Airthereal Ethereal Rain Air Purifier and Humidifier Combo review

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REVIEW – I’m always glad to have another gadget helping around the house, but I’m not always glad about the extra space that they take. This is why I appreciate those that combine two or more gadgets into one. In this review, I’m looking at a combination air purifier and humidifier from Airthereal.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $119.00
Where to buy: Airthereal

What is it?

The Airthereal Ethereal Rain AEH300 is a combination air purifier and humidifier. It features a PM2.5 sensor, a HEPA air filter, and a 1.5-liter water tank.

What’s included?

Air purifier and humidifier combo
Two filters, one for the air and one for the water
DC power supply
Manual
Warranty card

Tech specs

Coverage: 1325 sq feet
Display: Humidity, temperature, air quality
Fan speeds: 4
Water tank: 1.5 liters
Sensor: PM2.5
Air filter: 3-in-1 nylon, H13 HEPA, and carbon
CADR: 300 sq meters / hour
Modes: Manual, automatic, timer, sleep
Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.5 x 21 inches
Weight: 7.3 pounds

Design and features

The AEH300 has three-stage design. The lower third is in the air intake and the filter. The middle third is the motor, fan, controls, and display. The top third is the water reservoir and water filter. Air is sucked into the vents all around the bottom and drawn through the filter. It is then sucked up through the fans and shot upward, where it passes through the water filter and up into the room. Like many air filters, it looks like a large cylinder. This one is two and a half feet tall and is designed to sit on the floor.

Assembly, Installation, Setup

The AEH300 arrived in a tall box. I removed it from the packaging and then dissembled it into four pieces.

I removed the air filter from its bag and placed it back into the air intake cylinder. I set the central cylinder on top it, rotating to lock into place.

I removed the water filter, which exposed the water reservoir. This allowed me to see that there’s a max fill line for the water and that the air will flow up through the holes in the center and pass through the water filter.

I removed the water filter from its bag and placed it back into the reservoir. I set it onto the central cylinder and put the tank cover on top.

I could remove the cover and the filter to add water, but neither is necessary. I can pour water though the vents, which is convenient. The water level indicator on the front show me how much water I can add.

The AEH300 comes with a DC adapter that I plugged into the wall and the back of the gadget. It was now ready to go.

Performance

The control panel on the AEH300 has a display, an indicator light, and six touch controls. The controls provide these features:

The timer button sets a time in hours that the AEH300 will run for.
The fan speed button cycles through low, medium, high, and automatic.
The sleep mode button sets the lowest fan speed and disables the lights.
The parameter switch button cycles the display through the current humidity, temperature, or air quality.
The power button turns the gadget on and off.
The child lock button disables the other buttons until it’s held for five seconds.

The indicator light shows the current PM2.5 level: green is good, orange is medium, and red is unhealthy.

One thing to note is that the same motor and fan is used for both the humidifier and the air purifier; this means I can’t have the air purifier on high while simultaneously having the humidifier on low. This is one of the inevitable compromises that come with a combination gadget, but I think it’s acceptable. It is possible to use the humidifier alone simply by removing the filter and the air purifier alone by taking the humidifier off.

To evaluate the Airthereal Ethereal Rain AEH300, I ran it through four tests. My first test was the bacon test. My wife overcooked some bacon, filling our kitchen and living area with smoke and the smell of bacon. The humidifier was on the floor in our living area – we have an open floor plan in our house – about 14 feet away. Before the test, the PM2.5 sensor was measuring a 5. It took the sensor 11.5 minutes to detect the smoke, change the indicator from green to orange, and raise the fan speed from 1 to 2. The sensor measured 22 at its peak. 20 minutes later, the sensor was back down to 12 and fan back to 1.

I think the sensor on this gadget is poorly calibrated. It took a long time to detect the bacon smoke; its PM2.5 reading seems low, it didn’t crank the fan up high enough to effectively remove the smoke from the air, and it turned it down again too quickly. (As a comparison, you can read about a similar test that I conducted with the Proscenic A9 four years ago, where it detected a PM2.5 reading of over 400 and quickly cranked the fan up to max.)

My second test was the candle test. I lit a small candle, let it burn for a while, set it on the floor next to the AEH300, and then blew it out. The AEH300 never detected that there was smoke from the candle. The PM2.5 reading didn’t change, and the fan speed was never increased. (As a comparison, you can see Kathleen’s results for the candle test in her review of the Alen BreatheSmart.)

What I learned from these tests is that I cannot rely on the AEH300’s PM2.5 sensor. If my house is smokey, has lots of pollen, or whatever, I’ll have to manually increase the fan speed for the air purifier to clean the air in my house.

My third test was to fill the water reservoir and run the humidifier with the fan on low. It took over 6 hours for all the water to evaporate. The humidity level didn’t change much from when it started, around 50%. To be fair, I conducted this test in August when the A/C was on in my house; it’s difficult for a humidifier to raise the humidity level while the A/C is running, because air conditioning removes humidity in the house. If I had been reviewing this gadget in the winter when my heater was running, I’m pretty sure it would have raised the humidity. My final test was run the humidifier with the fan on high, and it only took about 3 hours for the water to evaporate.

These two tests highlight that the water reservoir on the AEH300, which is 1.5 liters, is fairly small for a whole house humidifier. (For comparison, this Paris Rhone humidifier is 4 liters.) If I want to run the AEH300 24/7, which I typically do in my house during the winter months, I’ll need to refill it 4 to 8 times every day. That’s a lot of refilling.

Airthereal recommends that I replace air filter every 6-8 months and wash the water filter every week. They sell replacement filters on their website.

Final thoughts

The primary advantage of the Airthereal Ethereal Rain AEH300 is that I get two gadgets in one, which reduces cost and space. The primary disadvantage is that both the air purifier and the humidifier have compromises. In in my testing, I found that the air quality sensor of the air purifier didn’t effectively sense smoke in my house and raise the fan speed to accordingly, so I’ll have to manually raise and lower the fan speed. I also found that that water reservoir of the humidifier is fairly small, which will require me to refill it several times during the day. Neither of these issues are critical failures, but they are something to think about.

What I like about the Airthereal Ethereal Rain AEH300

Air purifier and humidifier in one gadget
Flexible design that allows one or the other to be used
Replacement filters available

What needs to be improved?

Adjust the sensor so that detects smoke better
Increase the reservoir size

Price: $119.00
Where to buy: Airthereal
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Airthereal. They did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.