In simple terms, ACH represents how many times a purifier can circulate the volume of air in a given room in 60 minutes based on its maximum airflow, and it provides a standardized baseline for categorizing and initially comparing purifiers. We set 4 ACH as the minimum for a purifier to be considered adequate for each room size. Based on our years of real-world testing, we know that 4 ACH ensures rapid and nearly complete cleaning of highly and continuously polluted air—a big concern during, say, a nearby wildfire.
And because air purifiers must be running at all hours to be effective, we calculate annual operating costs, which include filter replacements and energy use to run the machine 24 hours a day for an entire year. How We Pick the Best Air PurifiersOur engineers find that many of the models we run in our labs can
ace our tests at high speed, with no problem. It’s often how much debris these machines can capture when not on full blast that’s a challenge. The best air purifiers in our ratings are capable of clearing the air even on low settings—and they do it without making a racket and at a reasonable annual cost.
But in our tests it performed significantly worse, achieving just 77.4% and 55.1% reduction on its highest and medium (speed 6) settings, respectively. We cannot recommend either Dyson purifier, especially considering their high price relative to those of our much higher-performing picks. We have also found no evidence that the machines’ fan function, as Dyson claims, makes them superior to other purifiers in the distribution of filtered air throughout a room.
Refresh the air of your home with LEVOIT Personal HEPA Air Purifier Replacement Filter. The sturdy materials let this replacement filter last longer, but the prefilter should be replaced every two to three months, while the HEPA and activated carbon filters should be replaced every six to eight months. These replacement filters can help reduce odors as well, so you and your furry friends can enjoy fresh, fine scented air.
ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Jason Hiner explains best practices for setup and success of smart home security systems. Griner will describe “her stark and surreal time living in a foreign prison and the terrifying aspects of day-to-day life in a women’s penal colony,” her publisher said. For National Pet Day, we explore some of the pros and cons a pet can have for your health. Fire officials said the owner of an abandoned Hoffco factory had been cited multiple times for potential fire hazards and that “it wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when this was going to happen.” The Levoit H132 scores an impressive 4.7 out of five stars on Home Depot.
In fact, our years of testing have shown that any appropriately sized purifier will distribute filtered air evenly, into the farthest corner of a room. To qualify as great, however, an air purifier doesn’t just need to work well; it also needs to be robustly engineered and thoughtfully designed. After nine years, during which we’ve tested more than 50 different air purifiers, we believe that the exceptional
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty is the best among them—as we have since 2015. That said, as strong as the Mighty is, its performance is not as singular as it once was, and in recent years many other air purifiers have closely approached our high standards. If you prefer the looks, cost, or other features of our also-great picks, know that they match this Coway model in purifying performance.
Make sure to check the printed or online user’s guide that comes with your air purifier to confirm its maintenance needs. Regardless, your air purifier will need some sort of upkeep and it will likely follow
the information detailed above (or very close). The unit also has a memory function, which means that it remembers its previous setting before powering down, including fan speed and night-light setting.
If the AM90 is unavailable, the otherwise identical Winix AM80 is worth considering. It comes only in dark gray, lacks Wi-Fi connectivity, and uses a one-year VOC filter in contrast to the AM90’s three-month filter.