The 5 Best Air Purifiers for Smoke, According to Testing
Two types of particulates typically get measured during smoke events: PM 2.5 and PM 10 (PM here stands for “particulate matter”). The numbers refer to the size of the smoke particles in micrometers, with PM 10 being 10 micrometers or shorter and PM 2.5s being 2.5 micrometers or shorter. According to the CDC, PM 10 are irritants for the eyes, nose, and throat (dust from the road and pet dander would fall into this category), white PM 2.5 is small enough to enter your bloodstream. According to the EPA, this can affect both your heart and lungs, increasing your risk of cardiac arrhythmias and heart attacks, asthma attacks, and bronchitis. Young children and the elderly tend to be the most at risk.
Best Air Purifiers for Smoke of 2023, Tested
Every year wildfire smoke creeps farther and farther across the United States, exposing the importance of having an air purifier for smoke. While the casual smoke exposure of a campfire or outdoor barbecue typically won’t negatively affect your health, prolonged exposure to AQIs in the 100 range or higher can leave you coughing and wheezing, struggling to breathe with eyes stinging. Wildfire smoke can majorly impact human health for just about anyone, but children and senior citizens are particularly at risk. If you haven’t already purchased one of the best air purifiers for smoke, here’s a close look at some of the top options in this category.
- Best Overall: Coway Airmega AP-1512HH
- Most Efficient:Iris Woozoo
- Best for a Kid’s Bedroom: Winix 5500-2
- Best for Large Rooms: Blueair Purifier Large Room
- Best for Cars: IQAir Atem
- Best Budget: AROEVE Air Purifier
- Best Air Quality Monitor for Smoke: Airthings View Plus
Why Air Purifiers for Wild Fire Smoke Are Important
I’ve been using air purifiers for smoke since September 2020, when outdoor quality levels in Seattle, where I live, oscillated between “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” for five days. My daughter was one year old at the time, and knowing the correlation between smoke inhalation and health outcomes (particularly asthma), I wasn’t taking any chances. Since then, we typically turn the air purifier on at night or when something burns on the stove, keeping a spare HEPA filter in the closet in case of another smoke event.
Two types of particulates typically get measured during smoke events: PM 2.5 and PM 10 (PM here stands for “particulate matter”). The numbers refer to the size of the smoke particles in micrometers, with PM 10 being 10 micrometers or shorter and PM 2.5s being 2.5 micrometers or shorter. According to the CDC, PM 10 are irritants for the eyes, nose, and throat (dust from the road and pet dander would fall into this category), white PM 2.5 is small enough to enter your bloodstream. According to the EPA, this can affect both your heart and lungs, increasing your risk of cardiac arrhythmias and heart attacks, asthma attacks, and bronchitis. Young children and the elderly tend to be the most at risk.
How I Tested the Best Air Purifiers for Smoke
For this test, I focused on PM 2.5, knowing that increased PM 10 levels are strongly correlated with PM 2.5. To artificially create an environment with increased levels of 2.5, I went into an enclosed space (my bathroom) and burned a small amount of carbon material (a napkin). I used a Temtop Air Quality monitor to check how high PM 2.5 levels in the bathroom went, turning on the air purifiers once they were more than 250. I also tested for the IQ Air Atem in my car (a Toyota 4runner).
I recorded the time for the air purifiers to drop to below 50 PM 2.5, 10 PM 2.5, and then below 1 PM 2.5. For comparison, governmental guidelines suggest keeping 24-hour exposure levels below 35 PM 2.5, with a long-term (annual) target of 15 PM 2.5.
The 5 Best Air Purifiers for Smoke, According to Testing
Clear your home of smoke from cigarettes, wildfires and other sources with these top-tested picks chosen by our experts.
Maintaining a clean, tidy home isn’t merely about polished appliances and well-swept floors. The scent and quality of air in your home sets a standard for both how guests and loved ones feel in the space and the impact it can have on their health. Smoke, be it from external sources like wildfires or indoor cigarette smoking can be both unpleasant to smell and hazardous to the people under your roof.
Luckily, with the right air purifier, you can remove some of the toxins and irritants constituently found in smoke, and in some cases demonstrably reduce or eliminate the odor caused by it. With specific care towards the topic of smoke, here are our top air purifier picks:
Our top picks:
Best Overall Air Purifier for Smoke
Blueair Blue Pure 311i+ Max
Best Value Air Purifier for Smoke
GermGuardian AirSafe + Intelligent Air Purifier
Best Large-Space Air Purifier for Smoke
Blueair Blue Pure 211i Max
Best Small-Space Air Purifier for Smoke
Coway Airmega 160 True HEPA Air Purifier
Best Air Purifier and Humidifier Combo for Smoke
Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde
The Good Housekeeping Institute’s Home Improvement and Cleaning Labs regularly team up to rigorously evaluate air purifiers. We’ve tested over 45 models, examining their ease of set-up, how well they circulate air through a space, quietness, and most importantly, their ability to reduce various pollutants from the air quickly and efficiently. We complete both in-Lab structured quantitative testing to provide head-to-head comparisons of different models’ performance as well as at-home testing to see how units fair under real-world conditions.
Read on after our reviews to find out more on how we test air purifiers, what to consider when shopping for one and why you can trust our recommendations. Looking for more on air purifiers? Check out our explainer on how air purifiers work and our roundups of the best air purifiers for people with allergies and the best air purifiers for people with pets.
Blueair Blue Pure 311i+ Max
Blueair Blue Pure 311i+ Max
Pros
- The most effective at removing PM2.5 and PM10 particles in our tests
- Quiet operation
- Auto-on/off function
Cons
Blue Pure 311i+ Max came in at the top of our general list of the best air purifiers, so it’s no shock that it’s also our top pick for handling smoke within the home.
Lab testing of this dual-filter unit demonstrated a key point our engineers believe: Multiple filters often correlate to higher efficiency of an air purifier. The 311+ Max starts with a washable fabric pre-filter that encases the device, where it captures fur, dust and other large particles. The purifier’s smoke-busting chops comes from its interior True HEPA filter, which reduced concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 particles in less than half the time of the next-best model. PM stands for particulate matter and PM2.5 and PM10 refer to particles smaller than or equal to 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter respectively. These fine particles can enter airways and even the bloodstream and cause adverse health effects.
The device features simple controls and an on-unit indicator light that changes color in accordance with the air quality. For a more granular understanding of your house’s air quality and the purifier’s functionality, you can use the accompanying Blueair app to track pollutant levels over time and filter life cycle so you know when it needs to be replaced. The app also allows for setting up an auto shut-off and turn-on feature that activates the purifier when you’re home and turns it off when you leave.
Our testers also loved that this machine is backed by a Quiet Mark certification, meaning it effectively cleans the air in your home without being unduly noisy. With a coverage area of 465 square feet, this unit can do an exceptional job of keeping a small apartment or living room’s air clean, though larger homes may require a more substantial unit.
| Recommended coverage area | 456 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Filter type | Pre-filter and True HEPA |
| Dimensions | 23.5″ x 14.5″ x 14.5″ |
| Weight | 12 lbs |
| Filter replacement cost | $50 |
| CADR | Not listed |
| Noise level | 23 – 50 dB |