An air purifier should not sound too novel to those who are looking for an option to “clear the air”, literally. While you have a range of choices for your compact room size, it may actually be a bit troublesome to find one for a relatively large room. Worry no more, as the Levoit LV-PUR131 review is exactly what you are looking for.
Presented in a fairly economical price range, LV-PUR131 model still possesses high-end quality to purify air for a sizable area of room and guarantee to freshen up your atmosphere using technology designed with user-driven awareness.
What kind mechanism is it that makes this air purifier so appealing? Is this model capable of getting rid of odours and lingering smells? Are people with allergies okay with it? Who will find this a good fit to their household?
Let us dive in our in-depth Levoit LV-PUR131 review.
Table of Contents
A Few Heads-up Before You Decide On Your Purchase
Levoit LV-PUR131 Is Perfect For
- Allergic individuals: the LV-PUR131 comes with the True HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter. Undergone close inspection and tests, the filtering mechanism guarantees to get rid of a stunning 99.97% of harmful air particles measured 0.3 microns in diameter. These include airborne germs, pet dander, dust mites and pollen, which pose a serious problem for people with allergy.
- People with asthma: a small amount of allergen is enough to trigger an asthma attack, which could lead to irreversible damages or even death.
- Smokers: if you are someone like me, who detest the smell of smokes but have to begrudgingly bear with that terrible odour, then the stupendous Activated Carbon filter will come to save your day, not only from smokes but also smells and household odours. After all, passive smokers will suffer greatly from lung cancers if exposed to smoke for a long time.
- People with low tolerance for air pollution: the Levoit LV-PUR131 is claimed to run on a 4.5-hour air replenishing cycle, which renews the air on a frequent basis. This is extremely helpful to those who are subjected to indoor air pollution.
- Pet owners: what significantly degenerates the air quality in your household might root from your lovable pets that you keep by your side. As much as you love them, investing in an air purifier to get rid of the microscopic hair will prevent you from developing serious airborne diseases.
Are Air Purifiers Really Worth it?
Nowadays, air pollution is a major problem regardless where you live, especially in heavily populated countries such as India or China, air pollution has made headlines. Believe it or not, the air quality in your living space is more or less being affected by the larger scale pollution in your area. Surprisingly, it may be even dirtier than it is in the outdoor settings, due to the confined space and poor air circulation housing design. In extreme cases, the pollution can be 100 times more serious than it is outside.
On this account, methods such as cleaning and ventilating your area are adapted to lower the pollution degree; however, hardly anyone could stand the idea of dusting the air ventilation and doing a total wash up every single day to maintain a fresh environment. That is when the air purifier makes its entrance.
As the name suggests, an air purifier acts to filter out wasted tiny particles that cannot be seen by the naked eyes from the air that you breathe in, thus improving the quality of the atmosphere. While there are a number of categories regarding how an air purifier works, the final target is to get rid of or trap the tiny harmful particles including dust, mites, pollen, mold, bacteria and virus. With these out of the way, you will reduce the chance of inhaling microscope pollutants and avoid developing serious respiratory disorders.
What kinds of air purifiers are there on the market?
Long story short, there are mainly two types of air purifiers that serves domestic purposes, these include:
- The True HEPA air purifier: HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air and it is capable of filtering out a staggering 99.97% of particles that measure 0.3 microns (1 micron is one-millionth of 1 metre). The HEPA mechanism is based on three key actions: interception, impaction and diffusion.
- An ionizer: this mechanism results in a neutral combination between negatively charged ions and the pollutants in the air, and as the electrical bonding is served, the particle is solidified and falls from the air. All you need to do is sweep them away or vacuum them before the bond dies out.
