’s that? Iba pa ba ang function nun sa 2K ones?
No need to buy a fan, May. The package already comes with a fan, a filter and a belt. 🙂
This is perfect for asthmatics and good to know that it is not hard on the budget. Would check it out right away, thanks for the tip.
I’d love to have this too. For someone who gets easily attacked by allergic rhinitis, I think this is a must in our home. Thanks for sharing.
Hubby and I were planning to buy an air purifier. I will consider this one. Thanks sis for the information 🙂
Reading this makes me happy that we have this and at the same time sad that we now live in a time where we have polluted air. =) Great idea from Smart Air! =)
Wow! Indeed way cheaper than other air purifier. Air pollution especially here in Metro is indeed a big problem. Thank for sharing your review, will check on Smart Air.