Oreck Air Refresh Air Purifier: Trusted Review & Specs

Oreck Air Refresh is a valid Sharp and Boneco rival, but lacking all-round competence. It has great combination of air purifier and humidifier, but lacks some of the finesse required to truly compete in this market. Well, let’s find out in our Oreck Air Refresh Review.

It seems the Oreck Air Refresh has been discontinued, as we can’t find the product in Oreck website for a long time. We recommend you to look for the Oreck Air Response Large instead. However, if you can afford the Air Refresh, perhaps you should check the Levoit Core 600S for a much better device.

Oreck Air Refresh ranks C- in our air purifier ranking list. We give the biggest and most thorough database of air purifier reviews in the world.

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Oreck is founded by David Oreck as a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, then air purifiers in the United States market. Today, the air purifier company is still selling their most iconic products, including of the Oreck Air Refresh, an only 2-in-1 combination of air purifier and humidifier. It’s time for Oreck Air Refresh Review.

Other Oreck’s Air Purifier Reviews: 

Oreck Air Refresh Price

Following the success of 2-in-1 air purifiers like Sharp KC-860U and Boneco H300, we’ve seen a host of rivals crop up in the couple of years later. The Oreck Air Refresh is a competent and well-priced device, and is available right in American market, something you can’t find for the Japanese and Swiss manufacturers.

It’s not all good news, though. The quality of HEPA filter made by Oreck is quite inconsistent between devices. The Oreck Air Refresh also has such low capability just like the air purifiers with Truman Cell filter, like Oreck XL Professional and Oreck ProShield Plus. This aside, Oreck Air Refresh remains a reasonably priced option. It’s not perfect, but if you can live with its foibles, there’s a lot on offer for your money.

To have an Oreck Air Refresh, you should check the official price of $399 from Oreck website, which sometimes drops to only $299. You can get a much better deal from Breathe Quality, as usual.

Apart from the obvious competitors I’ve mentioned above, the Sharp KC-850U is now a bit cheaper, and you can forget the filter replacement with the new Boneco W200. Against these formidable opponents, is there any chance for the today Oreck Air Refresh?

Related post: Best air purifier 2023.

Oreck Air Refresh Design and Size

The Oreck Air Refresh distinguishes itself in the air purifier world. It has the size of a tower air purifier, but in the shape of a console air purifier like Inofia PM1320 or Honeywell HPA200.

Well, this is a turn-up for the books. After years of chasing the air purifier with signature Truman Cell filter, it seems the American firm has finally set into the traditional HEPA air purifiers, which you aren’t genuinely excited to see, but happy to get.

The Oreck Air Refresh is 29 inches in height, such height can surpass any GermGuardian air purifiers, even for the GermGuardian AC9400W. And for an Oreck air purifier, it is heavy, too. The net weight of the Oreck Air Refresh is 15 lbs, so you should be happy with the convenient handle from the back.

Surely, you can’t easily forget the shape of this Oreck Air Refresh. It is quite narrow for the base, but the top control panel is big and wide. It has two separated parts: the front cover can be removed to access the air filter, and a back water bank which can be unlocked by a release clip.

Oreck Air Refresh will use a bottom-to-top air flow system concept, which is reasonable for a console air purifier, but not for a tower device with such height. Besides the top air outlet for clean air, you can also see the humidification outlet.

In addition, you will find an LCD display screen on top, next to a set of 5 functional buttons.

Source: Amazon.com

Related post: Best air purifiers for bedroom.

Oreck Air Refresh Filters

To decide the performance of one air purifier, normally we will check the quality and quantity of the air filters inside it, as well as the air filter types. Oreck Air Refresh has a 2-stage air cleaning system as below.

1. Activated Carbon filter – Oreck Air Refresh has an Odor filter to remove unwanted odors from the air.
2. HEPA filter – The main HEPA media filter can capture 99% of any particles down to 0.3 microns like pollen, dust mites, allergens, pet dander, and cooking smoke.

Oreck Air Refresh makes use of the typical air filtration system, with the core of a HEPA filter. However, it is not really a True HEPA filter, so the efficiency is a bit lower than other manufacturer in the same price range.