Levoit LV-PUR131 Specs
| Product | Levoit LV-PUR131 |
| Dimension | 14.5 x 18.5 x 7.2 in(36.8 x 47 x 18.3 cm) |
| Weight | 11.2 lb (5.1 kg) |
| Fanspeed | 3 |
| Area of effect (up to) | 332 sq. ft. (30 sq. m) |
| Dust free (CADR) | 135 cfm (229 m3/h) |
| Pollen free (CADR) | 135 cfm (229 m3/h) |
| Smoke free (CADR) | 135 cfm (229 m3/h) |
| Filtration | 3-stage: True HEPA + attached pre-filter + advanced carbon filter |
| Pre-filter | Fine Preliminary Filter (6-month lifespan) |
| HEPA filter | True HEPA Filter (6-month lifespan) |
| Carbon filter | Activated Carbon Filter (6-month lifespan) |
| Noise levels (dB) | 39.7, 41.1, 44.6, 49.3 |
| Power usage (watts) | 40 |
| Scheduler | 1-12 hours |
| Sensors | AQ sensors |
| Auto mode | Yes |
| Air quality indicator | Yes |
| Filter change indicator | Yes |
| Warranty | 2 years |
The Levoit LV-PUR131 air purifier emerges as a powerful contender if you are looking for a solution to freshen the air from medium to large room, with the maximum area of effects up to 322 square feet. The filtration system consists of three solid layers, including a pre-filter, true HEPA filter and finally an activated charcoal filter to capture the odours and tiny pollutants floating in the air.
A little reminder for you in this family, the LV-PUR series comprises two contestants, the above-mentioned LV-PUR131 and its upgraded version with virtual assistant LV-PUR131s. The latter model is integrated with WiFi connection and you can connect it to your smartphone for a better and more convenient use. Apart from that, the two siblings perform an equally decent job of an air purifier for middle-sized to king-sized rooms.
Despite being ranged in a very competitive low-price market, LV-PUR131 is not without its fancy and futuristic appearance as well as the latest technology that underwent strict and thorough examination and met the highest standards.
In the following quick assessment, we will present some plus features, along with some shortcomings that leave to be desired from this model of LV-PUR131:
Pros:
- Manage energy efficiently (based on the average ratio of CFM over watts with all speed settings, all above average)
- Come with a range of innovative touches for a relatively reasonable budget (auto mode, color-coded air quality indicator, sleep mode, a dimmer switch to make the lights less intensify during nights)
- Bear a light and elegant design, render it easy to move around and fit well into the background
- Equipped with True HEPA filtration system, which allows both particles and gas filtration and performs a large cover area.
- Come with recording program that spares users from setting the options from scratch
Cons:
- Pre-filter is not separable, hence it may be inconvenient to detach the part to give it a good wash
- Two-year warranty is shorter than competitive models
- No WiFi included, no remote control available, can be hard to reach the control at night
Key Features
Design
If you are somewhat a minimalist who prefers your household appliances to be as simple as possible, then the good news is that this air purifier is a perfect fit for you.
LV-PUR131 bears a straightforward, yet very appealing appearance with hard rectangular edges. Even though the design may not be the most ideal one when it comes to efficiency, its minimal and user-friendly design language should be enough to make that up.
That said, this plain design does bring about a number of advantages. There are more spaces inside the purifier, which means that larger air filters are available to fit in the unit. The larger the air filter, the better the quality of air filtration process, basically; but overall, the compact dimension of this air purifier still makes it perfectly fit into anywhere in your room, it doesn’t seem too intrusive in a middle-sized room, while not also fade into the background in a spacious area.
Plus, the machine only weighs roughly 11 pounds, so you won’t find it much of a hassle to carry it on your own incase you need to, also it comes with a handle to assist you with that. One thing to keep in mind is that the air purifier would perform best if you place it appropriately; usually in an open area and not disturbed by solid obstacles, so that the air is circulated well.
On the top of this purifier, there is an LCD screen to display the assessment of air quality in the present area with evenly-distributed function buttons on both sides of the screen. The rectangular air vent is placed under the controlling area.
This set of buttons are easy to use, and are aesthetically pleasing in the daylight; yet, reaching the right function in the pitch dark might be a challenge, but in return, you will not be struck by intensely bright light in the middle of your sleep. Another disadvantage of this control panel is that it can be only altered manually, as this model doesn’t come with remote control using WiFi synchronisation.
