The Best Air Filter for Home Use: A Comprehensive Guide

Are you searching for the ideal air filter for your home? With so many options available, it can be hard to know which one is right for you. After testing more than 50 air purifiers over the past nine years, our measurements have revealed that the outstanding Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty is the best of them all. It is powerful enough for a large room, quiet enough to sleep nearby, designed to last for years, and affordable enough to be installed in multiple rooms. In conditions where air quality is poor, such as when your area is affected by a nearby wildfire, we suggest running air purifiers at a high temperature for one hour and then running them in a quiet environment or medium to create and maintain clean air in the home.

We tested this method on the Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty and the Airmega 400 from Coway for three hours (one hour at high temperature), followed by two at medium temperature after burning 15 wooden matches to create a large initial load of fine smoke particles. This is an ideal balance between a filter that cleans effectively and that doesn't impede air flow. When selecting an air filter, look for one that removes as much as possible without causing an air restriction. Many of the newer models of air conditioning systems can easily work with the MERV 11 or higher, such as the Aerostar 20x25x1 MERV 13 pleated air filter. The best air purifiers offer connectivity through apps so you can read reports about how the air quality in your room has changed over time, change settings remotely, and even check the room's humidity and temperature levels. For small spaces, we recommend the Fridababy Smart Air Purifier.

This air purifier from Honeywell uses a pre-filter and a True HEPA filter to capture contaminants up to 0.3 microns in size. This implies that it is optimized for larger particles suspended in the air, such as pollen and mold spores, rather than for very fine particles such as smoke from wildfires. It worked almost as fast as the larger units, making it the best air purifier for small spaces. To cleanse the air, these appliances use filters and fans to remove particles and circulate purified air back to the room. You can connect the Coway Airmega 400S to an application, which will allow you to see more detailed information about the air quality in your home, access reports for different periods of time, manage device settings and much more. No matter how much air pollution your home is exposed to, you don't necessarily have to spend hundreds of dollars to keep it clean.

An IKEA representative told us that “this is a deliberate design consideration, to find the right balance between affordability, small size for attractive home furnishings, and low energy consumption, while maintaining comparatively high airflow and CADR”.Because it tracks air quality over time, you can view a graph that shows how the air quality in your room has changed to help you understand possible causes. Since many homes nowadays have open floor plans, design is important when choosing the best air purifier.

Ashleigh Yballe
Ashleigh Yballe

Amateur internet ninja. Hipster-friendly tv fanatic. General pop culture buff. Subtly charming beer buff. Wannabe burrito evangelist. Award-winning internet practitioner.