I’ve made a simple test for the air purifier function of Oreck Air Refresh, in a room of only 100 square feet. The test is also conducted for the Oreck Airvantage, Oreck Air Response Small and Oreck DualMax, so you can see the difference between other models of Oreck. Without the True HEPA filter, the Oreck Air Refresh had the lowest score of all four, being only 98% for trapping any particles down to 0.3 microns in size.

Another drawback of buying this air purifier is its short filter lifetime. You need to change both air filters after 6 months, and the Oreck Air Refresh filter replacement costs you $43, a bit pricier for a normal HEPA filter.

Related post: Best air purifiers for allergies.

Oreck Air Refresh Room Coverage

As I’ve already highlighted in this review, the Oreck Air Refresh use an air flow direction of console device for tower shape, instantly giving the device many difficulties in using the fan power. In fact, the room coverage of Oreck Air Refresh is only for up to 115 square feet.

The ACH of Oreck Air Refresh is 4X. With this air changes per hour rating, the air purifier can clean your room every 15 minutes.

The CADR of Oreck Air Refresh is 77 cfm in general, which is really, really low. The Sharp KC-850U can clean your room double-quick.

Related post: Best large room air purifiers.

Oreck Air Refresh Sound

In truth, an air purifier uses HEPA filter will need a specialized fan and rotor, to move the polluted air through high density of placed fibers. As a result, it can’t be as quiet as other filter types.

However, the Oreck Air Refresh has a very small capability, so it doesn’t generate much noise. The highest noise level of this air purifier is only 55 decibels (db). You can hear the sound from Oreck Air Refresh, but it is not too noisy to keep you awake.

Related post: Best air purifiers for baby.

Oreck Air Refresh Power Consumption

One of our most FAQs is “Do air purifiers use a lot of energy?” because we need to run an air purifier for a constant long time, and power consumption is really a thing to consider.

Oreck Air Refresh doesn’t need more energy for the ionizer like Truman Cell air purifiers, so it only consume 50 watts.

If you run the Oreck Air Refresh for 8 hours per day, you will need to pay $18 each year.

Related post: Best air purifiers for pets.

Oreck Air Refresh Additional Features

Additional features will be the exceptional part of the Oreck Air Refresh, thanks to its unique humidification feature. It also has a built-in humidistat, practically a sensor to automatically adjust the humidifier function on or off.

Source: Oreck website

Oreck Air Refresh has many basic settings to help the users live easier. For example, there is a Timer to schedule the time off up to 8 hours. This air purifier also has a Sleep Mode, to switch the fan speed to lowest, and dim the display.

The Oreck Air Refresh uses 2 different LED indicators for filter replacement and current water tank status. Both features are great and simple to check.

Related posts:

1, Best air purifiers for smoke.

2, Best air purifiers for dust.

3, Best air purifiers for mold.

Oreck Air Refresh Customer Service

As one of the biggest air purifier brands in the world, Oreck maintains a very strong customer service, which is truly the top selling point of this manufacturer.

That’s why Oreck not only commits with many global responsibilities, this American company also provides everything to help their customer buy and use their product easily. If you purchase an air purifier from Oreck, you are ensured to find the closest store or monitor the whole order status. For every problem, you can contact them via live chat, or call them at 800-289-5888, from Monday to Friday.

They also give you a 2-day express shipping, and Oreck usually promotes with a discount, as well as free shipping for most of their products. Note that the shipping will be quicker if the order is placed in the U.S.

Oreck is the rare company that allows full refund for their air purifiers, providing that the unit is still within the trial period. You should contact 877-533-2019 for more information. Also, you can ask for warranty at 800-989-3535, which lasts for 3 year in case of residential products. For commercial products, Oreck only provides a 1-year warranty.

Our verdict

Oreck Air Refresh costs you only $100 more from the Oreck Airvantage for a humidification feature, but the quality of HEPA filter is reduced.

It seems to be discontinued, so you should steer your attention to the Levoit Core 600S instead.