Bionaire Galileo HEPA Air Purifier Reviews

Bionaire Galileo is the top of the line products from Bionaire, a well-established company specializing in indoor air quality products. Bionaire prides itself in producing air purifier with a Galileo or air quality center control, which can do a couple of smart things: monitor air quality and adjust the machine accordingly, monitor filter usage, capability to be remotely controlled and capability to be programmed.

In addition, Bionaire Galileo series is the only Bionaire air purifier product which has a true HEPA filter which is a filter with theoretical efficiency of 99.97% in cleaning air from particulates sized up to 0.3 micron.

1. How Bionaire HEPA Air Cleaner Works.

The way an air purifier work is quite simple. The air purifier will suck in the dirty air, trap the contaminants in the air, and then release cleaner air back into the room. However, things get a little more complicated when you start to dwelve into the details of an air purifier.

For instance, it will make a difference how many filters there are in an air purifier, the kinds of filters used, and the size of the area where you will put the air purifier in.

Bionaire Galileo HEPA air purifiers consist of two filters:

• Prefilter with carbon layer. The function of the prefilter is to trap bigger particles and the carbon layer can arrest odor and smoke particles.
• HEPA filters which is supposed to trap particles up to 0.3 micron.

To give you an idea about how small a micron is, the diameter of human hair is about 100 microns. Dead skin cells and those tiny dust particles that you can see is around 5 to 10 microns. When you talk about 0.3 microns, these are particles that you cannot see. 0.3 micron is an important size because particles between 0.3 to 2 micron is the lung penetrating particles and is the most dangerous for your health. These particles are too big to be coughed out by the lung, and too small to be sneezed out of the nose. These are also the same particles which irritate your lung and trigger your allergy. With a HEPA filter, those lung penetrating particles are filtered out of the air which means, your surrounding air will be free of those particles.

2. Positive Features of Bionaire HEPA Air Purifiers

• There is a convenient auto reminder to let you know when you need to clean your filter
• The Bionaire BAP model is very versatile, easy to blend into a room, and very stylish.
• Bionaire Galileo comes with air quality monitor which adjusts the machine's setting automatically depending on the air quality.
• It comes with a built in timer, alarm clock, and 4 settings.
• It comes with a good 5 year warranty which you will most definitely 'need'. (see below for the drawback of Bionaire Galileo list).
• At around 26 lb, Bionaire HEPA air purifiers are lightweight.
• Bionaire Galileo works well enough for users to recognize a difference in the air quality and reduction of mild allergy symptoms.

3. The Drawbacks of The Bionaire HEPA Air Purifiers

• The unit is not durable and it tends to break under a year. Sometimes, it's the unit which stops working, sometimes it just falls apart. One customer mentioned that the access doors to the filters break easily. Getting a replacement may not always go as smoothly as you would want it to be, but Bionaire has honored their 5 year commitment, albeit it may take some patience to get a replacement unit.
  
  
• Some Bionaire HEPA air purifiers cannot operate in certain temperatures such as too hot or too cold weather.
  
  
• Package arrangement for replacement filters is strange. You generally will only need 3 HEPA filters if you plan on replacing them. But the packaging comes in packs of 2 which means you have to buy one extra pack for the 3rd filter.Some people are annoyed by this and think that Bionaire's filters are too expensive.

What Kind of Particles Are Trapped With The Bionaire Galileo and Who Needs This Air Purifier The Most?

Currently there are 2 Bionaire Galileo HEPA air purifiers in the market:

• Bionaire BAP1250 air purifier which cost $77.59 (sale price, it used to be $199) with the coverage of 418 sq.feet
• Bionaire BAP1225 air purifier which cost $99 (sale price, it used to be $179) with the coverage of 256 sq. feet

Bionaire HEPA air purifiers, with its HEPA filters, are supposedly trap particles 0.3 micron or above. Its carbon layer traps odor and smoke, albeit at much smaller capacity since the amount of carbon used in these air purifiers are small.

However, it is important to remember that although theoretically, a true HEPA captures particles at the highest efficiency for particles 0.3 micron or above, in reality, the efficiency can become much less depending on the design of the machine. A good machine has a tight housing which prevents the air to bypass the filter. A not-so-good one does not have a tight housing so that a fraction of air coming in bypass the filters and therefore remain dirty.

How about Bionaire Galileo HEPA air purifier ?

As to now, there is no exact figure of efficiency from Bionaire Galileo HEPA air purifier. However, from the price offered, it's very likely that this air purifier is on medium range, perhaps around 50-70% efficiency.

This is enough for people with mild allergy symptoms to get some relieve, and is good for all around cleaning. But people with more severe health issues should not rely on this air purifier to help with their problems. Also, since its carbon filter is thin, it's likely that it only has a limited ability to curb odor and smoke, so don't rely on it if you want an air purifier to get rid of smoke or pet odor.

All in all, Bionaire Galileo is actually a decent air purifier *WHEN* it works. However, as alluded above, there has been some customer complaints recenty in that the air purifier is not durable at all. Therefore, if you decided to purchase these (it's very cheap by the way and is routinely on sale at the moment), recognize that it might be a throw away air purifier.

Other Bionaire air cleaner: Bionaire Permatech Tower Air Purifier

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