At the back of LV-PUR131, there is a removable cover so that you can make changes to the filters inside. Unfortunately, a visible air grill for intake polluted air is not accessible as it is covered beneath the front panel. While this option favors the overall simple design, it may reduce the efficiency of the fan.
All in all, the LV-PUR131 is a good fit for any room size, and it is also a sight for a sore eye with its simplicity and pure white colour.
Filtration system
What is the most important factor that decides how good an air purifier is? Obviously, the mechanism with which it filters and freshens the atmosphere. Built on the True HEPA Air purifier standard, LV-PUR131 also possesses three fundamental layers of filtration:
Preliminary filter
This is the first barricade that serves to capture and neutralize fairly sizable obstacles floating in the air, including dust, pet dander, pet hair, mold and fungi. This layer is made of fibrous material and it cannot be separated from its HEPA filter.
The preliminary filter plays a very important role in purging the air as well as maintaining the longevity of its deeper filter layer, the HEPA filtration. Since the HEPA filtration is somewhat a finer filtration system, getting the obstructive pollutants out of the way right at the entrance would make the job of this fine layer easier and more effective, hence the importance of the preliminary filter.
Design-wise, this is, unfortunately, a significant flaw when you need to replace or wash the preliminary filter, and the only way you can cleanse this filter is to vacuum it, or replace it alongside with a new HEPA filter.
The HEPA filter (the particle filter)
The second layer of protection of LV-PUR131 is the True HEPA filtration layer, also known as the particle filter, as its main purpose is to capture fine solid particles that are capable of escaping the preliminary filter. Up to 99.97% of particles which measure 0.3 microns in diameter can be stopped in this stage of filtration. These super fine particles include dust, smoke particles, mold spores, allergens, bacteria, virus and literally any fine particle in the air.
This is the industrial standard of any air purifier running on the removing particles mechanism, so not only in LV-PUR131, you will find this in some other air purifiers that use the same standard. The reason why HEPA is highly attractive roots to its high efficiency when it comes to removing microscopic particles and fairly inexpensiveness to produce, and hence replace.
Activated Carbon Filter (the gas filter)
The last and the deepest layer of filtration is the activated carbon filter, whose mission is to get rid of smoke and lingering odours in the area, including pet odours, cigarette smokes and kitchen smells.
On the market, filtration using activated carbon can be identified into two categories: pellet-based carbon filter and fibrous carbon filter. When it comes to filtering gases, the former definitely is the winner above the latter, and the LV-PUR131 take that initiative to bring filtration to the next level. If you are especially having problems with the air quality, particularly with gas, then LV-PUR131 should be on your wish list.
Filtered-air Circulation
After the air has been purged of the contaminants, it will be delivered out of the unit through the air vent placed at the top of through a powerful centrifugal pump wheel inside the purifier. This provides users with a limited room space and they have no other choice other than placing the unit against the wall, in this case, the filtered air coming out from the top is still able to circulate decently in the room.
When compared to other contestants within the approximate price range, LV-PUR131 proves itself to be a quite contending player with decent performance; furthermore, the area of effect of this purifier is also impressive. The rate of coverage can be upto 322 square feet, a common US household size. Being an upgraded version of its former LV-H132, the three fans combined with Auto mode trigger a powerful airflow. The Sleep mode allows users to adjust the fan speed to low for bedtime purpose.
The CADR or clean air delivery rate of LV-PUR131 stays consistently at 135cfm (roughly 229m3/h) for dust, pollen and gases, this is an acceptable rate and you will need around 1 hour for this model to clean the air of a 300 square feet room
Smart Options
The LV-PUR131 is equipped with down-to-earth options that provide more than enough for an average user.
