Every setup on one page
Quick answer
The three setups on this site cost $132.58, $568.67, $1380.64 to buy, and $212.10, $740.15, $1472.60 once five years of replacement filters are counted. The gap between those two numbers is the part most buying guides leave out.
Genuine Winix Filter Q, 1712-0123-00 with Activated Carbon for Odor Control For Winix 5510, 5520 and 5530
A large room purifier that publishes enough of its own specification to be checked against the room it is going into.
Prices move, and every total on this page is rebuilt from the current listings each time the site is published.
Send me this list
One page with every item in this setup and its current price, plus the five year filter cost, so you can total the whole thing before buying any of it. No sequence of sales emails.
We use this to send the list. You can also just read it on the site.The starter air quality setup
Doing one room properly beats doing four rooms badly. A bedroom purifier sized to the room, its replacement filter, a better furnace filter and a hygrometer is the whole starter setup, and the hygrometer is in it because humidity decides whether the room has a mould problem or a dust problem.
| Item | Product | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Bedroom purifier | GermGuardian HEPA Air Purifier - Large Room Air Purifier for Bedroom, | $80.74 |
| Its replacement filter | GermGuardian, Filter B HEPA Pure Genuine Air Purifier Filter, Removes | $19.88 |
| Furnace filter | Filtrete 16x25x1 Air Filter, MERV 11, MPR 1000, Allergens & Pet Dander | $21.99 |
| Hygrometer | Antonki 2 Pack Room Thermometer Indoor Hygrometer | $9.97 |
| Total to buy | Everything above | $132.58 |
| Five year total | With $79.52 of replacement filters | $212.10 |
The whole home air quality setup
Whole home means one machine per occupied room, not one large machine in the hallway: air does not travel between rooms fast enough for a single unit to serve a house. This setup covers a bedroom and a living space, adds a dehumidifier so a damp room stops growing what the filters are catching, and adds a particle monitor so the result is measured rather than assumed.
| Item | Product | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Living space purifier | Genuine Winix Filter Q, 1712-0123-00 with Activated Carbon for Odor Co | $79.99 |
| Its replacement filter | Improvedhand 5510 5520 Replacement Filter Q Compatible with Winix 5510 | $22.99 |
| Bedroom purifier | GermGuardian HEPA Air Purifier - Large Room Air Purifier for Bedroom, | $99.99 |
| Its replacement filter | GermGuardian, Filter B HEPA Pure Genuine Air Purifier Filter, Removes | $19.88 |
| Dehumidifier | Yaufey 150 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump for Basement 8500 Sq. Ft. | $229.99 |
| Furnace filter | Amazon Basics 20x20x1 Air Filter 6-Pack, MERV 11 AC Furnace Filters, D | $35.87 |
| Particle monitor | Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor, Detects temperature, humidity, carbo | $69.99 |
| Hygrometer | Antonki 2 Pack Room Thermometer Indoor Hygrometer | $9.97 |
| Total to buy | Everything above | $568.67 |
| Five year total | With $171.48 of replacement filters | $740.15 |
The expert air quality setup
The expert setup is not a bigger purifier, it is a wider net. Filtration handles particles, humidity control handles what grows, and carbon dioxide and radon are measured because no filter of any kind removes either. Most households do not need this, and saying so is the point of listing it separately.
Everything on this page
- yaufey
Yaufey 150 Pint Dehumidifier with Pump for Basement 8500 Sq. Ft.
$229.99 Check pricePrices change often - Nuwave
Nuwave Forever Smart Air Purifier for Home, Never Replace Air Filter System
$499.99 Check pricePrices change often
Common questions
Which setup should I start with?
The starter setup, at $132.58, unless you already know you have a damp space or a smoke season. One room done at four and a half air changes an hour is worth more than three rooms at a rate that does not clear anything, and the hygrometer in it will tell you whether the next purchase should be a dehumidifier rather than another purifier.
Why is the five year total so much higher?
Replacement filters. A machine bought once carries a filter bought repeatedly, and over five years those filters frequently cost more than the machine did. Counting them from the start is what stops the cheapest machine on the shelf turning out to be the most expensive one in the house.
Can I mix items between the setups?
Yes, and the sensible mix is usually the larger purifier from the tier above with everything else from the tier you are in. A machine one class larger than the room needs reaches the same airflow at a lower fan speed, which is quieter, and quiet is what decides whether it actually runs.
Do the prices update?
They are rebuilt from the current listings every time the site is published, so the totals here match what the products cost when this page was last built. Prices move, so check each item before buying and treat these as a budget rather than a quote.
What is deliberately not on this list?
Ozone generators, and anything sold primarily on an ionizing or plasma mode. Ozone is harmful in occupied rooms and California's CARB regulates its emission from indoor air cleaning devices. Nothing on this site routes a click at a machine whose main mechanism is producing it.