Much of the mountain west has to endure a smoke season that seems to grow by the year. Here are the best air filters to combat wildfire smoke.
For millions, “fire season” doesn’t bring to mind s’mores around a campfire, but rather the dark skies and itchy eyes associated with smoke from forest fires. Wildfires rage across the United States every summer, and the current drought conditions along the west coast are only exacerbating the issue.
We have seen increasingly smokey summers as a business based in Jackson, WY. On many days, it’s not safe to go outside.
How Air Purifiers Work for Wildfire Smoke
Indoor air purifiers work by pulling small particles from the air with a fan and trapping them into fine mesh filters. When you clean or toss the filter, you’re permanently removing these particles from your home. That’s a far better solution than dusting or vacuuming, which stirs up particles and can actually increase your chance of breathing them in.
Activated carbon filters solve a different problem. They draw in scents and gaseous pollutants like VOCs that tend to escape through HEPA filters. This makes them well suited for odor control, especially for smokers and pet owners.
Most of the air purifiers on our list use both HEPA and activated carbon filters to capture the full spectrum of airborne irritants in your home.
How to Choose an Air Purifier
Air purifiers vary in price, power, and performance features:
- Some can cover the entire main floor of your home
- Others just about handle a small home office
- You can pay more than $1,000 for some models
- Others – that are just as good, if not better – cost just $200 or so.
Deciding which model is best for you comes down to understanding:
- Your space
- The most pressing pollutants
- Likely frequency of use
- Need for auto modes, eco-modes, timers, etc.
- Noise tolerance
- Light tolerance
- Smart tech hook-up or in-built air quality monitoring.
Our top picks
One proven strategy to combat wildfire smoke health risks is to run an air purifier in your home. Here are our top picks.
IQAir HealthPro Plus
Highlights: A medical-grade air purifier that filters ultra-fine particles (smaller than 0.003 microns) to remove every trace of smoke from your home. Pricy, though.
- Medical grade air purifier
- Advanced clean air delivery rate
- Great for larger spaces
- Replacement filters are expensive and wasteful
- Machine is large and cumbersome to move
If you’ve no room for compromise on air quality, the AirIQ HealthPro Plus is the only air purifier worth considering. This medical-grade machine is packed with 53 sq. ft. of HyperHEPA filtration material. It covers a room up to 1,125 sq ft and removes particles 100% times smaller than the 0.3 microns other purifiers claim. This ultra-fine particle filtration system even removes viruses to keep you healthier in your own home.
Choose the HealthPro Plus (rather than the IQAir HealthPro or HealthPro Compact) for extra protection against wildfire smoke. It includes a specialized V5-Cell filter with 5 lbs of activated carbon for removing the slightest traces of gases and odors for completely clean air indoor air.
While this high-end filter may be overkill for everyday use, it could be a literal lifesaver during smoke season for anyone with respiratory sensitivities.
Testing the IQ Air during smoke season
We run an IQ Air MultiGas and Health Pro Plus model during smoke season in Wyoming. With the doors and windows closed, we have found the units to be an excellent tool for maintaining air quality when we can’t go outside.
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH
Highlights: Effective, compact, minimalist air purifier that’s quiet and non-intrusive.
- Impressive performance with 3-stage filtration including HEPA
- Quiet – Just 53.8 dB at its loudest! (24.4 dB on lowest setting)
- Can turn off lights
- Compact and unintrusive
- Very affordable (including filter replacements)
- Looks good! (It’s also available in black with a grill design)
- Timer settings, auto setting that adjusts to air quality, and Eco-mode
- Best for rooms up to 361 sq. ft
- Reduces up to 99. 97% of particles 0. 3 microns in the air
- Can tackle pollen, pollutants, allergens, VOCs and odors
- Has in-built sensor for air quality (with handy LED color coded lights)
- Filter lifetime indicator
- Washable pre-filter with indicator
- Very low energy consumption (77 W)
- Limited manufacturer’s warranty (1-year for internal/functional parts, 3-years for motor and electronic parts)
- Has an optional ionizer
- No child-lock (kids can accidentally turn on the ionizer, which isn’t great)
Ideal for wildfire smoke and whole home air purification, Coway’s impressive air filter is a good fit for nurseries too, as long as it’s out of reach of curious kids.
