Best Home Air Purifiers

A 2017 study of the incidence of cancer in the five boroughs of New York City gave an interesting result: even though Staten Island is the most rural area of New York City and the most sparsely populated, it has the highest incidence of malignant cancers! There are around 529 cases per 100,000 people, as opposed to 449 or less for the other boroughs. One big contributor is the poor air quality. Staten Island is downwind from various industries in New Jersey, and also receives the emissions from the rest of New York City. Proper air purification is a necessity in such cases. Fortunately, there are home air purifiers that are up to the task.

We’ll examine a few of the offerings in the Best Reviews Guide list of the best home air purifiers. They differ in their number of filters, as well as their filtration methods. Some are meant for small spaces, while others are capable of filtering the air in your entire home several times an hour! We’ll go through some of the options, as well as the various specifications of air purifiers, to help you make an informed decision!

Looking at the various selections in the Best Reviews Guide’s top 10 home air purifiers, you’ll see that they can differ in their filtration methods:

• 4-in-1 filtration: There are air purifiers that employ 4 stages of filtration, such as the Coway Airmega Air Purifier (Model No. AP-1512HH).

  1. It first has a washable prefilter that captures dust, fur, and hair.

  2. The second stage is an activated carbon filter that eliminates particles that cause bad smells, as well as harmful gases.

  3. There then is the HEPA filter, which removes 99.97% of all contaminants up to 0.3 microns in size. This cuts out pet dander, tobacco smoke, and pollen.

  4. The fourth filter is the “vital ion” feature, which freshens the air with negative ions.

Coway Airmega Air Purifier

• 3-in-1 air purifiers: There are also air purifiers that only use the first three filtration stages: prefilter, activated carbon, and HEPA filter. An example is the Levoit Air Purifier for Home (Model 400S). This model also can be controlled by a smartphone app and voice commands.

Levoit Air Purifier for Home

• With UVC purification: There are air filters that also employ ultraviolet light to kill germs and viruses. One such device is the Germ Guardian 22” 3-in-1 Air Purifier. It treats the air going into the purifier with UV light that can kill viruses such as influenza and rhinovirus (which causes the common cold), as well as the bacteria that cause staph infections. The Germ Guardian also uses Titanium Dioxide to absorb potentially harmful volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which can damage the nervous system, the digestive system, and the respiratory system.

Germ Guardian 22” 3-in-1 Air Purifier

Here are some pointers and caveats that people mentioned about the home air purifier that they purchased:

• Remove the plastic: People who purchased the Coway air purifier noted that the filters are inside the unit when you buy them–but they’re wrapped in plastic! Be sure to remove the plastic from the filters, and install them properly, before operating the unit.

• The air smells fresher: Customers who bought the Levoit Air Purifier said that their unit succeeded in removing the dust in the room, and significantly improved the smell of the air in the room. Also, it was very good at removing any pet odors from the room.

• Make sure you can get replacement filters: Most purifiers have a washable prefilter, which you can use indefinitely. But, the HEPA filter will have to be replaced every so often. Make sure that the manufacturer offers replacement filters–or else you’ll find that the unit can’t be used anymore.

• Quiet unit: Some customers said that they had to trash the first unit that they bought because it was too noisy. Pay close attention to the decibel level of the purifier, at different speeds. The Blueair Air Purifier ranges in energy consumption from 30 - 61 Watts, and its noise level ranges from 31 dB to 56 dB. That’s about the difference between a whisper, to gentle rainfall.

Here are a few features and specs that can help you decide on a particular home air purifier:

• CADR rating: You’ll notice that many air purifiers have a CADR rating. This stands for “Clean Air Delivery Rate”, which indicates the volume of filtered air coming out of the air purifier. The CADR is the filter’s efficiency times the rate of airflow through the device.

So, an air purifier that removes 90% of impurities that filters 100 cubic feet of air per minute, will have a CADR rating of 90% x 100 = 90.

Air purifiers will have a different rating for large particles (ranging from 5-11 microns, such as pollen), medium-sized particles (ranging from 0.5 - 3 microns, like dust), and small particles (ranging from 0.09 - 1 micron, such as smoke particles). So, you’ll see that the Coway Airmega Air Purifier has a CADR of 246 for dust particles, 240 for pollen, and 233 for smoke.

• Room size: You’ll notice that different air purifiers have different capabilities, as to the area that they’re capable of treating. The Levoit Air Purifier has a very impressive range, being able to purify the air in an area of 1005 square feet in 30 minutes! The Coway Mighty (Model AP-1512HH) is for more modest spaces, being able to filter the air in a room of 361 square feet.

• Color indicator: The Coway Airmega 250 Smart Air Purifier has an LED indicator light to tell you what the air quality is in your room at present. It will be red if the air quality is very unhealthy and then go to yellow, then green, and finally blue, when the air quality is good.

• Eco-mode: The Coway Airmega (Models Ap-1512HH and AP-1512HHS) series of air purifiers have a nice, power-saving feature called “eco-mode”. It can detect the level of impurities in the air that it’s filtering. If it doesn’t detect any impurities for 30 minutes, the device’s fan will stop. If it picks up pollutants in the air, it exits “eco” mode and gets back to work.

• Smart air purifiers: There are also smart devices, that you can program with a smartphone app. Coway’s Airmega 250S and 300S both allow you to schedule the purifier to clean the air in your home with a smart app.

Coway Airmega 250S Air Purifier

Final Verdict

There are home air purifiers that can take care of the air in a very large space and can purify all of the air in your home, several times per hour! After the initial investment, you’ll see that they run quietly without consuming a lot of power. And you’ll be assured of breathing pristine air in your home, free of any allergens, pollutants, or unpleasant odors!