LARGE-ROOM AIR PURIFIER
Clean air for the rooms you live in
The Solenco 803 is Solenco’s large-room purifier, built for the open-plan lounges, dining areas and studios where most households spend their evenings. It draws air in through the perforated lower half of its body, pushes it through a single combination filter of pre-filter, H13 HEPA media and activated carbon, past a UV-C lamp, and returns it through the vents on top.
Solenco rates it for rooms of 34 to 60 m², and its fan moves 490 m³ of air an hour at full speed. That is roughly twice the airflow of the smaller Solenco 204, and it is the difference between a purifier that copes with a bedroom and one that keeps pace with a living area opening onto a kitchen.
Everything about it is set up for living with it rather than looking after it: a sensor that reads the air and chooses the fan speed, a sleep mode that switches every light off, and a filter counter that tells you when the cartridge is due.
Enough airflow for an open-plan living area, and quiet enough at night that you forget it is running.
FILTRATION
Five stages, one filter change
Solenco describes the 803 as a five-stage purifier, and each stage has a different job. The pre-filter stops hair, lint and the larger dust that would otherwise clog the finer layers. Behind it, the H13 HEPA media catches the fine particles you cannot see, such as pollen, pet dander, smoke particles and household dust; Solenco rates it at 99.975% of particles at 0.3 microns.
The activated carbon deals with what HEPA cannot, adsorbing cooking smells, pet odours and the VOCs given off by paint, cleaning products and new furniture. Solenco adds an antiviral-treated layer to the filter, and a 5 W UV-C lamp (254 nm) inside the housing, which you switch on or off from the panel.
Because the pre-filter, HEPA and carbon sit in one cartridge, a filter change takes a couple of minutes and no tools: slide the lock at the base, lift the housing, swap the cartridge and hold the reset button. Replacement filters are stocked in South Africa, so there is no waiting on an overseas order.
SMART CONTROL
It reads the air and sets the fan for you
A PM2.5 sensor measures the fine particles in the room and shows the result on a ring of light around the control panel: blue for good, then yellow, orange and red as the reading climbs. In Auto mode the 803 uses that reading to choose its own fan speed, stepping up when someone is frying onions or vacuuming and settling back once the air clears.
Connect it to your home Wi-Fi and the Smart Life app (iOS and Android) shows the air-quality reading, the fan speed and the hours left on the filter, and lets you change any setting from another room or from work. Stuff magazine’s reviewers found the app the easiest way to keep track of filter life.
Everything the app does is also on the touch panel on top: power, four fan speeds, Auto, Sleep, a timer from one to twelve hours, the UV-C lamp, and a child lock that ignores stray fingers. The app is a convenience, not a requirement.
WHERE IT WORKS
Made for the big rooms of the house
The 803 is at its best in the larger rooms of a home: an open-plan lounge and kitchen, a dining area, a home office or studio, or a main bedroom with an en-suite. In homes with dogs and cats it catches the dander and fine hair that float in the air before they settle on the sofa, and its carbon layer takes the edge off pet smells.
It also earns its keep in the seasons when the outside air comes in: pollen in spring, wood smoke on winter evenings, dust on windy dry days and the fumes after a room has been painted. Keep the room’s doors and windows closed while it runs and it cycles the same air through its filter several times an hour.
Give it space. Solenco asks for at least 30 cm between the purifier and any wall or furniture, and it belongs on the floor, not on a bed or sofa, with nothing on top of the outlet. In the open, or beside a cabinet with a clear path around it, it draws air from all round its body.
QUIET RUNNING
Quiet enough to leave running at night
Hold the Sleep button for a few seconds and the 803 drops to its slowest fan speed and switches every light off, the air-quality ring included. Solenco rates it at 28 dB in Sleep mode, about the hush of a quiet bedroom at night, rising through 33, 39 and 44 dB on the first three speeds to 54 dB on Turbo.
The usual pattern is Auto during the day, Sleep at night, and Turbo for a short burst when the air is clearly bad: after cooking, when braai smoke drifts indoors, or during a dusty clean-up. If you would rather it did not run all night, the timer switches it off after anything from one to twelve hours.
It is economical to leave on. At full speed it draws 42 W, a little over 1 kWh in a whole day on Turbo, and less than 0.6 W on standby. Most of the time Auto and Sleep run it well below that.
MADE FOR SOUTH AFRICAN POWER
Supplied by Solenco, supported in South Africa
The 803 is supplied by Solenco as a 220–240 V, 50/60 Hz unit with a South African plug, ready for a standard wall socket. That matters more than it sounds: purifiers bought through on-demand import sites can arrive as 110–120 V models that need a step-down transformer, with no local service or filters behind them.
Solenco imports directly, keeps replacement filters and spare parts in the country, and runs its own repair centre, quoting a typical turnaround of five to ten working days. The 803 carries a two-year Solenco warranty, and EcoHub logs and follows up any claim for you.
The Thuza name comes from Solenco’s support for the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative. Its purifiers carry the names of white rhinos (the 803 is Thuza, the smaller 204 is Kusasa), and part of every purchase goes to the initiative’s work protecting rhinos and supporting the communities around them.