Timer
Thanks to the timer option, you can set the desired moment when you want to shut the unit down. The setting offers up to 12 hours, so that you will find yourself at ease when you want to lower the energy consumption to the most economical running in case you are not available at home
Air quality display
On the LCD screen, the quality of the current surrounding air will be analysed and categorised in a colour-coded manner, so by only looking at the display, you can check out the air quality at the time being
Each color is presented with the recommended fan setting to suitably deal with the air quality
| Color | Air quality | Recommended fan setting |
| Red | Bad | High |
| Yellow | Moderate | Medium |
| Green | Good | Low |
| Blue | Very good | Sleep mode |
Sleep mode
Once sleep mode is initiated, the fan will automatically turn to the lowest setting to create less possible noise and save up more energy. In sleep mode, the signal light turn to blue, which sometimes can cause trouble for some light sleepers, but overall, it is not much of a big problem.
Also, if the quality of the air changes half way, the auto mode cannot override the sleep mode to crank up the fan speed, so you have to do it by yourself. Below is the test for brightness level of the control panel at nighttime.
Auto mode
To some people who prefer not to pay too much attention to the setting, auto mode will come to save the day. Equipped with the cleaner sensors, the air purifier will proceed to check on the air quality on a frequent basis to ensure that the air quality is always on top. Any changes in the quality will signal the sensor and ignite the speeding up or slowing down of the fan to further alter the process of filtration. Some people report that the sensors sometimes don’t work very quickly, but in fact, that is how sensors work. Again, careful analysis should be made if energy efficiency is to be achieved.
Filter change signal
One of the main factors that greatly affect the quality of air purifying is the state of the filters, and they needs changing as soon as possible so that the air is purified in a more efficient manner. This is when the filter change indicator comes to work. This sensor will spare you from the anxiety of when you need to make a change to these filters. If the light is on, probably it is time you should have a look at your filters.
One thing to keep in mind that the preliminary filter (the first barricade beneath the back cover) doesn’t have any sensor to display its state, which means that you have to be on your own when the filter needs to be cleaned or replaced. Also remember to dust off any dirt under the cover, where dust usually builds up and interferes with the sensors, which lead to wrong readings.
Noise generation
Another considerable feature that concerns the likability of an air purifier is the noise it makes. Being the pioneer in its series, Levoit LV-PUR131 is designed with three small fans, this means that it will greatly reduce the noise level during the process.
This is the level of noise generated by the machine when I used a sound level meter from a 1m distance.
| Fan setting | Noise level (dB) |
| Off | 39.6 |
| Sleep | 39.7 |
| Low | 41.1 |
| Medium | 44.6 |
| High | 49.3 |
The three fans inside the air purifier only generate around 36dB at the lowest settings. Altogether, the noise exceeds no more than 52dB, this level can be compared to the noise in public venues such as the library. So you should worry no more about the white noise created by this model of air purifier. In fact, I consider the LV-PUR131 greatly suitable for places that need silence, the bedroom or working office perhaps.
Power consumption
If you worry about the energy efficiency of this air purifier, the LV-PUR131 model is Energy Star rated. This means that the product has undergone strict inspection and satisfies the requirements for an energy efficient appliance issued by the US Department of Energy. An Energy Star rated product guarantees to consume power in the most efficient manner, thus saving your electricity bill, and to protect the environment by limiting the waste emissions.
But then comes the question “In order to clean the air for a fairly large room, the air purifier must run constantly, which leads to a huge consumption of power, doesn’t it?”. In fact, the average result shows that the machine only uses 35 watts, with only 0.8 watts on standby. When translating this into a use of roughly 8 hours per day, you only need to pay 15 dollars per year.
Overall performance test
In this section, we ran a pilot test on the LV-PUR131 and came up with a generally satisfying result. In general, this model performs a very decent job.
- After one hour of running, we could see a clear improvement in the quality of the air, translated into specific indexes. The LV-PUR131 brought the PM2.5 from the baseline of 5.6 to only a minute 0.2. In addition, the initial particles in the space were greatly neutralized, from 289 to only 39.
- The LV-PUR131 also approaches a multi-level filtration, with the air impressively improved to just 0.2 PM2.5
- Although the filters normally require replacement after 6 months of use (depends on the frequency of using), this cost of replacing would not be too intimidating, still it offers users with an equally good filtrating job compared to other contestants in the same price range.
