Every week our company picks up a dozen or so new customers that have purchased and returned the ORECK XL air purifier. Just like Sharper Image, ORECK puts out a very nice looking infomercial that portrays the ORECK XL as a wonder machine for cleaning the air on your home. ORECK sells thousands of them!

The real truth about the ORECK XL Air Purifier is quite different!

ORECK does a great job of slamming the Ionic Breeze air purifier by Sharper Image in their website and infomercials. Some of the facts they use to slam Sharper Image are true, but the fact is that their very own ORECK XL air purifier is not much better! This report will tell you why.

First of all the ORECK XL air purifier is not much larger then a shoe box!

The ORECK XL's low power fan & motor can only provide a very low air exchange rate per hour even in an extremely small space or room. It is quiet, but this is mostly because the motor and fan are so low power you can hardly hear their air movement!

ORECK boasts about how the XL can purify the air in a 900 Square room once every hour. This is very misleading. Notice how ORECK says the words "purifying the air" and not the words "clean or cleaning the air".

First of all, quality HEPA air cleaners found in specialty air cleaner / air purifier stores and websites can actually clean, exchange and move the air in a 900 square foot open space or room approximately eight times per hour. In an average sized bedroom they can exchange the air and clean the room space up to 15 times per hour.

That's 8 times better than the ORECK XL!

Quality air cleaner / air purifier brand names to look for are Austin Air, TRACS, IQ Air and Clarifier.

ORECK boasts how there are no costly filters to replace because it has a permanent washable filter. This is only partly true. Yes the XL has a washable air filter in it. This is because it is using old electronic charged grid technology. This technology uses an electronically charged metal grid that captures dust particles onto it sort of like a magnet. The problem is that when there is only a light coating of fine dust on the metal grid, the dust and allergens can no longer stick to the grid and they then pass right through it to be blown back into your indoor environment so you can breathe it!

Since the entire air purifier is only about the size of a shoe box, the small metal grid filter becomes dirty very quickly and must be washed clean often even though it can only clean a very small amount of floating dust in your living space in the first place.

No costly filters to replace??? UNTRUE!!!!

The ORECK XL does have 4 small replaceable carbon absorbers that need to be replaced on a regular basis for $39.00 a 4-pack. The funny thing about these ORECK XL air purifiers is that they also come with chemical odor cover up scent cartridges to mask odors in your room with the smell of Blooming Jasmine!

How well can the replaceable carbon odor absorbers work if the unit also needs replaceable Blooming Jasmine chemical odor producing scent cartridges it to cover up the odors in your room?

We feel that this contradiction of odor control methods and added filter costs is not a good thing. Plus many people with allergies and asthma do indeed react badly to chemical fragrances. Most people want an air purifier or air cleaner to actually clean the air of contaminants, not to add chemicals into their breathing environment!

ORECK claims its XL air purifier will capture molds and bacteria. It then says that it will kill bacteria. We feel that this claim is very over-rated! Yes, the XL can capture a small amount of mold and bacteria that is attached to dust allowing it to be caught into its small metal grid filter. However we feel that this unit's ability to actually kill bacteria is so very small that this is mostly used as a gimmicky sales tool. Since the XL uses an electronic grid to capture particles, it also generates levels of ozone. Ozone can kill bacteria in spaces but only if the ozone level is very high! In fact, the ozone level would have to be so high you could not occupy the same room or space that the unit was operating in for more then a few minutes before suffering dried out lungs, eyes, throat and headaches. Also the U.S. E.P.A. does not recommend that humans or animals live in any space that is being flooded with ozone levels that will kill bacteria. This is because these higher levels of ozone can be an irritant to the lungs of people with asthma and lung problems!

HEPA Filtered Air Cleaners:

ORECK states that the XL air purifier is better then HEPA air cleaners. NOT TRUE! ORECK says that HEPA filtered air cleaner's work on the same principle as a window screen! What a whopper they are telling the public! A true HEPA air cleaner's HEPA filter is far superior then the ORECK or any electronic air cleaner / air purifier! This is because a true HEPA filtered air cleaner is 99.97 percent efficient down to 0.3 microns of particle size. When a true HEPA filter becomes filled with dust, its efficiency stays the same or gets better!
ORECK says that dusty HEPA filtered air cleaners release particles back into the air. They don't. True HEPA filters in quality HEPA air cleaners stay at least 99.97 percent efficient down to 0.3 microns throughout their life. ORECK also says that HEPA filtered air cleaners quickly become clogged with dirt and frequently need to be replaced. They don't. The average life of a HEPA air filter inside of a quality HEPA air cleaner is approximately 5 years!

ORECK reports 95% efficiency. Also ORECK doesn't tell its customers that their XL air purifier's efficiency rating is only when the unit's metal grid filter is clean and not dirty! When the ORECK's metal charged filter grid gets even a little dusty, its dust collecting ability drops by a huge amount causing its efficiency to become greatly diminished!

The ORECK XL's up front costs are between $349.95 & $359.95. You will then be paying an additional $39.95 every time you purchase its carbon packs and chemical odor cartridges which could be often.

In Conclusion:

A quality HEPA air cleaner or air purifier {for example, the Austin Air Healthmate HEPA Air Cleaner for under $400.00} may cost you a little bit more money up front with a small amount of money up the road in after market filter replacement costs {for example, $150.00 total for Filter Drum Replacement once only approximately every 5 years}, but you will be getting approximately 8 times the cleaning ability and performance of the shoe box sized ORECK XL air purifier.

Do your own research before purchasing air purifier / air cleaner products from any company or infomercial that looks too good to be true while offering far fetched claims including "buy one air purifier, get the next one free" or "for half price". Don't learn the hard way!

Purchase Quality Products That Actually Operate As Advertised!

A great resource for your HEPA air cleaner / air purifier needs can be found at http://www.air-purifiers.net/