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What to look for while choosing an air purifier
Summary
With air quality concerns on the rise, choosing the right air purifier has never been more crucial. Here's a definitive guide to buying the right air purifier based on essential features, from filtration types to noise levels and smart functionalities
Over the past few days, several regions in northern India, including Delhi NCR, have been in the news for all the wrong reasons: rapidly worsening air quality that has the area on the brink of a public health crisis. The toxic air has prompted authorities to introduce restrictions on vehicle movement and construction activities, and order schools to conduct classes online.
Every day, we take in about 2kg food and 4kg water—but we inhale about 13.9 kg of air. Just as we take good care about food and water hygiene, we must acknowledge and address the latter as well. Staying indoors is not a perfect solution either. In fact, in cold weather, when there’s a significant rise in air pollution outside, we tend to seal our houses more—this leads to household pollutants and allergens not finding a way to escape. Potentially harmful particles and gases can be found throughout any household, including pollen and allergens, bacteria and mould spores, as well as household fumes from cooking (frying and roasting in particular) and cleaning (a lot of cleaning products emit volatile organic compounds, or VOCs).
How does an air purifier work?
The air we breathe has pollutants called Particulate Matter (PM), measured in microns. A human hair measures around 100 microns. Allergens like pollen are under 10 microns in diameter and hence known as PM10 pollutants. Cooking gases and other pollutants are PM2.5 or less. PM0.1 particles, known as ultra-fine particles, tend to penetrate the air sacs in our lungs and cause short- or long-term adverse health effects. Air purifiers remove harmful particles and pollutants and circulate cleaner air. A good air purifier can capture particles as small as 0.1 microns to ensure optimal air quality.
Apart from countering air pollution, air purifiers help in tackling allergens by capturing pollen, dust mites and pet dander and neutralize household odours. Certain air purifiers are also equipped to remove harmful gases as well as combat airborne viruses and bacteria.
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The right set of features
Selecting an air purifier that works for your space and needs can be daunting given the technical specifications and the plethora of options available. Here are some key factors to consider:
Coverage Area: First up, figure out the size of the room or area where you intend to use the air purifier. Most air purifiers specify their ‘Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR)’ so that you can check if it is suitable for your room size. Some purifiers circulate air in a singular or upward direction and some swing to project air more widely; make sure the purifier you choose can distribute clean air evenly across your room. That said, the CADR test, developed over three decades ago, may not represent real home conditions. Dyson validates its portfolio with what it calls the Point Loading Auto Response (POLAR) test to measure real-world performance, assessing the uniformity of the cleaning performance delivered around the whole room.
Filtration: An air purifier filters out PM2.5 pollutants using a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter (some cheaper purifiers use ‘HEPA-type’ filters, which have limited effectiveness). But even a high-quality HEPA filter might not be enough to counter indoor pollution. Sophisticated air purifiers have one or more added filters, such as a pre-filter to capture larger dust particles, activated carbon filters to capture allergens that may get through the HEPA filter and remove smoke and odours, and an ultraviolet light filter to destroy bacteria, viruses, and mould. There’s also the HEPA H13 standard filter that is highly effective at capturing 99.95% of PM0.1 particles.
Noise Level: Considering air purifiers run throughout the day, it is a good idea to opt for one with lower noise levels. Noisy fans, especially when they run at full blast, are uncomfortable, especially when you’re sleeping.
Additional Features: Many air purifiers include smart functionalities with companion mobile apps and integration with digital assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. The mobile app also provides insights about air quality via built-in sensors and filter replacement indicators, along with the ease of operation and maintenance. If the air purifier is intended to be used by seniors, you might want to opt for variants which have a physical remote instead of the mobile app.
Budget: Air purifiers are available in a wide price range. But before you set a budget and explore options within that range, be mindful of the fact that filters have a limited life and are a recurring expense.
Recommended Picks
Air purifiers are increasingly becoming a norm in upper middle-class households, especially those with children and senior citizens. Sonam Chopra, a management executive at Siemens based in Gurugram, says that it is now critical to have air purifiers in all bedrooms at home. “I have a five-year-old child that needs to be protected from the air pollution, plus my mother-in-law suffers from a chronic lung ailment and the winter months can be very uncomfortable for her," she said.
At the entry level, you can’t go wrong with a Xiaomi. The Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 Lite ( ₹9,999) is a great buy with its HEPA filter, activated carbon filter, and app control and smart home integration. While Xiaomi has consistently offered excellent value for money and first-rate performance, there are also options from Coway in the similar price range with some interesting form factors—like the Coway Airmega Aim ( ₹9,999).
Traditional electronics brands like Philips, Sharp, and Honeywell offer a wide portfolio of air purifiers but tread with caution with them. While all of them have entry level options, they are also quite basic with limited features—it’s better to go up the price ladder and pick more premium options, like SHARP Air Purifier FP-J52M-W ( ₹19,989) or the Honeywell Air Touch P2 ( ₹17,499). Also, make sure that replacement filters for the purifier your pick are available consistently because that has been a concern with some brands, especially during peak pollution season.
If budget isn’t a consideration, Dyson offers well-engineered air purifiers that look slick and exude luxury. There’s the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool (starting at ₹56,900) that simultaneously purifies and heats the room, eliminating the need to use a separate room heater. Or you can go for more mainstream, and relatively cheaper, Dyson Purifier Cool (starting at ₹32,900). Instead of the latter, you can also go for the Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde variant ( ₹47,900) which has all the capabilities found in other products in the Dyson lineup but goes a step further to detect and destroy formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a polluting gas formed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that is commonly found in homes.
If you move around the city often, you can also consider using an air-purifier in your car, like the SHARP Car Air Purifier ( ₹6,299) and Honeywell Move Pure3 ( ₹4,999). However, with limited filter size and capabilities, these are good enough to ward off dust and bad odours, but don’t really counter the severe air pollution outside.
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