Surround Air XJ-3800 Review

The Surround Air Intelli-Pro XJ-3800 air purifier is a winner.

The company have been making it for years and it has well over 600 vastly positive customer ratings on Amazon at the time of writing this review.

There’s a reason why this all-in-one air filter and ionizer is so popular.

With a negative ion output of 60 million ions per cubic centimeter, it is far higher than most other so-called ionizing air cleaners out there.

In fact, the Surround Air XJ-3800 Intelli-Pro’s 60,000,000/cm3 negative ion generation is a full 10 or even 20 times higher than the vast majority of its ionic purifier competitors.

Despite this, it has being tested for ozone output and produces only 0.7 parts per billion by volume. This is over 70 times lower than the UL 867 standard of 50 ppbv required by California state law.

At levels this low, ozone would be virtually undetectable, even with constant use, and as you’ll see ahead, this advanced air cleaner with ionizer actually removes ozone from the air when it’s operating.

7 Air Purifying Technologies in 1

There are 7 different ways the Surround Air Intelli Pro air purifier cleans the air in your home of indoor air pollutants.

Let’s have a quick look at each of them to understand what makes this such an effective ionizing air cleaner.

1. A pre-filter to catch large particles and improve the performance of the other filters. This can be washed if needed and never needs replacement.
2. An electrostatically charged collection grid that draws dust and other allergens in from the surrounding air. This too can be simply wiped to clean occasionally.
3. An active carbon filter that is highly absorbent and traps harmful airborne compounds like ozone, formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds emitted from electrical equipment and furnishings in your home. Carbon filters also work well against strongly odorous contaminants like tobacco smoke, hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg gas) and ammonia.
4. A long-lasting true HEPA filter that effectively traps 99.97% of particles right down to 0.3 microns. HEPA filters are the best method for removing dust, pollen, pet dander and other airborne allergens from your living space. The addition of the strong negative ionizer in this air filter actually increases the effectiveness of the HEPA filter as well.
5. A photocatalytic oxidation filter which destroys airborne bacteria and viruses. This is also another way carcinogenic VOCs are eliminated within this air purifier ionizer.
6. A germicidal UV lamp that eliminates mold spores, microbes and other harmful airborne organisms. The CDC recommends the combination of ultraviolet light and a HEPA filter, as found in the Surround Air Intelli-Pro, for preventing airborne diseases.
7. A 60,000,000 cm/3 negative ion generator the causes floating particles to clump together and become too heavy to remain airborne. USDA testing found high negative ions in an environment quickly reduce airborne dust, particles and bacteria significantly.

The XJ-3800 packs a lot of air cleaning technology into an strong all round ion air purifier. It is also significantly lower in price than many of its less powerful competitors.

In addition to all of this, the XJ-3800 has special sensor technology on auto mode to adjust its air cleaning as needed and its powerful fan will easily purify the air in larger rooms in your home.

There is also a quiet mode for the evening and Surround Air claim it is extremely energy-efficient, running on high only when needed to deal with heavy airborne pollution and allergens like cigarette smoke or pet dander.

This room ionizer and air cleaner has a 30 day money back guarantee and then a 3 year warranty after that.

Given that Surround Air is an established 20+ year-old company, this is much easier to trust than warranties from many other air cleaner manufacturers out there.

Considerations

One negative with the Surround Air XJ-3800 air cleaner is that you should replace the combination HEPA/carbon filter approximately every 12 months for best results.

The UV lamp can last up to 3 years and the photocatalytic filter lasts between 3 and 5 years. SurroundAir estimates that replacement costs will be roughly $25-$50 a year for maximum air cleaning.

All HEPA filter-based air cleaners will encounter these costs and the XJ-3800 parts seem comparatively cheap compared to other air purifiers replacement parts.

If you’ve decided on this IntelliPro model it would make sense to pick up an extra HEPA/activated carbon filter at least.

There’s a more visual explanation of how the 7 stage air cleaning process works here on Amazon.

The detailed customer feedback and answered questions by current owners are also very informative in deciding if the Surround Air XJ-3800 Intelli-Pro is the best air cleaner for you.