Which Air Filter is the Best for Removing Dust? The Best Room Air Filter for Dust

HEPA-filtered air purifiers are often the best choice for filtering dust from your space. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), HEPA filters can remove 99.97% of dust particles that measure 3 microns in diameter or less. There are thousands of portable air purifiers available, but the best room air filter for dust is a HEPA filter. Unlike household air filters for an air conditioning system, high-efficiency HEPA air filters are highly effective when used in a standalone air purifier. We have tested more than 50 air purifiers over the past nine years and our measurements have shown that the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty is the best of them.

It is powerful enough to use in a large room, quiet enough to sleep nearby, designed to last for years, and economical enough to set up in multiple rooms. The Levoit Vital 200S also performed well in our tests and is very similar to the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty in terms of energy efficiency, noise emission, and the ability to turn off the screen while maintaining the fan configuration of your choice. However, since it is a new version (January 2012), we haven't had time to test it in the long term yet. In conditions where air quality is poor, such as when an area is affected by a nearby wildfire, we recommend 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. After burning 15 wooden matches (to create a large initial load of fine smoke particles), we tested this method with the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH Mighty and the Airmega 400 for three hours, one hour at high temperature and two at medium temperature. The most efficient air purifier for household dust is the Maxum HEPA.

This recommendation is based on its high efficiency, since it eliminates 99.97% of all dust in a single pass. This is a commercial quality product and is better than other HEPA air purifiers on the market. We have not found evidence that the fan function of Dyson purifiers makes them superior to other purifiers in distributing filtered air throughout the room. We also appreciate how pleasant its design is for children, with a filter cover and lockable controls, a relaxing nightlight, and a sleep setting that automatically mutes and darkens the filter while it's in operation.

You can connect the Coway Airmega 400S to an application, which will allow you to view more detailed information about the air quality in your home, access reports for different periods of time, manage device settings and more. When buying an air purifier for your home, you'll want to consider which models can improve a room's air quality more efficiently while being easy to use. A typical rule of thumb is to make at least two air changes per hour, which means that the air in the room must be completely replenished twice every hour. The higher the MERV rating, the thicker and more pleated the air filter, and thus it restricts airflow more effectively. However, you'll want to make sure that you buy an air purifier with a HEPA filter rather than another type of filter, as other types of filters may not work as well. According to the Home Appliance Manufacturers Association, an air purifier's efficiency rating (clean air supply rate, also known as CADR) must equal two-thirds of the room's area.

However, a MERV 13 air filter still allows good airflow through the HVAC system without sacrificing comfort or compromising HVAC equipment. The air purifier must also have several fan speeds that can be controlled directly on the device, a screen that shows the air quality in the room, and a light that turns on when it's time to replace the filter. And it uses similar technology as other models since it combines a filter that is not HEPA (but still very efficient) with a system that imparts an electrical charge to particles passing through it, helping them adhere to the filter on their next pass (basically through static adhesion).Understanding indoor air quality can seem like an intimidating topic but the Levoit Core 400S Smart True HEPA Air Purifier makes it easy to understand. Studies have found that having an air purifier reduces indoor levels of 2.5 micron particles by approximately 11%, but this result was only statistically significant in single people's homes (possibly due to less opening and closing of doors and lower overall activity).

Simon Genz
Simon Genz

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