This filter is exceptionally powerful, but also very quiet, and you can turn off the lights too. And it goes and goes and goes, without the need for expensive and frequent filter replacements.
The Coway offers impressive performance:
- CADR: Dust 246 / Pollen 240 / Smoke 233 cb. ft.
- 4 Stage Filtration System
- Pre-filter
- Deodorization filter
- True HEPA filter
- Vital Ion (avoid using this, even though any ozone production is very, very low).
Paired with a lower upfront cost, the low cost of filter replacements (view on Amazon) makes the Coway Airmega a budget-friendly pick, without sacrificing performance. I also really like that the in-built sensor means the filter will turn off the fan and set itself to Eco-mode if it doesn’t detect pollution for 30 minutes. Genius!
IQAir MultiGas GC Air Purifier
Highlights: One of the best air purifiers on the market, capable of assisting with VOCs, wood smoke, tobacco smoke, exhaust fumes, smog, and more.
- Ozone free
- Wheels make it easy to roll across a room
- Geared towards VOCs, smoke, and air pollutants
- Can filter indoor air pollution from gas stoves
- Big unit is difficult to move up and down stairs
- Not so gentle handling can dislodge internal parts and lead to rattling
- Expensive
- Wasteful filter changes
If you’re mostly concerned about VOCs, wood smoke, tobacco smoke, exhaust fumes, or smog, the IQAir MultiGas GC is for you. This one contains a high-efficiency micro particle pre-filter with 32 sq. ft. of HEPA H11 Class material, providing particle removal down to 0.003 microns (95%). It also features a filter containing 12 lbs. of granular activated carbon and impregnated alumina.
And, just to really seal the deal, the post-filtration sleeves contain 5.4 sq. ft. of electrostatically charged fibers to capture fine dust, making it a great option if you’re a woodworker.
This air filter is recommended for rooms of up to 285 sq. ft. for premium gas filtration or up to 1,125 sq. ft. for general-purpose gas filtration.
Our team lives in urban environments and mountain towns that are prone to smoke, which caused us to choose the IQ Air Multigas.
The Multigas has also proven useful while living in a home with a gas stove, which massively impacts indoor air quality.
While the model itself is great, it does require replacing the canisters every 9-10 months, which feels very wasteful.
Given that the canisters have a charcoal substrate, we wonder if there’s scope for IQ Air to offer substrate replacements, allowing users to re-use the canister. This would dramatically reduce plastic waste with this product.
Levoit MetaAir
Highlights: Coverage range of 1,000 ft.-plus – can filter an entire story of an average-sized home within 30 minutes. Affordable and compact too!
- Very compact
- Affordable
- Effective air purification
- Energy Star certified
- Auto-mode adjusts as air quality changes
- Quiet
- Can turn off LED lights!
- Not as energy efficient as the BlueAir models
Although it only takes up 12 inches of floor space, the Levoit MetaAir will purify a large portion of the air in your home quickly. It’s rated to remove 99.97% of 0.3-micron particles throughout a room as large as 1076 feet in just 30 minutes—making it large enough to handle multiple rooms at once.
The MetaAir’s auto-mode takes the guesswork out of messing with sets for you by detecting the concentration of airborne contaminants around you and adjusting the fan speed accordingly. Or, choose from the three pre-set fan speeds based on whether you’re breathing in more forest fire smoke or pollen than average.
Noise-wise, it rates at just 25dB at its lowest setting to ensure it won’t disturb you. Bonus: you can turn off the LED light for less disturbance as you sleep.
BlueAir Blue Pure 511
Highlights: Stylish, effective, lightweight, very affordable, and super quiet air filter.
- Compact and inconspicuous (also looks chic!)
- Effective performance for such a small filter
- Very quiet
- Lights automatically go out
- Lightweight enough to put on a shelf (4 lb.)
