A home with poor air quality is a bad place to be. Not only can it be discomforting for you and your guests, but consistent exposure is a health concern. Smoke, smog, dust, and other organic airborne pollutants are not things our nor our pets lungs were designed to inhale! Air purifiers are a great way to help cut down on air pollution in the home, often recommended for those who live in areas that are affected by the wildfire season on the West Coast USA.
Blueair’s Pure 311 is a purifier designed for larger rooms of a medium-sized home, offering filtration performance the company claims is ideal for rooms up to 388 square feet in size. – Setup and Maintenance The Blueair Pure 311 comes fully assembled, ready to go with filters installed.
Simply position it where you want it, plug it in, press the button on top once to set the machine to “Auto,” and you’re up and running. The unit is fairly compact and quite light which makes moving it from room to room fairly easy, though I would have preferred to see handles moulded into the plastic to make it less unwieldy.
Additionally, the power cord is only 6 feet in length which makes positioning a little difficult for larger rooms – the best location for an air purifier will be in the center of the space, which you will need an extension cord to reach with the Pure 311.
The three indicator lights on the top of the unit show its current operating mode (fan speed), and a multicolor indicator on the front provides current air quality status in three stages with blue indicating low particulate matter, yellow for moderate, and red for high.
The top indicator could be a little clearer as the three ring lights are not labeled, so the only way to know which mode is which is by reading the instruction manual. Replacing or cleaning either of the two filters is a straightforward affair.
The outer fabric filter (for larger pollutants) can be vacuumed for regular cleaning, and is machine-washable for deeper cleaning. It is attached by a velcro strip and is easily removed. The main filter is a disposable HEPA filter rated for 6 months of operation, which the Pure 311 monitors and will change the ring LEDs to a red color when it’s time to replace.
Removal is simple as the top of the unit rotates off the base, and a further plastic ring below is what secures the HEPA filter. At the time of review, genuine Blueair replacement filters for the Pure 311 carry an MSRP of $39.
99, so budget approximately $80 per year above electricity costs to run the purifier if you plan to run it 24/7. – Performance & Noise I have only run the purifier for a few days, so it’s hard to tell what difference it makes in my home long-term.
I used this for two days in my master bedroom (approximately 150sqft) and for two days in my den (approximately 360sqft), the two most-used rooms in my house where dust and particulates would be most likely to gather.
Neither of the rooms came up with any air quality warnings on the BlueAir upon startup. While I couldn’t notice much difference in the den, the Pure 311 seemed to help in my master bedroom, especially at night.
I noticed I slept better and woke up without feeling as dry and parched as I tend to in the winter, as my home heat is a forced hot air system with a propane furnace that is not conducive to comfortable humidity levels.
I could see some dust buildup forming on the pre-filter after a few days, so the unit is definitely helping in that regard. I’m sure smaller particulate matter will be stopped by the HEPA filter, but I don’t have a solid benchmark for this as my household is pet-free and non-smoking.
On Auto mode, once the air quality reaches a “good” level it will set the fan to its lowest speed (same as “Night” mode) and maintain it until pollution rises. On its lowest setting the fan is barely audible – a desktop computer idling makes more noise than the Pure 311 in this mode.
At moderate pollution on Auto, or “Everyday” mode, the fan makes about as much noise as a tabletop fan, while at high pollution or otherwise full power the sound gets fairly loud. Of course, the vortex the fan creates at this speed can be felt on the opposite corner of my den, so it should quickly purify even highly polluted areas.
Blueair suggests an entire 388 square-foot room can be fully circulated through the filters 5 times every hour on this mode. – Bottom Line There isn’t much to say about an air purifier – it’s a turbine fan designed to force room air through a series of filters, so the only variances are going to be in size, production quality, and ease of use.
Blueair’s Pure 311 hits on all these key points for medium-size rooms and homes, offering HEPA filtration for a reasonable price in a unit that can be used in multiple rooms. Minor quibbles about the power cord length and lack of grab handles aside, the Blueair Pure 311 comes recommended.
