GermGuardian AC4825 3-in-1 Air Purifier with True HEPA Filter, UV-C Sanitizer, Captures Allergens, Smoke, Odors, Mold, Dust, Germs, Pets, Smokers, 22-Inch Germ Guardian Air Purifier (2)

I like the function of the purifier. It runs quietly, and I immediately noticed that I would wake up in the morning way less congested than I had been without it. Cleaning and changing the filter verifies that the unit is indeed pulling contaminants out of the air as well.

I liked the unit so much that I ended up ordering two more of them over the next several months.

6 months after my original purchase, my unit started to bug out. The cable, a few inches from where it was plugged into the wall, had developed an issue. As I moved the bend of the cable, the unit would flicker off. The cable had obviously developed an open inside of it. This unit had been essentially stationary since opening, with an occasional cleaning and one filter replacement. There was no undue stress on the cable.

The product was covered under warranty. I emailed Guardian’s customer support to ask about the issue. I was told that the cable was not a replaceable part, that I needed to ship the entire unit back to them, and that I would have to pay for shipping.

The exact wording in the email was, “Per the terms of the warranty as stated in the manual, the customer is responsible for the shipping costs…” The product manual doesn’t state this. Using USPS shipping estimator, it looks like this will cost around $28-40 to ship back to the factory.

Guardian wants me to pay a third of my original purchase price in shipping charges in order to exercise the warranty on their faulty product. Perhaps this is their way of deterring us from exercising the warranty at all.

Buyers beware. This is how Guardian supports its products.

I purchased two of these units as well as a GermGuardian AC5250PT in January 2017. Tonight (April 25th) my wife smelled something burning – the odor was very strong. We knew something in the house was smoldering and were running room to room to find it. It seemed like the smell was coming from the GermGuardian AC4825, but we couldn’t tell for sure. I took it to the garage where the odor was not present and sniffed around the vents, but I still wasn’t sure if the GermGuardian was the source of the burning smell.

I had to be sure the GermGuardian was the source. If not, something else was burning inside our house! So, I took the cover off and sure enough a circuit board underneath the controls was badly burned! The crazy part is the unit was still functioning – still blowing air and appeared to be working normally. The fuse on the circuit board hadn’t even blown! If we had not been home this thing could have burned our house down.

I telephoned Amazon and they are refunding my money on all three units I purchased. I will be shipping these units back as soon as possible. I asked the Amazon rep to report this to the manufacturer.

My toddler and I both have severe allergies and asthma. To the point that over the past month we have both been having major issues with the pollen and smog in the air, even with being home most of the time! I ordered this one after doing A LOT of research, and I decided this was the best for the money. With a true HEPA filter that you replace once a year (opposed to once a month) it would save money in the long run. I chose this one for the den in our house and over the coming weeks we will be getting smaller ones for the bed rooms.

This review for right now is 24 hours in to having it on in the house, and later I will come back and add to it.
Set up was easy straight out of the box, and I put it out of traffic areas in the house. I was worried with where I put it there would be trouble for good air circulation, but it is doing great! In fact with it on high I noticed a tag on the other side of the room (directly across) was moving on one of the toys yesterday as I was cleaning. Then I cooked fish last night (our den has an open doorway to the kitchen), and I couldnt even smell it cooking!! I decided to test it this morning, and sat on the couch painting my nails. Even using nail polish remover I couldnt smell it!!! (which astounds me b/c I hate doing my nails simple b/c of the toxic fumes!!) As far as noise, its not that bad. On high, with the tv and with kids running around it is a little white noise and thats it. I sleep with the bed room doors open, and having a tower computer on in the den annoyed me, however on medium I couldn’t even hear it in the den! It also moves a lot of air b/c even when the ac isnt blowing air, it feels like it is b/c of this tower! I am super excited at the thought of having better air quality in the house so we dont have as many issues, and I know it will take probably a good month for me to be able to judge that (and trust me I keep up with our flair ups b/c my son sees a specialist so I can tell you if it will make a difference or not). I also liked the UV light, since we have kids over to play all the time it makes perfect sense to have it to.

Also anyone that has lung issues, make sure to avoid any purifier that has the ion part (where you turn it on for a fresh smell) it actually causes lung problems (if you have underlying problems). Oh and check out the reviews on walmart . com for this purifier, it has hundreds of reviews and most are five star (which is one of the reasons I went with this model even though not everyone loved it on here).

Check back in August and I will add an update =)

****************************UPDATE****************************** 12/2/2012
Hi ALL! Sorry took me so long to come back and update =) Fortunately if you see below I did give a heads up three weeks in we still loved it. This unit is holding up well, and really does a good job! Since buying it (I guess going on six months ago now –WOW THAT WENT FAST!!) it helped with our asthma and allergies. Within the first month I stopped waking up with a stuffy nose, and it was taking particles out of the air so I wasn’t seeing as much dust. I still would love to have them in each room, but that is on the back burner. Make sure you have enough for the sq footage of your room. We have since moved to a larger place, that has more sq footage in the den, and also two open doorways leading to other rooms. As such, this unit is doing really well for how much air it has availability to; when I should honestly probably should have one more in here. It isn’t too loud, and I love the uv light. Within the first month of us having it we were exposed to someone (a visitor) that wound up having pneumonia. With the fact we have a higher risk of catching lung illnesses, I was really nervous. I think a big contributor to not catching it is because we had this unit running on high with the uv light. I highly recommend this unit, and I hope it helps! =)

***********************************Update 6/26/13
We just about hit the year mark! Still working great and going strong! Make sure you wipe down (inside and out) once a month (as the book says). Still going strong, and working well! =) Buy this one, and you wont regret it!

***********************************Update 11/13/13
Unit is still working great! We added a second one earlier this year, and pleased with both! =)

***********************************Update 06/29/14
Both units are still going strong with no issues. Still helping with our asthma and allergies.

So I do love the GermGuardian it works extremely well, and as a long time allergy sufferer it has been a godsend. Honestly though the Filters are extortion which led me to find a very inexpensive alternative to their insanely priced filters. You simply purchase a 14 x 24 X 1 allergen grade home air filter (pictured), and cut it down to fit the unit. This makes about 3 to 4 filters that work just as well and possibly better if you get really high quality filters. I attached a couple pictures, one shows the type of filter and the other is a cut down filter after three months of use (it used to be pure white). The home filter cost me $20, and after cutting it up into 3 pieces each filter for the guardian really only cost me around $7. I attached a link to the Filtrete brand filter which is $32 for a 2 pack which is even cheaper than the Honeywell one I got from Home Depot. Anyway don’t be fooled and don’t over pay. Filtrete Healthy Living Ultra Allergen Reduction Filter, MPR 1500, 12 x 24 x 1-Inches, 2-Pack