Oreck Air Response Small Air Purifier: Trusted Review & Specs

Is the Oreck Air Response Small (WK16000) the next budget champion of Oreck family, right below the Oreck Airvantage? Or it will be a prize dud, and isn’t seriously worth considering? Let’s find out in our newest Oreck Air Response Small Review.

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

Updated: The Oreck Air Response Small is only for small rooms. If you want an air purifier for larger spaces, you should aim at the Oreck Air Response Large or Oreck Air Response Turbo.

In Breathe Quality, we have reviewed all air purifiers under these sections. Also, we guarantee that:

• We do give honest reviews (both pros and cons) so anyone will guarantee to have the wisest choices.
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Oreck has always been one of the big air purifier brands in the North America market since 1963. They have earned reputation for making the finest vacuum cleaners, and they also want to get such achievement for the air purifier. The Oreck Air Response Small is the smallest one in the Air Response series, one which brought the dust sensor technology into Oreck air purifiers for the first time. Okay, let’s check our Oreck Air Response Small Review.

Other Oreck’s Air Purifier Reviews: 

Oreck Air Response Small Price

Up until now, it seems to have been Oreck’s mission to make a mark in air purifier industry.

The Oreck family has a very close development path as the famous
Dyson, however, they focus mostly on the low-end segment of the market.

The Air Response series is the most popular lineup of Oreck, which goes head-to-head with the series from AeraMax, Whirlpool and Honeywell. Oreck Air Response Small is the smallest one in the family, and it is Oreck’s pitch for the segment of buyers who think spending over $200 on an air purifier is the very picture of decadent excess, as it has been built and designed with value in mind.

Simply selling for $169, the Oreck Air Response Small is about $50 cheaper than the Oreck Airvantage, while running a much higher fan power. To top up for the next-level Oreck Air Response Medium, you must spend $30 more.

Like I’ve said earlier, the cost puts the Oreck Air Response Small directly in the competition with AeraMax 100 or Honeywell HPA100. It is also under the same price range of many popular Chinese air purifiers, like Hathaspace Smart True HEPA Air Purifier, or Inofia PM1619.

Related post: Best air purifier 2023.

Oreck Air Response Small Design and Size

It has been such a long time since air purifiers were designed with different size to serve different purposes. The Oreck Air Response Small is obviously the smallest device in Air Response series, with the size of only 16 inches in height and 14 inches in width.

This aside, the Oreck Air Response Small is still bigger than most common air purifiers like Honeywell HPA100, but it is indeed small by modern standards. This, together with the weight of 9.5 lbs, make for an air purifier that will fit nicely in the small rooms.

Any air purifiers in this Air Response series look like an unibody device. They use the silver color, to cover a console air purifier with normal bottom-to-top air flow system concept.

Right on top, we will have a control panel, along with the air quality indicator bar and the top air outlet.

Source: Amazon.com

Related post: Best air purifiers for bedroom.

Oreck Air Response Small Filters

Oreck Air Response Small is the entry-level air purifier in the Air Response series, but it has everything for the internal, just like its bigger brother. Let’s take a look at the 2-stage air cleaning system of this air purifier.

1. Activated Carbon filter – Oreck Air Response Small 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.

Unlike the Oreck AirInstinct and Oreck Airvantage, the Oreck Air Response series only makes use of the weaker HEPA media filter. With lower-level air filter, this air purifier can’t reach the high efficiency as real True HEPA filter.

Luckily then, the experience of using this air purifier is mostly positive. Testing in a room of 100 square feet, its efficiency was only a bit lower than Oreck Airvantage and Oreck DualMax. I believe the real-world efficiency of trapping 99.4% particles down to 0.3 microns is much greater than the marketing materials on Oreck website.

The filter kit of this Oreck Air Response Small is labeled AK46000, and it costs you $22, for up to 12 months of protection.

Related post: Best air purifiers for allergies.

Oreck Air Response Small Room Coverage

In most segments of the air purifier market, the room coverage has had a generally positive progression over time. In the case of Oreck, we will get an entry-level air purifier for a room of 155 square feet.

The ACH of Oreck Air Response Small is 4X. So to say, the air purifier can clean your room every 15 minutes.

The CADR of Oreck Air Response Small is 116 Dust/ 90 Smoke/ 120 Pollen (cfm), which is better than the more expensive Oreck Air Refresh or Oreck Airvantage.

Related post: Best large room air purifiers.

Oreck Air Response Small Sound

Quiet operation, oddly, is a preserve mainly of budget air purifiers. Those at the high end tend to have a focus on premium air filters, on highly powerful fan, and not so much on the noise level.

The Oreck Air Response Small, even with a HEPA filter, could easily be the best Oreck air purifier for silent operation. It runs on lowest speed with only 20 decibels (db), the exact noise level of rustling leaves. You shouldn’t notice any sound from this setting for sure.

Even on highest speed, this air purifier has a noise level of only 49 decibels (db), which is a lot better than the Oreck Airvantage – another compact air purifier of this family.

Related post: Best air purifiers for baby.

Oreck Air Response Small 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.

With a power consumption of 51 watts, the Oreck Air Response is one of the most energy-saving air purifiers in this family, and also one with Energy Star rating. For those of you who really need to cut down more energy, you should look for the Levoit Core 300 instead.

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

Related post: Best air purifiers for pets.

Oreck Air Response Small Additional Features

Oreck Air Response Small is the first air purifier in the big Oreck family to have one necessary high-end feature – the Smart Sensor. Oreck calls it the DustSense technology, to not only give you feedback of air quality, but also automatically adjust the fan speed to match the environment’s needs.

Source: Amazon.com

Besides the high-end feature, our today unit also has a built-in Timer, to schedule the time off for 2, 4 or 8 hours. You can also dim the light of the air quality indicator bar with just one button.

Finally, Oreck Air Response Small has LED indicators for filter replacement, both HEPA and Odor filters. Oreck is really generous for giving many additional features in such low-range air purifier like the Air Response Small, right?

Related posts:

1, Best air purifiers for smoke.

2, Best air purifiers for dust.

3, Best air purifiers for mold.

Oreck Air Response Small 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 Response Small is truly the champion for Oreck budget air purifier, thanks to its advanced additional features, such as the Smart Sensor. Its performance is quite decent for an air purifier below $200, but counting the increasing of real True HEPA air purifier, the Oreck Air Response Small is still negligible.