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The model number is the room rating

The AeraMax 90, 190 and 290 manuals each print a Room Area Served line that matches the model number.

AHAM certifies air purifiers’ clean-air figures and lists them in a directory. It sizes a room from a machine’s smoke CADR (clean air delivery rate), the filtered air the machine puts out, in cubic feet per minute. The size it gives is the room where the machine cleans the air 4.8 times an hour.

Every one of the three manual ratings is smaller than the room AHAM’s directory gives the same machine. Size off the model number and you get the smaller room.

The CDC recommends at least 5 air changes an hour (the number of times an hour the room’s air gets cleaned). All three reach it at the room size in their manuals. Every air-change figure here assumes an 8-foot ceiling.

How to pick one, and where each is sold

1. Multiply the room’s length by its width to get square feet.
2. If the answer is 290 or less, buy the AeraMax 290. Its manual rates it for 290 sq ft, and in a Staples store it costs about what the 90 does.
3. Read the 290 review before you buy. If you already own a 90 or a 190, go to the filter table instead.

The 290’s manual rates the largest room of the three, 290 sq ft. A room bigger than that needs a different machine.

Fellowes’ own air purifier catalog lists only its AeraMax Pro machines, so look for the 90, 190 and 290 at other stores.

AeraMax 290: rooms up to 290 sq ft

Staples sells it as model 9790201, in stores only.

There’s a full review of the AeraMax 290, too.

AeraMax 190: rooms up to 190 sq ft

Buy the 290 for a room up to 190 sq ft. Its 290 sq ft rating covers the room, and in a Staples store it costs about half what Clary Business Machines charges for a 190.

The 190 does win on filters, which cost less each year than the 290’s.

If you already own a 190, its two filters are in the filter table, and there’s more about the machine in the review of the AeraMax 190.

AeraMax 90: rooms up to 90 sq ft, and its two filters

The 90’s manual rates it for a room of 90 sq ft, where it cleans the air 5.9 times an hour. Staples sells it in stores as model 9790101.

You’re better off with the 290. The two cost about the same at Staples, and the 290 is rated for over three times the floor space.

A 90 takes the 9287001 True HEPA filter and the 9324001 carbon four-pack. Both cost less at Home Depot than at Fellowes.

The filter table gives what a year of both filters costs, and the AeraMax 90’s own review covers the rest.

What goes wrong: buying for the room on the listing

Size from the model number, not from the listing. The AeraMax 290’s listings at Amazon and Staples run up to 600 sq ft, and its manual rates it for 290.

On all three, the top of the listed range is about double the room size in the manual.

AHAM sizes a room for 4.8 air changes an hour. The Amazon listing sizes its ranges for 3 to 5. A range built on fewer air changes an hour claims a bigger room for the same machine.

None of the three reaches the CDC’s 5 at the top of its listed range.

Buy the 290 for a 250 sq ft bedroom

A 250 sq ft bedroom needs the AeraMax 290. Amazon’s comparison table puts 250 inside the 190’s range of 200 to 400 sq ft, but the 190’s manual stops at 190.

In that room the 290 gives 6.0 air changes an hour, above the CDC’s 5. The 190 gives 3.8 and the 90 gives 2.1.

Staples sells the 290 in its stores.

AeraMax filters: which two your machine takes, and what they cost

An AeraMax 90, 190 or 290 takes one True HEPA filter and one four-pack of carbon filters a year. You’ll find the 190 and 290 filters on Amazon under their Fellowes part numbers, and Home Depot carries all six.

Change the True HEPA filter about every 12 months and the carbon filter about every 3 months, so one four-pack lasts a year. Change either one sooner if its indicator on the machine has turned red.

Home Depot sells the 90’s True HEPA filter, 9287001, for about half what Fellowes charges.

The full cross-reference is in AeraMax and Boneco replacement filters.

Humidifiers not in AHAM’s directory: the Boneco W200 and H680

Boneco rates the W200 at up to 350 g of water an hour for rooms up to 538 sq ft, and up to 28 hours per fill. The H680 manual gives 1,000 g an hour.

If you’re after either one, expect to look around. Both were out of stock at Vacuum Cleaner Market, and the W200 was out at Home Depot too.

AHAM has certified no clean-air figure for either Boneco machine. The name does not appear in either edition of the directory, October 2023 or April 2020.

The Boneco name is also not on CARB’s list (California’s list of certified air cleaning devices). That list is a long one, so an entry could have been missed.

The H680 manual prints its own CADR of 112 cubic feet per minute, which neither AHAM edition lists.

The W200 is an air washer, like the two Venta Airwasher models Consumer Reports tested in February 2008. Consumer Reports found those two “no better at removing dust and smoke than no air purifier at all,” though “efficient at adding moisture to the room.” It did not test the W200.

The longer comparison is in air washer versus humidifier.

Where to go next

Questions

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