Improving the quality of our indoor air with Philips 2000i Air Purifier

When was the last time you thought about the quality of the air in your home? Last week? Last month? Never?

It never occurred to me to think about the quality of our indoor air and whether it was good or bad until our youngest was diagnosed with eczema, and I discovered just how many things can make it worse.

Dust mites, pets, pollen and bacteria can all trigger flare-ups and exacerbate existing symptoms, so ever since I’ve been mindful of making sure our environment is as allergy-free as possible.

I (naively) assumed our air quality at home must be good because we live by the sea with plenty of fresh sea air, our flat is cleaned properly every week so there’s never more than seven days’ worth of dust so surely the same goes for other nasties in the air.

But it turns out I’ve been very wrong after Philips got in touch to see if we’d like to try out their 2000i Air Purifier, which promises to remove harmful particles such as pollen, dust and pet hair from the air so you can breathe better indoors.

They told me that according to the World Health Organisation indoor air can be up to five times more polluted than outdoor air, making having an air purifier in your home or an air purifier for small office important.

What’s more, long-term exposure to ambient air pollution can lead to breathing issues in children. With two house cats and what I consider a fairly clean house I was intrigued; how bad could ours be?

Improving the quality of our indoor air with Philips 2000i Air Purifier

Awarded a Which? Best Buy, the Philips 2000i Air Purifier costs £400 and promises to automatically monitor and purify the air in your home.

It’s one of the only air purifiers against leading competitors which meets the World Health Organisation’s standards of air quality, and promises to capture 99.97% of particles that pass through the filter.

What’s in the box?

Just the air purifier – nothing else! The purifier comes fully assembled so there are no fiddly bits to put together and no umpteen-stage picture instructions to follow either – just take off the wrapping and it’s ready to go.

There are two internal filters: an active carbon filter and ‘NanoProtect’ filter which captures air particles, allergens, bacteria and even some viruses.

What does it actually do?

If you’ve got someone in the house who loves gadgets, they’re going to love this. The air purifier makes a satisfying bleeping activation sound when you switch it on, and again when you switch it off, and features include:

3 automatic purification settings from extra-quiet ‘sleep’ mode to extra-powerful ‘turbo speed’
Air quality data in real time
Captures 99.97% of particles
Continuously monitors the air and automatically adjusts the fan speed when it detects a change in particles
Always-alert program that detects and reacts to potential allergen risk
Auto-powered airflow to immediately reduce allergen exposure
Wi-Fi connectivity – you can control it from anywhere and turn on the air purifier, change the fan speed or check your filter lifetime through the Air Matters app
Allergen management advice via the app

So how polluted was our indoor air?

The air purifier has an AeraSense ‘allergen index’ from 1 to 12, with 1 being the best and 12 being the worst. As well as a digital display screen on the top of the machine telling you what your air quality is there’s also a colour ring on the front of the purifier denoting the quality of the air, with blue being a good allergen and particle level, violet being fair and red being bad.

When I first switched our air purifier on our air quality ranked 6 which is classed as moderate, and I must admit surprised me. So much for our seaside air! I’m pleased to say that after using the air purifier this has come down to 3 which is classed as good, and I’m happy with that.

My verdict:

If you’ve got a little one who suffers with allergies or eczema like me this is an all-singing, all-dancing air purifier which will help make the air in your home as clean as it possibly can be.

I wouldn’t keep it in a room I was sleeping in because you can hear the whirr of the fan, but having said that it is designed for living rooms, not bedrooms, does have a ‘sleep’ mode and does come with a Quiet Mark seal of approval.

The filter needs cleaning every month, and I can’t say I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in ours at the end of the month! But at the same time, as mum to a daughter with eczema who’s also prone to bouts of what they call ‘infant wheeze’, the air purifier gives me added peace of mind that I’m doing everything I can to minimise her symptoms.

The same could be said for anyone with a member of the family who suffers from allergies like hay fever too. As we go into winter and the temperature drops and the heating comes on – a classic time of year for eczema flare ups – the air purifier is another weapon in my armour. And every little helps!

We were gifted the Philips Air Purifier 2000i in exchange for this review. As always all opinions are my own, and based on our own honest experience.