Best Air Purifiers For Smoke


The air inside your home can be polluted by smoke from a number of sources including cigarettes, wood-based fireplaces, wildfires, or even incense and candles. Using an air purifier is a good way to limit the effect that smoke can have on your breathing.

Regular exposure to smoke can not only cause irritation of eyes, nose and throat but can also have devastating consequences on your long-term health. While air purifiers can’tt eliminate the source of smoke, they can reduce the concentration of harmful particles from your room and give you fresher, healthier air to breathe in. 

However, not every air purifier is equally capable of handling smoke or smog. In this guide, we give you the details of the best air purifiers available today for filtering smoke out of your home.

Smoke in our homes

Smoke is made up of a mixture of gases and tiny, microscopic particles that can float in the air.

The natural filtering ability of our respiratory system can remove quite a lot of these substances, but some of the extra-fine particles found in smoke can reach deep into our lungs and cause inflammation.

In the short term, this manifests as burning and irritation of eyes, shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing.

In the long run, however, more serious consequences can develop.

As a result, people regularly exposed to smoke have a 2-3 times higher risk of premature death than those who breathe in healthier air.

Which Air Purifiers Can Remove Smoke From Air

A 2014 study concluded that air purifiers are capable of removing harmful PM2.5 particles from air to a significant degree. These are very tiny particles and include smoke.

However, different air purifiers work differently, and not all are able to remove smoke.

Even the EPA recommends using air purifiers to reduce the level of harmful particulates from air, especially during wildfires, so it’s important to know which ones can handle smoke.

The following factors decide whether or not an air purifier can filter our smoke and smog from your home:

1. CADR Rating

Air purifiers come with different ‘Clean Air Delivery Rates’, or CADRs. Most purifiers mention their CADRs for three particles: tobacco smoke, dust and pollen, these represent particles of small, medium and large sizes respectively.

You should be looking for purifiers with a high CADR rating for tobacco smoke.

The exact values you should be looking for depend on the size of your room. The EPA recommends the following values:

Room Size (sq. ft) CADR
10065
200130
300195
400260
500325
600390

2. Filter Type:

Most air purifiers come with ‘High Efficiency Particulate Air’, or HEPA, filters.

But most of these can only filter particulates down to 0.3 microns. For removing smoke, you should be looking for filters capable of filtering out particles down to 0.1 microns small (and that’s much smaller).

For smoke a H13 or H14 HEPA medical-grade filter is ideal.

3. Fan Speeds And Run Time

If your air purifier has a higher fan speed and longer run time, it will naturally be able to filter out more air quicker.

Other Factors

We also considered the following factors to prepare this list:

  • Size of the filter unit
  • Noise levels
  • Price 
  • Customer Reviews
  • Portability
  • Replacement frequency and cost
  • Additional technological features 

Best Air Purifers For Smoke

Now that we have the basics covered, let’s look into the 3 best air purifiers for removing smoke from your room. Feel free to click on the images or links for more information on Amazon about each air purifier.

These air purifiers are perfect for smoke because they have medical-grade H13 HEPA filters, fan speed options and good CADR ratings (use the table above to figure out which purifier will be best for you based on the size of your room)

1. Levoit Smart Wi-Fi Air Purifier

The Levoit Smart Wi-Fi Air Purifier can effectively remove smoke from your home. This purifier has a sleek design, small size and an affordable price.

With its Honeycomb activated carbon filters, H13 HEPA filter and Pre-filter, its filtering efficiency and speed is 30% higher than ordinary air cleaners.

The device is capable of cleaning a room of up to 900 sq.ft in 1 hour and 500 sq.ft in 33 minutes (CADR 230), though maximum benefits will be seen in a room of 360 sq.ft at the highest Fan Speed Level.