- Energy efficient and Energy Star qualified (just 3.5 w)
- Very affordable (under $100!)
- Washable pre-filters available in different colors
- Not as effective as the Coway or IQ Air in third-party testing
- Best for smaller spaces of 180 sq. ft. or so (though can handle up to 432 sq. ft.)
- Replacement filters are expensive
- No child lock (and they’ll love playing with the single tap button)
The Blueair Blue Pure 511 is a top choice for smaller spaces such as the nursery, home office, or even a dorm room. It packs a punch for its small size and low noise level, clearing at least 99.97% of airborne particles (to 0.1 microns).
Even on high, this filter is just 49 dB. On its quietest setting, it’s just 24 dB.
Honeywell HPA300 Air Purifier
Highlights: A workhorse in regular conditions, with a turbo mode for extra relief on super smoky days.
- Effective filtration
- 465 sq. ft. capacity
- Three power settings
- Auto-off timers
- Turbo feature for quick clearance of smoke
- Energy Star qualified
- Quite heavy (21 lbs.)
- Loud – 62 decibels on its highest setting, 53 decibels on medium
- Large and intrusive – 2 ft. tall and 18-inches wide
This Energy Star-qualified air purification system will capture up to 99.97% of airborne particles in your home. It has a 465-square-foot capacity and works at a rate of 4.8 air changes per hour. You can choose from three power settings (low, medium, high) and auto-off timers set for two, four, or eight hours. For extra-quick cleans, the purifier includes a “turbo” feature.
The purifier’s pre-filter has odor-reducing properties to eliminate smoke and other smells from your home. A reset light on the front lets you know when it’s time to be replaced (every three months on average).
BlueAir Blue Pure 211+ Air Purifier
Highlights: Quiet running mode and impressive performance. 60-day trial available!
- Covers 540 sq. ft.
- Effective HEPA filtering
- Fairly light (13 lbs.)
- Quiet and chic
- Easy single-tap buttons
- Washable fabric pre-filter
- 60-day in-home trial
- Expensive filter replacements
- Lights don’t turn off
- No child-lock (expect toddlers to play with this, a lot)
The Blueair Blue Pure 211+ claims to remove up to 99 percent of small particles from wildfire smoke within an hour of running. It processes the air within a 540 ft² room at 4.8 air changes per hour (a rate of once every 12.5 minutes) to lower the particle levels long-term and maintain a comfortable living environment.
This 13-lb device boasts a simple interface—just tap the touch-sensitive button on the front to set it to low, medium, high, or off. This makes it the ideal choice for those who rather not mess with complicated settings on yet another home appliance.
The purifier utilizes a combination of electrostatic and mechanical filtration known as HEPASilent™, which uses less dense filters for a quieter, more energy-efficient purification process. A fabric prefilter includes activated carbon to remove odors from pets, cooking, and smoke.
Another buyer’s incentive: Blueair’s 60-day in-home trial period ensures you can experiment with this purifier for weeks before deciding whether to keep it.
The 211+ is BlueAir’s older model, and is more affordable than its successor, the 211i Max, which we’ve tested and reviewed.
Levoit Core 300 True
Highlights: Small in stature, but great performance. Can switch out the filters to target specific pollutants.
- Lightweight but heavyweight performance
- Covers 219 sq. ft.
- Very quiet
- Specific wildfire smoke filter available
- Built-in timer function
- Sleep mode
- Not as energy efficient as the equivalent BlueAir 511
Don’t let the small size of this air purifier fool you—while the Levoit Core 300 weighs under nine pounds, it effectively traps up to 99.97% of airborne particles throughout 219 square feet of living space, so you’re dealing with less fine dust, pollen, and pet dander.
The QuietKEAP technology keeps decibel levels under 24dB for unobtrusive running all day long. The high-efficiency activated carbon filters neutralize the smell and negative effects from smoke, VOCs, and other indoor fumes, as well as cooking smells and pet odors. It’s also possible to choose specialty filters to target certain pollutants, including a Toxin Absorber Filter for wildfire smoke and other models for pet odors and dander.
