Enjoy clean air throughout your house.
In our household, we’ve always tried to be cautious about air pollutants because my fiancé’s grandmother lives with us and she has COPD. Even though clean air is in everyone’s best interest, we really try to keep the air in tip-top shape for her. While we’ve included air quality testers in the house to monitor the environment, the tool that is really needed for fixing ‘dirty’ air is an air purifier. There are a lot of options out there these days and we ultimately decided to work with the Air Mini+ from Molekule.
Molekule was founded with one purpose in mind — to destroy indoor air pollution around the world. After 20 years of research, Molekule’s founders created a new purification technology called PECO. PECO stands for Photo Electrochemical Oxidation and it’s what powers all Molekule purifiers. Molekule provides several different styles of purifiers, but we decided the Air Mini+ would be the best for us. It works for spaces that are up to 250 square feet in size.
We used the purifier in two main areas – our office and our kitchen/dining room. The office is approximately 180 square feet and the kitchen/dining room is between 250/300 square feet. We originally had it in the office but decided that the dining room area made more sense because the space was larger and because there was a greater chance of air pollutants being created there by virtue of the fact that cooking happens in the kitchen.
The Air Mini+ has a particle sensor and has an Auto Protect Mode. That mode will automatically detect particles in the air thanks to the sensor and adjust the fan speed accordingly. You also have the option to change the fan speed manually through the app or by touching the top of the unit. Since we’ve had the purifier set up it’s been on Auto Protect mode. It’s worked really well for our family because we can set it and forget it until it’s time to change the filter. The Air Mini+ can do its job without any involvement from the user. I have noticed several times when I’ve been cooking – especially something that permeates the entire house like cooking bacon – that the fan on the purifier kicks into higher settings for a time until the air clears out.
The Air Mini+ is whisper-quiet (operates at 30 decibels). It’s designed to be able to work in any room – including bedrooms. So, it has to be quiet in order for it not to disturb someone sleeping. When the purifier arrived, we plugged it in and connected it immediately. I was surprised at how quiet it actually was. It creates a very gentle hum while the fan is on its lowest speed. It does get a bit louder at high speeds, but it’s no louder than a personal cooling fan.
The purifier is also ozone-free and users have the option to have filters automatically shipped to them. Since the purifier connects to your home Wi-Fi, it can report back to Molekule when a new filter is required. One of the things the app provides you is an estimate of how much life the filter still has. From the screenshots I’ve included in this article, you can see that the filter is currently at 77% of its life. It will be a while before we have to replace it, but it’s good to have that visual reminder of where the filter is in its life cycle.
So, how does the purifier work? First, it takes in air from the bottom of the unit and as air flows through the high-efficiency filter layers, larger particles get trapped. You can actually see how well dirty air elements are collected on the outer filter layer by the photos included in this article. In the center of the filter is where the PECO process occurs. According to the Molekule website, “The nanocatalyst-coated filter layers react to light, destroying pollutants and leaving behind clean air.” Once the air makes its trip through the purifier, the clean air is expelled through the top of the purifier and back into the room.
To set up the Air Mini+, you start by pairing it to your phone. You enter some information about the environment where the purifier is going to be installed and that’s it. You have the option to connect the purifier to HomeKit if you wish. Once the purifier is installed, you can view the current air quality rating in the Molekule app along with the PECO-filter’s status. While I feel that the air purifier has been doing a good job, it would also be nice if the sensor’s readings were recorded in the app for later review. For example, I have an air quaility monitor in one of the rooms of our house. The app for that device records data constantly and provides a chart for users to review to see how the air quality has changed over time in a given space. This is what I would love to see incorporated into the app. Right now, you get a current quality level, the ability to change your fan speed, the filter status, and device details and settings.
Overall, I really like the Air Mini+. I think it’s an easy way to keep the air in your house clean. Once the purifier is set up, you can just leave it alone to work until the filter needs to be changed. We have moved ours from room-to-room, which is actually recommended by Molekule, but there is nothing wrong with having it regulate the air in a single room. I think it’s a worthwhile investment because there are a lot of purifiers in the market, but not all of them are connected to WiFi or the Auto Protect mode. And for me, those are the main features that set the Air Mini+ apart from other purifiers.
In addition to being sold through Amazon.com, and molekule.com, you can also find the Air Mini+ on Apple.com and Apple Stores across North America.
For more information, visit molekule.com, Facebook, and Twitter.