What other choices do you have?
Possessing a user-friendly user interface, low noise generation and a decent air purifying performance, the LV-PUR131 is pretty much what an average user should seriously invest in to purge their living environment of microscopic contaminants. Still, it is not without its flaws, for example, as the filter changes can be quite troublesome.
Here are some other worthy contenders of LV-PUR131 if you want to do a bit more exercise before closing your deal of your ideal air purifier.
- Winix 5500-2
- Coway AP-1512HH
- TruSens Z-2000
- Levoit LV-H132
Winix 5500-2
This model would be a perfect well-rounded option to fill in the holes that the LV-PUR131 left to be desired. Slightly bigger and more bulgy, the Winix 5500-2, while also uses the True HEPA filtration mechanism, performs an outstanding cleaning experience; particularly, the model has the CADR up to a staggering 246 CFM, which is nearly double the LV-PUR131.
The model possesses an ergonomic design that helps users to fully utilize the functions needed to create a better air quality. Furthermore, the operation takes place in dead silence, so it is super ideal for people who are strictly concerned about noises.
The only available drawback of WInix 5500-2 when compared to LV-PUR131 is the price tag. This product requires a bit more budget and it can be quite expensive if sale is not available. All in all, it is still a worthy investment if you desire for a superb cleaning experience and an overall well-rounded performance.
Coway AP-1512HH
The Coway AP-1512HH will probably appeal to those who are interested in an out-of-the-world touch for their household. Ranged in the 200 dollars price range, this product is certified to offer users with high-end performance with a CADR rate up to 240 CFM.
Scoring an 8 out of 10 in cleaning performance testing, this model can wipe out almost 100% of contaminants in the air or disturbing smokes. AP-1512HH is also one of the quietest machine, even when running on high settings, the white sound is likely to fade into the background, sometimes it brings a therapeutic effect that helps bring you to a deep slumber.
Given its amazing features, the biggest worry would be the price of the model. It is ranged in the near-top quality products. However, if you are lucky to grab this piece on sale, you should make up your mind quickly because you surely don’t want to miss out on such a bargain.
TruSens Z-2000
If you are someone who is struggling with allergic symptoms, TruSens Z-2000 should be a worthy consideration. This model proves itself to be one of the best contenders in the fight against airborne pollutants as well as common allergens.
With a clean user interface and a portable design, this air purifier will make sure the atmosphere is freshened in the most efficient manner. What stands out in this model is that it comes with an air quality sensing pod, which can be located anywhere in your area. Basically the pod acts as a transmitter that tells the machine what the quality of the air where it stands, and the auto mode will comply with the command given according to the current quality.
What puts the TruSens Z-2000 back is the lack of certified index numbers that recognise its ability of cleaning the air, or the official CADR rating from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. This may raise some questions whether it could perform like it is claimed to be able to, around 375 square feet.
Levoit LV-H132
The last of our honorable mentions is a contestant from the same manufacturer, the Levoit LV-H132. This air purifier generally performs a decent air cleaning process and it is comparatively quiet in a bedroom, though more choices are available for those who can’t stand light noise. The biggest plus for this model is the price, being in a fairly reasonable price range.
However, this investment might not be wise in the long run, as with a little more budget you have a wider access to stronger filtration and better noise generation level.
Our verdict
So regarding our bottom line, we see that the LV-PUR131 will be a good value for money if you are looking for a solution to the air pollution where you live. It is sold at a fairly reasonable price, while performing a pretty standard, if not amazing, performance. It also comes with a regular 2-year warranty and the maintenance cost remains in the acceptable level.
All in all, if you are running on a budget but still want to invest in a durable and decent air purifier, the Levoit LV-PUR131 is worthy of your consideration. Make sure to check out LV-PUR131 on Amazon so see if you are into it. In addition to the air purifier, you can refer to home cleaning products as the vacuum for shag rug, the drawer dishwasher,…
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