You can set the run time to 2-8 hours with the built-in timer, and the Sleep Mode lets it run without keeping you up.
Germ Guardian AC4852 Air Purifier
Highlights: Low-cost option for effective filtering in small spaces.
- Budget-friendly
- Slim design
- Effective 4-stage filtration
- Ultra-quiet mode
- Three speeds
- Best for spaces up to 153 sq. ft. only
- Need to replace filters every 6-8 months
For those looking for a budget-friendly option, the Germ Guardian air purifier is hard to beat. This 4-in-1 air purifier includes a HEPA filter, UV-C sanitizer light, and charcoal filter for odor reduction within its slim 22-inch base—all for less than $100. It’s rated to capture up to 99.97% of air pollutants, including allergens as small as .3 microns.
However, its low price tag comes with some range limitations, as the Germ Guardian works best in rooms only up to 153 square feet, meaning you may need multiple units to cover entire floors of your home.
The device itself runs at three speeds, including an ultra-quiet mode as its lowest setting. You’ll need to replace the unit’s single filter every 6-8 months.
Dyson Pure Cool Link TP02
Highlights: WiFi connected air purifier lets you track performance and control the filter on a smartphone or smart device.
- Built-in air quality monitoring
- Can control unit remotely or using Alexa, etc.
- Effective filtration
- Once-a-year filter replacements (with alerts)
- Night mode
- Also works as a fan
- Many better performing models also offer smart connectivity these days
- Expensive
Take your smart home to the next level with this WiFi-enabled air purifier from Dyson. This device automatically monitors your home’s air quality to react in real time to purify it. Use the Dyson Link app to track your indoor air quality and see live air quality metrics for your space while controlling the device remotely when you want to enhance the clean. You can also link it to Amazon Echo for voice control.
It works to remove up to 99.97% of pollutants and allergens with a 360-degree vacuum-sealed glass HEPA filter that contains a layer of activated charcoal for odor removal. Use it for twelve hours a day, and you’ll still only need to replace the filter once per year—the app will let you know when it’s time to switch one out.
The Dyson Pure Cool Link TP02 includes a night-time mode where it operates on its quietest setting and dims the LED display so as not to disturb light sleepers. Best of all, this purifier performs double duty in the summer by acting as a bladeless fan to keep you cool.
Six Ways to Protect Against Wildfire Smoke
Filtering your indoor air with a highly rated air purifier is just one piece of the puzzle of protecting yourself from wildfire smoke. Follow these other suggestions to keep your living space as smoke-free as possible. Combined, they’ll help your family keep breathing well.
- Only use vacuums with HEPA filters to trap and remove smoke particles. Other vacuums may make the problem worse by tossing particles into the air where you’re likely to breathe them in.
- When smoke worsens, keep all exterior doors and windows tightly sealed with weather stripping or masking tape. Don’t forget the mail slot or the chimney flue for the fireplace!
- Install a high-efficiency filter (MERV 13 and above) in your central heating or air conditioning system. Run their fans frequently to keep the air circulating.
- If you’re using a window air conditioner, close the outdoor air damper and seal any gaps between the unit and the window to prevent smoke particles from settling in.
- Wear safety goggles and a NIOSH-approved face mask to block particles from irritating your eyes, nose, and lungs whenever you leave the house. Note: Cloth masks may not adequately filter out smoke particles.
Finally, check if your laundry room and bathrooms have ventilation ducts that lead outside. If they do, keep the doors to these rooms shut and consider adding extra air filtration where possible.
Hmmmm… most of these brands are good but not great. IQAir is superb and falls it to the great list. This list is missing Austin Air. Alen Air is better than most of these listed. If you want to learn about the best of the best air purifiers, talk to those recovering from toxic mold. Air quality becomes absolutely necessary for our recovery and we become super sensitive. Many of us in recovery also deal with chemical sensitivity, and to the extreme, multiple chemical sensitivity. Those with chemical sensitivity can have issues with smoke as well as many other things. Before this comes off as harsh, this list isn’t horrible but just not the best of the best if that makes sense.