Solenco 803 specifications
| Model | Solenco 803 (Thuza), SOL803AP |
| Airflow | 490 m³/h at top speed (Solenco also quotes a CADR of 510 m³/h) |
| HEPA grade | H13, rated by Solenco at 99.975% of particles at 0.3 µm |
| UV-C lamp | 5 W, 254 nm, switched on or off from the panel |
| Air-quality sensing | PM2.5 sensor, four-colour light ring, Auto mode |
| Fan speeds | Sleep plus four speeds (I, II, III and Turbo) |
| Noise | Sleep ≤28 dB, I ≤33 dB, II ≤39 dB, III ≤44 dB, Turbo ≤54 dB |
| Standby power | Under 0.6 W |
| Other controls | Child lock, filter-life readout and reset |
| Operating range | 5–40 °C, 30–90% relative humidity |
| Clearance | At least 30 cm from walls and furniture |
| Replacement filter | Solenco 803 combination filter (SOL803APFILT) |
| In the box | Purifier with combination filter fitted, user manual |
Solenco’s full instructions are in the Solenco 803 user manual (PDF).
How the Solenco 803 sits against the alternatives
Against the Solenco 204 Kusasa, the 803 shares the same filtration, UV-C lamp, sensor and app, and moves about twice the air: 490 m³/h against the 204’s 240 m³/h. The 204 is rated for rooms up to 30 m² and drops to 26 dB in Sleep mode, so for a bedroom or study it is the better-sized choice and costs considerably less. For a lounge or an open-plan space, the 803 is the one that keeps up.
Against the GMC Large H13 HEPA Air Purifier (GMCAP500), the two are close on throughput: GMC rates its unit at a CADR of 500 m³/h for rooms up to 70 m². The GMC adds a cold catalyst and a switchable ioniser; the 803 adds the UV-C lamp and Wi-Fi app control, runs quieter at the top end (54 dB on Turbo against 62 dB) and draws 42 W against 55 W.
Against the Daikin MC55W, the 803 moves about half as much air again, 490 m³/h against the Daikin’s 330 m³/h on Turbo, and suits a larger room than the Daikin’s 41 m² rating. The Daikin is the quieter machine at its lowest setting (19 dB against 28 dB), uses Daikin’s Streamer technology for odours, carries Allergy Foundation South Africa approval, and Daikin rates its HEPA filter for more than ten years, where the 803’s cartridge is replaced about every six months of round-the-clock use. If silence and low running costs matter more than throughput, the Daikin is the stronger choice.
Questions we are asked about the Solenco 803
Solenco rates it for 34 to 60 m². The figure that decides it is airflow: the 803 moves 490 m³ an hour on its top speed, and a purifier does its best work when it passes a room’s air through the filter four or five times an hour, which is also Solenco’s own advice. With a standard 2.6 m ceiling, that points to rooms of about 38 to 47 m².
At the top of Solenco’s range, 60 m², it manages about three air changes an hour. That keeps a lounge fresh day to day, but it is slower to clear smoke or a heavy pollen day.
Solenco quotes a clean air delivery rate (CADR) of 510 m³/h, alongside an airflow of 490 m³/h. A purifier cannot deliver more clean air than it moves, so we size rooms from the 490 m³/h airflow figure, the more conservative of the two.
Solenco rates the combination filter at 4,320 hours, about six months of running around the clock; run it for part of each day and it lasts proportionally longer. A filter icon lights up when it is due, a short press of the filter reset button shows the life remaining as a percentage, and the Smart Life app counts down the hours.
Replacement filters (Solenco code SOL803APFILT) are stocked locally. Changing one takes a couple of minutes and no tools, and you hold the reset button for a few seconds afterwards to restart the counter.
Yes. In Sleep mode it runs at 28 dB with every light on the unit switched off, and the first fan speed is 33 dB. Turbo, at 54 dB, is meant for short bursts rather than all night. For a smaller bedroom, the Solenco 204 is the better-sized unit and drops to 26 dB.
Yes. The UV button on the touch panel turns the lamp on and off, so you can run the 803 on filtration alone. The lamp sits inside the housing behind its own cover; Solenco’s manual warns against using a unit with a damaged casing, because direct UV-C light can harm eyes and skin.
No. Every function is on the touch panel. The Smart Life app (iOS and Android) adds remote control, the live PM2.5 reading and the filter-hours countdown. To pair it, hold the Wi-Fi/power button for three to five seconds with your phone on your home Wi-Fi rather than mobile data, then add the purifier in the app.
The pre-filter catches loose hair and lint, the H13 HEPA layer catches the fine dander that floats in the air, and the activated carbon reduces pet odours. It will not replace vacuuming: hair that has already settled on floors and furniture stays there until it is picked up.
On the floor, at least 30 cm from walls and furniture, with nothing on top and nothing blocking its body. Keep the room’s doors and windows closed while it runs, and place it where the air is worst: near the sofa in a lounge with pets, or between the kitchen and living area in an open-plan room.
Unplug it, then wipe the outside with a clean, dry, soft cloth at least once a month, more often in a dusty home. Do not use solvents, alcohol or abrasive cleaners, and never push anything into the vents.
The 803 carries a two-year Solenco warranty from the date of purchase. Solenco runs its own repair centre in South Africa and keeps spare parts and filters in the country, with a typical repair turnaround of five to ten working days.
If anything goes wrong, contact EcoHub: we log the claim with Solenco and follow it through to the end. Opening the unit or attempting repairs yourself voids the warranty.
Why Buy From EcoHub
Backed locally
Every unit carries its official South African distributor’s warranty and after-sales service.
Made for South African power
Correct 220–240 V models supplied through the local distributor, not grey imports built for other markets.
Delivered to your door
Free delivery across South Africa on orders over R1 000. Large commercial units travel by courier.
Sized to your space
Advice on choosing the right purifier or dehumidifier for your room or building, from a specialist store helping South Africans since 2012.
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