Overview:

Pros: Good airflow, high efficiency, cheap purchase price
Cons: Limited concerns addressed
Great for: Allergies, Dust
Not Recommended for: Chemicals, Odors, Smoke

Summary:

The Honeywell 17000 is a popular low cost air purifier that delivers good performance for the price. It covers 200 square feet at 5 air exchanges per hour. It has 3 speeds with a separate button for each speed. It also has filter life timer and a button to reset the timer.

This unit is very similar to Honeywell’s larger 50250 drum air purifier, but has just been turned on its side. It is not nearly as noisy as the larger 50250 unit, but is still louder than some more higher priced alternatives.

Similar to the 50250, it has relatively high power consumption which increase its cost to operate. This is because of the high efficiency HEPA filter and powerful motor needed to pull air through such a tight filter. The unit and the airflow volume is reasonable.


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Review Outline & Key Findings (Click to Skip Ahead)

1. Unboxing the Unit
Easy to Carry
Basic Controls
Solid Feel, Cheap Appearance

2. Key Technologies
High Performance Filter

3. Available Filter Options
HEPA
Carbon Prefilter

4. Product Specs
200 SqFt
99.97% Efficiency
123 Watts

5. Our Testing
Power Consumption
Noise Levels (dB)
Efficiency Tests

6. Cost to Operate
Power: $13.28
Filters: $13.58
Total: $26.87

7. Alternative Units
Whispure 250
Alen T500

8. The Bad
Limited Concerns
Cost to Operate

9. The Good
Cheap Price
High Efficiency

10. Why Buy Here?
Personal Advice
Expertise
Long Term Support

Full Review of Honeywell 17000 HEPA Air Purifier

Unboxing the Unit

Easy to Carry
The Honeywell 17000 was simple to open and remove from the box. Secured by a few styrofoam pieces, the unit was light weight and came out of the box easily. The inital feeling is that this is a small unit and may not deliver as much airflow as I am expecting, but we will see.

Turning it on/off
The controls are very simple. There are three push buttons, one for each of the three speeds. This is not common. Most air purifiers have a single button or knob to cycle between each of the speeds. The unit also has a filter life timer with a reset button.

Opening the Unit


Changing the filter on the Honeywell 17000 is a little different than most air purifiers. Rather than a door that swings open or a front panel that pops off, the unit is unscrewed by the giant screw on the side. Once it has been unscrewed, the side comes off and the drum filter is lifted out of the unit housing.

Construction Quality: Feels Solid, But Cheap Appearance
As with most Honeywell air purifiers. The 17000 feels solid as it is molded out of a thick plastic, but clearly not much thought has been put into the aesthetics. But don’t expect much at this price point.

Key Technologies

The key technology for many Honeywell units are the high efficiency filters. They tend to use a rubber seal to prevent air bypass and deliver excellent efficiency for the price. However, noise and power consumption tend to higher than the typical air purifier, but the noise on the Honeywell 17000 is not that bad.

It Says Vacuum, But We Wouldn’t
While Honeywell often stays that you can vacuum the filter, we don’t recommend it. It will remove some large visible dust particles, but it won’t change the color of your filter from a dirty gray back to white. This means that you are not removing the tiniest of particles that are imbedded deep in the filter. This is why even “cleanable” or “permanent” filters need to be replaced.

Aside from the filter, the rest of the unit is extremely basic. And there is not much to be expected from a unit in this price range.

Available Filter Options

A Large HEPA Filter
Many Honeywell units utilize a cylindrical drum HEPA filter. This gives the filter a large surface area and allows for high airflow.

The 17000 offers a seemingly good sized HEPA filter, but it is dwarfed by the gigantic drum filter offered by the much larger Honeywell 50250-S unit.

A Charcoal Pre-Filter
A charcoal pre-filter is also offered. As you can see in the picture, you wrap the pre-filter around the main filter and secure it with some velcro strips.

While the box and marketing say that this helps the unit address odors, we don’t believe that this small amount of carbon is going to last long. Even if it does give a fresh smell for awhile, we would not trust it for chemicals or strong odors.

 

 

Product Specs

These specs are provided by the manufacturer, but many are available. So you may want to skip ahead to see our test results for the missing values.








Coverage Area 200 sq ft
Efficiency 99.97%
Noise Levels Not Provided By Manufacturer
Power Consumption Not Provided By Manufacturer
Energy Star Rated Yes



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Performance Testing

The following performance specs are what we measured in our performance testing.








Speed Power Consumption (Watts) Noise (dB) Efficiency (0.3 Microns)
3 123 58.5 99.5%
2 97 52 99.5%
1 79 47 99.5%

Cost to Operate

Cost to Operate:Potentially High, but it depends.
Monthly Power Cost: $13.28
Monthly Filter Cost: $13.58
Maximum Operating Cost: $26.87/month
Typical Operating Cost: $13.43/month (We divide max operating cost in half since we don’t expect everyone will run it on high 24/7)

The main draw of Honeywell air purifiers is their high efficiency and low purchase price. However, their cost to operate tends to be higher than many other units that have a slightly higher up front cost.

