Last year I did some research into HEPA air purifiers because I needed to buy one.
The one I chose was quite cheap (second hand), but only lasted 6 months. One day it just stopped working and the price of fixing it was not convenient.

I have decided to buy a new one, and this time I can spend a little more money on it, so I was wondering if any of you can suggest a brand or a particular model that works well against cockatiel dander and dust in general.

I lost all the printouts from my previous research so i am back to square one, and the idea of spending weeks googling and researching again makes me sick lol

Please help! Also if you have seen good posts or articles about it, just let me know.

The ones I have are from Whirlpool and Hunter. They're several years old now so these models aren't available any more, but they were highly rated. They do a great job and were MUCH cheaper than a other highly rated brands.

You might want to identify some models that interest you, then read some customer reviews on sites like Amazon and Epinions. That's what I do whenever I want to buy a new appliance.

Yes, that's an excellent habit and I do that too; sometimes reading the reviews has saved me from buying duds. Also good habit for us in UK is reading amazon.com reviews, sometimes a product has one or two reviews in the UK website but if you check amazon.com you find many more.

I ended up ordering this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004R9OU5Q/ref=ox_ya_os_product_refresh_C
The fact that it has washable filters was a bonus... sometimes these filters' cost makes the whole appliance much more expensive than it seems.
I was really unsure between the Bionaire and this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fellowes-PlasmaTrue-Medium-Size-Purifier/dp/B006DZ2H2A/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1392908978&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=air+purifier+plsma
At the end I went for the Bionaire that's slightly less expensive. The Fellowes has two filters that need to be changed, for what I understand, it's probably a much better machine so I will consider it in the future when/if I have more money to spend. Being poor is bad

Does the job Barbara... what more do you need.
May think about that one myself...

The fine print in the listing indicates that the Bionaire is HEPA-type not true HEPA. A true HEPA purifier will always have two filters that have to be replaced periodically, and typically removes particles as small as 0.3 microns. I didn't see a micron rating for the Bionaire, but it will probably do what you want it to do. The 0.3 micron limit is important for people who are trying to reduce pollen, but bird dander and plain old dust is bigger than that.

One of the comments I read said

"The product details doesn't tell you about the size of particles that this purifier can trap. Only after opening the box and reading the manual, I realized that it filters particles 'as small as 2 microns'."

Since it's not reported on the amazon page I can return the item if I see that it doesn't work for the birds' dander, and go for the other one. I hope not because I was getting attached to the idea of the washable filters and the tower shape

I will let you know how it goes! The tracking tells me that it's already in transit so I should get it tomorrow.

At first I thought "Wow, it gets really tiny particles!" Then I realized that it said 2 microns not .2 microns. Big difference lol, but two microns will probably catch most of the tiel dust. This link has info on the micron size of pet dander: http://www.dustfree.com/support/iaq-info/animal-dander This chart gives the micron size for a variety of other airborne particles: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/parti ... d_934.html

After reading the second chart you linked I think I will return it and spend a bit more for the other model.
I just need to check how much the filters cost.
Thank you very much, Tielfan!

I had the purifier for three days and wasn't really convinced, so I sent it back. Amazon was quick with the refund so I am about to order a different model.

This is the link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AYEV66Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

What do you think? DeLonghi are reasonably good products and the replacement filters are not too expensive; the ioniser can be switched on and off independently.
I don't understand half of the numbers given in the description so please help me to understand if it's good or not good enough.
Thank you!

0.3 microns is good, that will remove most particles from the air.

It says the noise level is 33-48 decibels. Here's a decibel chart: http://home.earthlink.net/~dnitzer/4Haa ... cibel.html 48 decibels sounds a bit loud, 33 decibels is better. I guess you'll have to wait and see whether the noise level is suitable. If there are any stores around you that sell this air purifier, you can go there to see what it sounds like.

The UV light will help kill bacteria in the air.

Was there anything else you wanted to know about?