It took more than 100 time of day of research and examination — conducted by an airborne - subatomic particle physicist and former NOAA scientist using $ 100,000 - plus of equipment — to witness the best air purifier . Most people are best off with theCoway AP-1512HH Mighty . But we also have anupgrade for faster filtering , and another recommendationfor hit chemical substance and odors .
This Emily Price Post was done in partnership withSweethome , a buyer ’s guide to the best homewares . This is a condense version ofThe Best Air Purifier ; read the full reviewhere .
The instruments we used to test these machines are equal to of detecting particle as small as 0.010 micron , which is far below the threshold for civilian equipment and below the 0.3 micron threshold for the HEPA standard . We also conducted a first - of - its - kind odor - ascendance test using a VOC metre . The downside to all this comprehensive examination is that it gives you a whole band of entropy to parse . What follows is just a summary of our finding , but for those who are concerned in see more , theHow we testedsection of our full revaluation includes our procedure , methods , and results , utter with table and graph of our result .
The $ 250Coway AP-1512HH Mightyearns our option for being an overachiever in every respect . If you ’re primarily implicated about common mote allergens such as pollen , mold , or dander , the Coway offers the best value compare with the competition . Despite its comparatively low price and small size of it , our examination feel this true HEPA unit of measurement was just as effective at remove particulate contamination from a bedroom - sized area as larger , more expensive purifiers costing two to four times as much . In fact , thanks to its quiet , brushless motor , it actually outperformed some of the high - destruction models in the short running because it can lead at a eminent fan mount while keeping noise grade down . If you turn it on when you get into a bedroom or a home base office , it will remove virtually all airborne particles within a half hour and keep it that way until you twist it off .
In addition to its substantial carrying out , it ’s actually the trashy to own over a five - class period out of all the models we test ( about $ 560 ) . It was also easily the smallest and light building block test at 17 inches wide by 10 inches cryptic by 19 column inch high , with a exercising weight of 13 pounds . That have in mind you could move it to wherever it ’s needed and put it in a discerning locating . Not that you require to hide it — Coway actually took the meter to give it a the right way attractive excogitation , a rarity in the man of air purifiers .
The Coway is excellent at removing particle , but its biggest flaw is that it is ineffective at removing smell ( though that ’s truthful across the board for purifier in this price range ) . The thin 3/16 - inch activated carbon filter is just not up to the task . It ’s simply there as a prefilter for gravid particle ; our tests showed it was too lightweight to handle odor remotion .
If you have austere allergic reaction to particulate allergen or other health event related to air timber , or you ’re willing to pay a premium for a machine that can be extremely effective while fly the coop softly , we recommend our upgrade pick , the Blueair 503 with the SmokeStop filter software . It uses an static charging process that countenance more air to hang through the filter while make less dissonance — that intend you’re able to melt it at higher swiftness without fill your entire home with the whirr of a fan .
In our noise - limited mental testing , it bump off more than 90 percent of the particles from our bedroom - sized examination area in 10 instant — that ’s over 10 percentage more than the next near purifier and over 60 per centum more effectual than the command . This realize it a good option for areas where you might expect lots of air to exchange ( for example , any room that include a high - traffic door or a window to the exterior ) . Meanwhile , the SmokeStop filter ’s 4.2 pounds of activated charcoal reduces odors and some potentially harmful gases almost as well as the far more expensive IQAir HealthPro Plus , but costing about $ 109 less per year to operate ( including filter replacement and electrical energy price estimates ) .
Though the Coway is great at removing particles , it does very short to foreshorten odors ( though that ’s the same across the board for air purifier costing less than $ 400 ) . The Blueair , with its charcoal grey bundle , fares a flake better . However , if you live in a debatable environment with microscopic chemical pollutants — say , near a state highway , non - organic farm , chemical / great power works , or refinery — or are particularly sensitive to odors and/or other explosive constitutional compounds like formaldehyde , we recommend the $ 530 Austin Air HealthMate Standard HM-400 . It gets gaudy when you run it at configurations ask to get a decent filtration pace ( sensitive or high ) , but no other purifier come close in our VOC test .
In our tests for odor removal , the HealthMate ’s 15 lbs . of activate carbon bested all other atmosphere purifier by a full margin . ( For reference , the Coway does n’t even have a quarter Ezra Pound of activated carbon . ) Its exceptional performance in this area is a big part of why FEMA and the Red Cross chose Austin Air units for deployment at Ground Zero and the surrounding areas in the aftermath of 9/11 . The HealthMate ’s annual operating cost of about $ 283 also wee-wee it by far the cheapest gamy - death purifier to run . This is due to a filter that ’s designed for you to replace it every five years instead of annually . It ’s worth noting that when running the lover at comfortable sound levels , the Austin Air was less effective than all other models at removing particles from the environment . But a small supererogatory background noise is n’t too much to ask if serious health concerns involving pollutants are an upshot .
These picks may have been update . To see the current passport , please readSweethome’sguides .
Air purifierThe best
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and refinement word in your inbox daily .
News from the hereafter , render to your nowadays .
You May Also Like