This purifier is also impressive in terms of the large number of additional features it provides, including:

  • Voice control compatible with Alexa and Google Home Assistant
  • Smart Remote Control
  • It’s own VeSync app
  • Auto mode that can adjust between three different fan settings
  • Low Energy consumption (only about $12-$15 a year for electricity)
  • Quiet functioning at 27 Decibels, bedroom friendly

2. Medify Air MA-40-W Air Purifier

The Medify MA-40-W is an amazing air purifier capable of removing up to 99.9% of pollutants as small as 0.1 microns in size, meaning it can filter out almost all common allergens and contaminants including smoke, dust, odors, pet dander, asbestos, lead dust and pollen. 

It comes in attractive black and white finishes and features an easy to use tempered glass touch-screen panel for control.

Like the other purifiers that can remove smoke, it uses a pre-filter, a H13 true HEPA filter and an activated carbon component filter.

What makes it stand out, however, is the incredible speed at which the filter operates. It can filter out contaminants from larger spaces up to 1600 sq. ft. within just an hour, maintaining an impressive CADR of 380.

It also offers three different fan speeds, a minimum noise level of 46 Decibels (perfect for bedrooms), a sleep mode, 0-8 hour timer, child lock and a filter replacement indicator.

This purifier boasts Energy Star, CARB and ETL certifications as well. 

3. Bissell Air320 Smart Air Purifier

The Bissell air320 Purifier features a unique design that combines rustic wooden legs with a rather futuristic looking rectangular body, setting it apart from the typical box-based aesthetics that most purifiers are offering.

It uses a three stage filtering mechanism with a fabric pre-filter, a honeycomb-structured activated carbon filter and an H13 HEPA filter that can remove up to 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns in size including smoke, dust and pollen. 

This purifier has a CADR of 211 for smoke, and is perfect for rooms up to 320 sq. feet.

The device has an AHAM certification and can filter rooms of up to:

  • 1582 sq. ft. with 1 air change/hour,
  • 791 sq. ft. with 2 air changes/hour, 
  • 527 sq. ft. with 3 air changes/hour, and
  • 327 sq. ft. providing 4.8 air changes/hour.

It is Energy Star rated for energy efficiency and has five fan speeds, the lowest of which is whisper quiet that Bissell claims is as ‘quiet as a library’.

It provides additional features such as easy filter access, in-house cord storage, an intuitive control dial, an industrial grade fan and a real time PM 2.5 monitor, along with an impressive 5 year warranty.

Do HEPA Filters Remove Wildfire Smoke?

Almost all HEPA filters can remove wildfire smoke, but some HEPA filters are definitely more efficient than others in doing so.

There are different types of HEPA filters, the most common ones in air purifiers are:

  • HEPA (or general HEPA)
  • True HEPA
  • Medical-grade H13 HEPA
  • Medical-grade H14 HEPA

Most HEPA filters remove particles down to 0.3 microns in size, which is sufficient to remove a vast amount of pollutants including smoke particulates.

For maximum effectiveness, however, you will need HEPA filters that can remove particles down to 0.1 microns in size.

The medical-grade H13 and H14 HEPA filters can remove these tiny particles of smoke.

It’s also important to note that HEPA filters are only one part of the overall filtering mechanism.

If the fan in your air purifier is not strong enough to sufficiently deliver air to the HEPA filter, it will not be able to filter out smoke properly. 

So it’s important that you look not only at the HEPA filter but the air purifier device as a whole before making a purchase.

How An Air Purifier Can Get Rid Of A Smoke Smell

An air purifier can get rid of the smell of smoke only if it has a functioning activated carbon filter.

HEPA filters are designed to remove particles from air. No matter how good a HEPA filter is, therefore, it can’t remove odors because most smells travel as gases. 

For this, your air purifier needs to have an activated carbon component that can adsorb these odors. 

Many air purifiers only use a token amount of carbon whose effect is barely noticeable, so we recommend reviewing the product properly before purchasing.

Fortunately, the three purifiers that we recommend have efficient activated carbon filters to help remove the smell of smoke as well as its particles.

Plentiful Air also has a detailed guide on which air purifiers can remove mold available here.

 

Russell Singleton

Russell holds a Bachelor of Science (Environmental and Marine Geoscience) with Class I Honors. He is currently completing his doctorate in science and is passionate about all earth processes, especially isotope geochemistry and paleohydrology.

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