Which is the best air purifier?
Which is the best air purifier to buy?
So when you’ve made a decision that you need an air purifier, you now want help to decide which is the best air purifier for your requirements.
It’s one of the most googled questions around air purifiers and one we know is important especially when there is so much choice out there and prices vary so much.
Before we jump in – it’s worth considering what ‘best’ air purifier means to you. Some people associate the word ‘best’ with price – ie the cheapest. Whilst you can buy some very cheap air purifiers which can perform reasonably well, there’s usually a reason for the price being low – as in the specification of the filters, the fan speed, quality of the mould, the after-sales support level etc.
Some people associate ‘best’ with brand names. Ie – leading brands such as Dyson, Fellowes, or Camfil. These air purifiers are often great products, but the power of the manufacturers brand allows them to charge a premium.
Then there are other people that associate best with performance and quality and product support/warranty. They want to be sure that the purifier is doing the best job possible in the space it is used in. They also want a product that is reliable and backed by a warranty.
In this blog we’ll take a deep dive into what types of air purifiers are the most effective, and what features to look for in an air purifier.
Some of the key reasons that people purchase air purifiers is to clean the air of pollutants such as dust and pollen, or to get rid of odours. They are also purchased to reduce the likelihood of contamination with airborne viruses such as Covid or even the common cold.
An effective air purifier will noticeably improve the air quality in a room quickly without making a huge song and dance about it. However there are poor performing air purifiers that have inadequate filtration, and are very noisy, whilst being over specified for the space that they are meant to be used in.
If you are wanting an air purifier for a specific purpose such as getting rid of odours but are not as worried about dust then you want to ensure you go for a model with a decent Active Carbon filter as carbon is very effective at eliminating airborne odours. Or alternatively you may not worry about the odours and just want a decent HEPA filter that eliminates the dust and pollen, as well as trapping virus and bacteria particles.
At Zonitise, our recommendation is that you ideally want to combine the highest level of HEPA filtration – ideally HEPA 13 or HEPA 14 with active carbon filtration and a pre-filter. That will ensure that you are constantly combatting indoor air pollution, reducing infection risk as well as eliminating odours. Anything less than HEPA 13 or HEPA 14 is not good enough in our opinion.
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Filtration Performance is an absolute priority. The air will only be cleaned as quickly as the air purifier fan is able to go, with the correct level of filtration. Always check for what the air flow or clean air delivery rate (CADR) is when you are looking at an air purifier.
In the below example from Sharp – they advise the air flow is 216m3 per hour. That means the machine will clean that quantity of air in an hour on maximum setting. Ideally you need to be cleaning the air 4 to 5 times every hour. Anything less will mean your purifier is not as effective. The calculation for deciding whether that machine is suitable for your space is to firstly divide the hourly air flow by 4 which in this case equates to 54M3. This is the volume of air the machine will clean every 15 minutes. And then divide that result by the typical ceiling height of a room – 2.4m to get an idea of what size room this air purifier would be suitable for. In this example 54M3 divided by 2.4m room height = 22.5m2. That is the size of room that this purifier would work in – so a typical kitchen or living room or meeting room of 5m x 4m.
Many options out there will claim ion generators and UVC lights are secrets to success. There is differing opinions on these technologies. But the reality is that a decent HEPA 14 filter and a powerful fan, will always work to remove the harmful stuff out of the air and that’s been proven over decades in the real world, including in hospital Covid ICU wards.
Don’t be taken in by false advertising that claims a device with an airflow of just 100m3 per hour can clean the air effectively in a room up to 30m2. Just do the maths….. 100 divided by 4 = 25M3. Divide that by a typical ceiling height of 2.4m and you get the maximum room size of 10.4m2 that this purifier would be effective in.
What else should you consider when deciding which is the best air purifier for you?
Noise – you want to ensure that the device you choose can constantly decontaminate without disturbing. The Blueair brand often come up top on the best quiet air purifiers. You want to ensure that on maximum fan capacity you are ideally under 53 Db sound level. Check the noise level on the specifications – some manufacturers such as Honeywell are showing sound levels of 68Db which is very noisy in our opinion. As an idea – a loud phone ringtone is around 70-80Db and a whisper is 30Db.
Automatic Air Quality Sensor – Then you ideally want to have an automatic air quality sensor so that the purifier adjusts the fan speed to the air quality in the room so it is energy efficient and does what it needs to do to constantly keep the air clean. When you can’t see air pollution, and don’t know when the air quality might dip – ie when dust or pollen enters the room – that’s when an air quality sensor is invaluable at controlling fan speed.
Portability – How heavy is the unit – is it on wheels – can it be easily moved from one space to another.
Remote Controls and Wifi – not essential, but very handy if your air purifier choices come with those. Built in Timers – can be useful to set your machine to come on at certain times of the day when you are using the space.
A live air quality display is also really useful to see what the real-time air quality is within a space.
Warranty – ensure you have ideally a 2 year warranty against machine defects.
Filter replacement. You don’t want to be changing filters much more than every 12 months.
Finally, and not the least important is what is the customer service and after sales support like of the air purifier manufacturer?
Dyson air purifiers may be scoring well on looks and performance but they let themselves down on their customer service according to Trustpilot.
Then there are very cheap options on Amazon from pile it high sell it cheap manufacuturers but the customer service is non existent as the reviews will tell you.
Decided that you want the best air purifier?
At Zonitise we pride ourselves on providing excellent quality air purification devices with medical grade HEPA filtration, but at price points that are affordable. So we’re not the cheapest, but we’re definitely a long way off being the most expensive. We’re a family owned and run business and are passionate about ensuring value to every client.
We have portable and fixed air purification systems for every type of space. From a large corporate office to your kitchen! You can check them out here!
Check out our E-Books and visit our video library, or request a custom quote on the button below.
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