When you turn on the ozone, does the fan also have to be turned on for the ozone to work?
You can switch the Ozone dial to on and set it to desired level; but it will still remain off whenever the fan is off. The fan needs to be on in order for the ozone molecules to get pushed out of the air purifier; otherwise without wind and airflow, the diffusions of ion will be very slow (and you don't want highly concentrated area of ozone vs little ozone area)--so circulation is important for air filtration. That's why this HEPA Ozone air purifier uses a strong fan capable of a high RPM.
First time I set the ozone on 2 fan on high within 2 hours, I could really smell it. Shut off for a week, now set on high I barely smell it, is this normal?
I had the same experience with it. I cleaned ceramic plate by soaking it in an ammonia solution. It seems to work cleaning the air, but that distinctive smell is gone.
How often to you need to replace the filters?
The standard way manufactures say their replacement life is by 12 hour a day. In that case, 1 year. Otherwise, since almost everyone leave their air purifier on continuously, we always recommend every 6 months (because it's 24 hours a day run time). This is what's typical; if your house is near a bigger source of air pollutants, you might want to do so sooner (you will notice a huge difference in color with a new filter vs an old one).
How loud is it?
It is quite audible. At the lowest setting, it is about 55db at six feet, and at highest, about 60-65db. Normal conversation is about 60, so as loud as a person talking. For comparison: subjectively, a refrigerator is audible, but ignorable. That's about 50db when the compressor kicks in. At the lowest setting, this unit is like a white noise machine. You get used to it. At the highest, you may have to raise your voice to be heard, as it's 10x the loudness of the frig (decibel scale is logarithmic).
What is the CADR rating for this unit?
I don't know the clean air delivery rate! You may want to go to Mammoth to find out the rates for pollen, dust etc. because there is a different rate for each and every category! We just turn it on and leave for a half hour for smells and whole house (2800 sq ft) smells clean. For dust and other pollutants may take up to an hour to care for. Dust will be on all flat surfaces and you will need to dust!
Can I leave out the ozone plates for no ozone? Does it produce ozone continuously with the plates in?
There is a switch that you turn ozone off and on.
What is the exact description of the filter model for the Mammoth Air Purifier Classic Real Wood 7 Stage purifier so that when I need to order I know?
You would want to look for the Mammoth Classic 7 Stage Replacement Filter (it has built into the same filter - HEPA filter, Carbon Filter, Photocatalytic Filter, and a Pre-Filter).
Are the filters washable?
The filters are not washable. Because this is a 3 in 1 filter, both the carbon filter and the photocatalytic filter simply gets used up over time. Some competitors do advise their HEPA filter is washable (but it should be cleared up that washable by removing larger dust particles), and our filter has a pre-filter built in where once a month, we recommend just brushing or wiping off larger particles. We have found that there's no real way to wash micro particles off a HEPA filter when they are fully trapped inside the HEPA material. We recommend replacing the filter every 6 months (after continuous 24/7 usage).