In order to determine the cost to operate, we consider power consumption cost and filter replacement costs:

Power Consumption Cost







Unit Power on High: 123 watts
Cost of Electricity from Utility: 15 cents/kWh
Your Daily Power Cost on High: 44 cents per day
Your Monthly Power Cost on High: $13.28/month on high

Filter Replacement Cost






Filter Cost Change Frequency
HEPA Filter $63 every 12 months
Charcoal Pre-Filters $25 1 every 3 months

Power Cost:
Running the 17000 on high speed, 24 hours a day will result in a power cost of $13.28/month.

Filter Cost:
Changing the HEPA filter on schedule every 12 months and also the pre-filter every 3 months will cost a total of $163/year, which averages out to $13.58/month.

Recommended Filter Change Frequency
Honeywell is very generous in their filter change recommendations. They say that you can vacuum your filters, which we advise against, and they suggest a 3-5 year change schedule. We’ve seen how filthy filters get in as little as 6 months, and we guarantee that you don’t want to wait 3 or more years for a filter change!

We recommend changing your main HEPA filter at least once per year. And we support Honeywell’s suggestion of changing their carbon pre-filter every 3 months or so. This is why we say a “ptentially high” cost to operate. If you are diligent about filter changes, your cost will be higher. If you are a little lazy, then it will be lower. Most of us will be somewhere in between.

Cost To Operate
The maximum cost of ownership means running the unit on high speed, 24/7 and changing the filters at the recommended change frequency.

While we recommend that you run your unit 24/7, we don’t expect that everyone will. Therefore, we divide the maximum operating cost ($26.87/mo) in half to give a more typical operating cost of $13.43/mo.

 

Potential Unit Upgrades















Honeywell 17000

 
Whispure 250
 
Alen T500
Price $87+ $199 $249
Coverage (2 air changes) 500 800 500
Coverage (5 air changes) 200 320 200
Efficiency (0.3 Microns) 99.5% 99.5% 92.8%
Noise on High (dB) 58.5 Not Yet Tested 56.5
Power on High 123 Not Yet Tested 54
Warranty 5 Year 1 Year Forever Guarantee
Max Cost to Operate $26.87/mo Not Yet Tested $10.71/mo
Typical Cost to Operate $13.43/mo Not Yet Tested $5.36/mo
  Not Yet Reviewed Full Expert Review
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The Honeywell 17000 is good, cheap unit that delivers high efficiency. There are not many comparable units in the sub $100 price point. Therefore, we’ve offered two great upgrade alternatives if you have it in your budget.

Whirlpool Whispure 250 Air Purifier
The first unit we recommend is the Whispure 250. This unit will give more airflow/coverage area and great efficiency. It’s main advantages are low-cost good coverage and soothing noise that is easy to sleep to.

Alen T500 Tower Air Purifier
If you started by looking at the Honeywell 17000 because of its price, then this next unit may stretch your budget a bit. However, it is definitely worth considering the Alen T500. Alen is one of our favorite brands on Air Purifeirs America because of their great combination of quality and performance.

Alen is a premium brand and the T500 is their lowest priced unit, but it is really the first unit you can find that begins to offer multiple filtration options to address your various needs. It is also backed by a Forever Guarantee which no other air purifier in the market offers.

Alen also offers bulk filter prices which can reduce your cost of operating the unit to well below the numbers we have above.

Areas for Improvement (The Bad)

While there are drawbacks to this unit, most are because of its low purchase price. You wouldn’t go shopping for a car at a Kia dealership and expect to find something that delivers the performance of a Porsche or Ferrari. So if you’re shopping for a $100 or less air purifier, you probably already know that it is going to have a few shortcomings compared to more expensive brand.

Limited Features/Concerns
Because of its price, it is very limited on features and filter options.

Cost to Operate
Its long term cost to operate is nearly twice that of the T500 air purifier which is more expensive to by up front. This is partially because advise that you will need to replace your filter more frequently than Honeywell recommends.

Reasons to Buy (The Good)

The main purpose of the Honeywell 17000 is to be a budget air purifier, and it delivers. I would tend to opt for a unit with a little more functionality and aesthetics, but that is a personal preference.

Cheap Price
The Honeywell 17000 is a very low cost unit that delivers decent coverage and good airflow.

Good Efficiency
This purifier delivers good filtration efficiency which works well for allergens and dust concerns.

Why Buy With Air Purifiers America

With a hundred places you could buy this same product, why choose Air Purifiers America?

With Air Purifiers America, you always have someone to call if you run into a problem.

We can give you advice over the phone or online chat. Help you determine where and how often to run your unit.Help you find the right filter replacement, and more!

If you need to send the unit back, we’ve got you covered. If your unit has an issue in a year, we can walk you through the warranty process.

Amazon may ship it to you 1 day faster, but after that, you’re on your own! When you buy from Air Purifiers America, we are always available to help you resolve any issues you may have.  


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