Top Tips For Choosing The Best Air Purifier For Wildfire Smoke

With climate change and global warming on the rise, the weather in the U.S.A. keeps worsening. Forest fires, glacial meltdowns, droughts, etc., have now become more common. 

If there is a wildfire anywhere in your proximity, you must get an air purifier now. Why? 

Well, the smoke emanating from these fires can result in reduced lung function, asthma, bronchitis, etc. So, to keep your friends and family out of harm’s way, you must choose from some of the best air purifiers for wildfire smoke. 

With the abundance of options in the market, read on for some tips as to how to choose the right one. 

Tips for choosing the right air purifier

Here are some tips you can leverage for choosing the perfect air purifier for your home given that 2021 witnessed around 58,985 wildfires across the country.

1. Look for HEPA certification

If you want to buy a purifier to improve air quality, then a HEPA certification is necessary. High-Efficiency Particulate Arrestance, or HEPA, is a certification granted to purifiers capable of reducing invisible pollution inside your home. 

So, if you are residing near a wildfire, a HEPA-certified purifier is perfect for keeping the air clean and breathable. 

On top of the HEPA certification, also make sure that the purifier has activated carbon with Zeolite and Potassium Iodide. These components help get rid of volatile organic compounds present in the smoke from the wildfire. 

2. Stay away from ionic and ozone air filters 

If you reside near a wildfire, avoid ionic and ozone air filters. These products are much suited for general air purification needs and won’t effectively filter out volatile compounds from wildfire smoke. 

3. Make sure the purifier doesn’t emit any by-products 

Certain filters are equipped with a system that releases toxic gases into their surroundings as a by-product. So, while choosing a purifier, make sure the purifier doesn’t generate toxic by-products.

This stands true, especially for air filters that use ionic generation or electrostatic precipitation since they emit toxic by-products.

  4. Make sure the purifier is portable 

While choosing among the best air purifiers for wildfire smoke, make sure that it is portable. Flexibility is something you must have with your filter, allowing you to relocate it at your beck and call. 

Although this sounds like a lot of work, you might need to move the filter around quite a bit. For instance, you might need it in your living room or kitchen during the day. But you will need to relocate it to the bedroom at night.  

  5. Consider the size of your room before you buy one

You need to also consider the size of the room you will use the purifier in. If you buy a filter of a lower capacity, it is not going to be of much use in a large room. Hence, consider the square footage of the room, and compare it with the purifier’s capacity.

Most air filters come with a CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) mentioned on the box. But what is CADR?

Well, it calculates the volume of clean air that is pumped out by the filter. To give you a rough idea, if your purifier has a CADR of 200, then it can purify and deliver clean air to a space of 200 cubic feet per minute. 

Wrapping up

Choosing among some of the best air purifiers for wildfire smoke can be quite confusing. But fret not. Use the tips mentioned earlier to find the perfect air filter for your home.

Last but not least, if you happen to reside anywhere near a wildfire, stay safe.