What To Look for Before Buying an Air Purifier: Your Ultimate Buying Guide

I was really excited when I finally decided that it was time to buy an air purifier.

While I was skeptical at first, sleeping in a room with an air purifier for the first time made all the difference.

But when I went on the market to choose my first model, I found that I couldn’t choose.

There were two reasons for this. The first was there were simply so many models available. The second reason was the fact that I had no idea what distinguished a good air purifier from a bad one.

That’s why I made sure to do the research first. But once I discovered the key features of an air purifier, it was much easier to make my choice. And now, I get to enjoy all the benefits of a high-quality air purifier that can truly handle my needs.

So in this article, I’ll be explaining some of the different things I found were most important when looking for an air purifier.

It’s important to know about these before hitting the market, so you don’t go through the same problems that I do.

By the end of this article, you’ll easily be able to find the best air purifier for your needs with all the features you’d want.

Why Buy an Air Purifier?

Before you even start heading to the market to look at your options, you may want to ask yourself why you’re buying an air purifier in the first place.

In my experience, this is the easiest way to figure out what type of air purifier you need to meet your needs.

There are tons of benefits to buying an air purifier. The first one is the fact that you breathe cleaner air.

Modern air purifiers are equipped to filter out a lot of harmful particles from smoke, to VOCs, all the way down to dust and pollen. So, if you live in a place with wildfires, a lot of pollution, or have severe allergies, air purifiers are a great help.

Breathing in cleaner and purer air offers a wide range of health benefits.

If you’re new to air purifiers, you may not see the benefit.

But once you start inhaling cleaner air, you will start feeling much better. And since clean air is also good for the skin, you might be looking better, too – at least, that’s what I found.

So, rest assured that buying an air purifier is a great idea.

However, always go back to the main reason you want an air purifier, as it will be much easier to figure out what you need based on that reason.

8 Things to Consider When Buying an Air Purifier

There are tons of air purifiers on the market. And the thing about all these options is that it makes it really hard to find the right option for your needs.

So, here are some of the most important factors to consider if you plan on buying an air purifier:

Room Size

The first thing you need to learn when buying an air purifier is the room size. It’s best to determine which room you plan on using the air purifier right way.

If possible, I recommend getting the exact square foot measurements of the room, as this will give you a clear idea of what you need from the air purifier.

Obviously, the larger the room, the stronger the required air purifier.

And in the next couple of features, we’ll get into how to determine if an air purifier can handle the size of the room.

ACH and CADH

Two very major things to consider when buying an air purifier are the ACH and CADH, or Air Changes per Hour and Clean Air Delivery Rate.

The ACH refers to the number of times the air purifier can filter out the entire air volume of the room within one hour. 

Generally, you need a minimum of 4 ACH in a good air purifier.

For larger rooms, you might want to go as high as 6-8 ACH, and if you want to filter the air in a room as large as a hospital operating room, then you need a rating between 15-20 ACH.

The CADR states how many cubic meters per hour or cubic feet per minute of air the purifier can filter out.

Ideally, you want to get an air purifier that can give you a CADR equivalent to at least 4 ACH.

The Filtration System

When buying an air purifier, the one feature you can’t skip out on is a HEPA filter.

These are mechanical filters made of fiberglass threads capable of filtering out even the finest solid particles.

You want to find air purifiers that have TRUE HEPA Filters as these meet the requirements in place for these sophisticated filters.

But on top of that, you may also want to get air purifiers with activated carbon and pre-filters. This is so that you can capture as many particles as possible without wearing out the HEPA filter too fast.

Additionally, if you have an activated carbon filter, the purifier will be able to eliminate any harmful odors in the air as well.

Maintenance Requirements

The thing about HEPA filters is that they don’t last forever. Even “permanent” HEPA filters need to be replaced after washing them a couple of times. And if you want your air purifier to work to the best of its abilities, you need to practice proper maintenance.

You don’t want an air purifier that requires you to change or clean the filter once a week. Not only is this a hassle, but it can also be expensive. So, the longer the filters on your air purifier last, the better.

With that said, no matter what air purifier you get, you’ll have to do proper maintenance. So, just because an air purifier requires maintenance doesn’t mean it’s a bad air purifier.

Noise Levels

Ideally, you want to keep the air purifier on 24/7, even while asleep. But if you have a loud air purifier, this will become close to impossible. This is why I always recommend considering the noise levels of the air purifiers before making your purchase.

I almost made the mistake of buying an air purifier before checking the noise levels. If I had pushed through with that purchase, I would have ended up with a loud air purifier that I would end up turning off most of the time because of the noise, which is far from ideal.

Additional Features

Lastly, you want to consider any of the additional features that come with the air purifier. For example, some air purifiers come with an automatic mode that detects the number of particles in the air at any given time. Based on the particles in the air, the purifier will either increase or decrease the fan speed as needed, allowing it to only work as required.

This is great since it’s always best to keep your air purifier on 24/7.

Another cool feature you might need is a timer. If you are away from home consistently at certain times of the day, you can set the air purifier to stay off while you’re away and turn it on a couple of minutes before you get home. That way, you can ensure that you always breathe clean air when at home.

There are even some air purifiers that come with smart features.

This is a huge plus as some models allow you to connect it to your smart home system like Google Home or Alexa and control the purifier by voice commands.

Or, you can also connect the air purifier to your phone to make it easier to adjust the settings.

At the end of the day, all these features are just cool add-ons.

They aren’t necessarily required if you’re buying an air purifier. But if you had them, it would be really nice.

This is a great way to make the call between certain models.

Conclusion: Look for Air Purifiers that Satisfy Your Needs

At the end of the day, the most important thing is to find an air purifier that satisfies your personal needs.

This is why the first thing you need to ask yourself is why you need an air purifier in the first place, as that gives you a reference point when browsing through the different features.

When buying an air purifier, knowledge is power.

If you want to get your money’s worth and buy an air purifier that can handle your needs, then you need to understand what features are important.

When I did this myself, I was able to land on an air purifier that satisfied all my needs in no time at all.

So, now that you’re familiar with the different features you need in an air purifier, the only thing left to do is head to the market and find one with the features that meet your needs.

Don’t get scared by all the options; if you look hard enough, it will be easy to find the right option.

And when in doubt, there’s no harm in checking out reviews of different air purifiers to see whether or not they do the job!