Topic: Best Air Purifiers for Smoke of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 34 times)
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Topic: Best Air Purifiers for Smoke of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 34 times)
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For me, the Coway Airmega’s ionizer—coupled with my child’s love of pressing buttons—makes this one a no-go for her bedroom. Fortunately, during testing, a unit performed at the same level as the Coway and was a lot harder for her to mess with: the Winix. At the same time, it suffers from the same problems as the Coway (melodic tones that chime whenever you press a button, a bright light that gets covered with a cloth at nighttime, an ionizer that produces a small amount of ozone (although not so much as to be a health risk). The buttons were less distinct than the Coway’s, and the height and angle of the display didn’t as closely mimic the display of a typical child’s toy. It’s not perfect—a high-performing air purifier without the chirping and the ionizer would be ideal—but it ultimately caused fewer issues than the Coway.
The only thing I didn’t like about the Winix is that it’s just big—taller and less attractive than the other best air purifiers for smoke I looked at. Keep this one tucked away in the corner of your child’s bedroom, set to the lowest setting, and only look at it when you need to change the filter.
While the other top air purifiers in my test pulled in air from only one direction, the Blueair Purifier pulled it from every direction. That didn’t make a big difference in my test (in an enclosed space), but that would help in a larger room by increasing the volume of air it’s taking in. And the Blueair is actually nice enough looking, and quiet enough to do just that.
I also appreciated that its controls were co*paratively simple, with just one button that didn’t try to sing me a lullaby whenever I touched it. Unfortunately, the button is also surprisingly sensitive. Time and again, I would find that the unit was either off or on high because my leg had brushed against it without my noticing.
The other downside to the Blueair is that it could be easier to move. Picking it up from the sides causes the top to co*e off; it must be picked up from the bottom.
One of the biggest challenges with a smoke event is cabin fever—getting stuck inside your house while you wait for some wind or rain to clean the outdoor air can be taxing. So I was excited to try out the IQAir Atem, which is an air purifier specifically designed for your car. It attaches to the back of the driver or passenger seat headrest inside your vehicle and plugs into the car cigarette lighter. It’s also quiet—easily the quietest unit I tested of the lot.
Unfortunately, it just didn’t work very well. Of course, the testing here looked a little different: burning a napkin had a more deleterious effect on air quality inside my car than in my bathroom. The PM 2.5 levels shot above 999, at which point I turned on my car’s fan to get the air moving and then turned it back down again a few minutes later when it started to drop below 900. Twenty minutes into testing, PM 2.5 levels were still at 140. It wasn’t doing nothing, but it was working so slowly that I would likely arrive at my destination before the air quality in my car improved. If you can purchase a HEPA filter for your existing cabin filter, that is almost certainly a better investment than this product.
It can be hard to justify the price of an air purifier if you’re preparing for a possible smoke event rather than living through one currently. So I tried out the AROEVE, a budget brand that’s often available when more high-end units are out of stock, to see how it worked.
During my test of the AROEVE, the PM 2.5 level ended up shooting up to 820, the highest level during my main test. I took the air purifier about 8 minutes to get PM 2.5 levels below 250, and another nine minutes to get them below 50 again. Twenty-five minutes from the start of the test, PM 2.5 levels were below 10.
While not as impressive a performance as the Coway Airmega, Winix, or Blueair, this is a great unit to have on hand in the event an unexpected smoke event wafts in through the windows this summer.
The Airthings View Plus won top marks in my test of the best air quality monitors, thanks to the sheer number of pollutants it tracked and, importantly for air smoke events, its ability to set up alerts. The app for the Airthings air quality monitor provides detailed information on the exact levels of its various measurements. The actual device shows you two of the measurements at a time. You can customize this to show the ones you are the most interested in, including PM 2.5 and PM 1.
While you can plug this air quality monitor into the wall using a USB-C cord, it can also be powered via six AA batteries (which are included). When I received this air quality monitor in the mail about two months ago, I set it up (including the online app) and turned it on, but did not plug it in using the USB-C wall charger. It’s still going strong. I’m assuming the battery will eventually give out, but this is a great option if you’re looking for something cordless.
If an air purifier for smoke doesn’t have a HEPA filter, don’t even bother purchasing it. These are the only filters capable of filtering out the particle size that can cause the most damage to our cardiovascular and respiratory systems. In fact, if you can find a HEPA filter, but not an air purifier during a smoke event, many people have successfully lowered their PM 2.5 levels by simply taping the filter to a box fan and letting it run.
HEPA filters need to be changed on a periodic basis, so check the manufacturer instructions to determine when the best time to do this is. If a substantial smoke event hits, it’s a great idea to change your HEPA filter after that as well.
Typically people purchase an air purifier for smoke for their bedroom (and children’s bedrooms), and then a second one for their main living area. The ones in your bedroom can typically be smaller and less powerful than the ones in your main living area, as they circulate less air.
Air purifiers use a fairly substantial amount of energy, as much as 70 watts, during our testing. Keep an eye on the setting of your air purifier—the lower the setting you can get away with to achieve optimal air quality in your home, the lower your electricity bill will be.
Air purifiers work by pushing the air in your room through a HEPA filter to clean out PM 2.5 and PM 10 particles.
If you live in an area that is at risk of being impacted by wildfire smoke, then you should have an air purifier for smoke.
Air purifiers are important to have on hand in case of poor air quality due to wildfire smoke, a problem that is beco*ing increasingly co*mon across the United States.
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Purchasing an air purifier for smoke provided my family with an important piece of mind during a stressful smoke event. Since then, we’ve had several other smoke events (although none as dramatic as the original) that have reinforced the importance of that decision and watched as friends and family members across the United States have experienced similar events. If you’ve been putting off purchasing an air purifier for smoke, now is a great time to do so, to protect your and your family’s health.
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