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It would be hard not to notice that climate change is rapidly affecting our planet. It has led to more large-scale wildfires over the past few years, which are sending smoke across the world that pollutes the air we breathe. Just this past summer, we’ve had several days here in New England when the air was so thick with wildfire smoke from Canada that it was unhealthy to spend any time outdoors. The only thing to do on those days is to hide indoors and invest in the best air purifiers for wildfire smoke we can find, while inwardly cursing our political leaders for not doing more to combat climate change.
Breathing in wildfire smoke can pose significant health risks, especially to growing children and those with asthma and other health concerns. This means we have to learn to take precautions, such as using a good air purifier that filters out wildfire smoke whenever the air quality becomes toxic outdoors.
The Dangers of Wildfire Smoke
Wildfire smoke contains a mixture of harmful pollutants, including particulate matter, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), soot, and other toxic chemicals. These pollutants can pose serious hazards to our respiratory health.
Particulate matter, especially fine particles called PM2.5, is a major concern during wildfires. These tiny particles (2.5 microns in size or less) can get deep into our lungs and even enter our bloodstream.
Prolonged exposure to these tiny particles in wildfire smoke can trigger respiratory problems like asthma and bronchitis, while making existing respiratory conditions worse. It can cause shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, headaches, and irritation to eyes and throat.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are yet another hazardous component of wildfire smoke. These chemicals are released during combustion and can cause respiratory irritation, headaches, nausea, and long-term health issues. To reduce these risks, having a good air purifier that removes wildfire smoke is crucial.
How Air Purifiers Can Help Remove Wildfire Smoke
Air purifiers equipped with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are particularly effective at capturing fine particles, including PM2.5, and other pollutants out of the air. HEPA filters remove up to 99.97% of airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns, depending on the purifier, thereby providing much cleaner air in your home.
During periods of thick wildfire smoke, keep your windows and doors closed and create a clean indoor environment by running air purifiers in multiple rooms of your home (including one in each bedroom). It’s super important to choose air purifiers that are appropriately sized for each room and to regularly maintain and replace the filters as recommended by the manufacturers.
Investing in a good air purifier or multiple units for your house when wildfire smoke is prevalent outside can provide an important line of defense to protect your and your family’s health.
9 Best Air Purifiers for Wildfire Smoke Removal
Here are the best air purifiers you can find today that will remove wildfire smoke from the air in your home.
1. Levoit Mini Air Purifier ($50)
- For rooms up to 178 square feet
- Change filters every 6-8 months
- 25 decibels on low
The budget-minded Levoit mini air purifier is a good first step towards mitigating the levels of wildfire smoke in your home. Equipped with a high-efficiency three-stage particulate air (HEPA) filter, this little air purifier measures 6.5 x 6.5 x 10.4 and effectively captures fine particles out of the air, including PM2.5. It removes up to 99.97% of airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns.
The Levoit air purifier is very quiet, operating at noise levels as low as 25dB, making this a good air purifier to use while you sleep. It can clean the air in a room of 178 square feet twice per hour, so it would be ideal to use in a bedroom or office.
This little workhorse of an air purifier also has a unique feature — an “aroma pad” where you can add a few drops of essential oils to improve the aroma of your rooms on smoky days. That way you can add a few drops of lavender, take it easy, and pretend the world isn’t on fire (sorry for the doom and gloom, folks, but this is where I’m at these days with this climate change stuff!).
Levoit also has a larger version of this air purifier ($99) that removes smoke and other particles in large rooms and spaces up to 1,095 square feet. It operates as low as 24 decibels on its quietest mode, which should be quiet enough for even the lightest sleepers.
2. BlueAir (from $99)
- For rooms up to 430 square feet (the 511 model)
- Change filters every 6 months
- 24 decibels on low
With their chic design and quiet air purification, BlueAir makes some of the best air purifiers for wildfire smoke removal that also look great in any room in your home. These purifiers come in a variety of sizes and shapes and have a washable cloth pre-filter that captures larger particles.
Inside the washable outer filter, the BlueAir HEPA filters remove 99.97% of airborne particles down to 0.1 micron, which is ideal for smoke and smog during wildfire season. They’ll also remove 99.9% of pet dander, viruses, and dust while they’re at it.
I personally have been using these BlueAir purifiers on the first floor of my house for the last two years, and I have so far been very happy with them. I can attest that they remove smoke and other odors well. We’ve had a few extremely smoky days here in New England from the Canadian wildfires this summer, and our three BlueAir purifiers kept our indoor rooms smoke free as we cowered inside.
My only issue with this air purifier is that it is possible for kids to drop tiny things like Legos inside the open top vents, which doesn’t end so well. I’d recommend keeping it up off the floor for this very reason if you have little ones around!
BlueAir purifiers come in several sizes for small, medium, and large rooms, and some of the latest versions work with an app so you can control your air purifiers from your phone.
BlueAir recommends replacing their air purifier filters once every six months, which is notably twice as often as the Coway (below).
3. Winix 5500 ($123 on sale)
- For rooms up to 360 square feet
- Change filters once/year
- 27.8 decibels on low
Winix makes another highly effective air purifier for smoke removal, along with other airborne pollutants, and it’s budget friendly as well. Its HEPA filter captures 99.97% of airborne pollutants as small as 0.3 microns. This filter also comes with a washable carbon filter component that helps remove household odors.
The Winix 5500 has sensors that measure pollutants in the air and adjust its fan appropriately when it’s in “Auto Mode.” It also has a sleep mode for super quiet night-time operation of 27.8 decibels. I like that it automatically moves into Sleep Mode when in a darkened room, and then back into Auto Mode when it detects light.
The Winix is rated for a room size of 360 square feet, so it’s good for medium and large rooms (family rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, etc.), though it couldn’t take care of an entire apartment or first floor of a house alone.
One small strike against the Winix is that you cannot turn off the display, so it will always be on, even in a dark room. It’s also not as chic of a design as some of the others, but it’s still a highly effective air purifier for smoke removal.
4. Coway Airmega Air Purifier ($193)
- For rooms up to 246 square feet
- Change filters once/year
- 22 decibels on low
Coway makes some of the most effective and powerful home air purifiers (that’s why you’ll notice a few made it to our list). This one, known as the Airmega purifier, cleans spaces up to 246 square feet in just 3o minutes (this is pretty darn good, as fair as air purifiers for smoke removal go).
We have one of these in our bedroom, and another in our kids’ room, and I swear they help alleviate allergies. I notice a big difference in how congested I feel in the morning if I forget to turn my air purifier on overnight.
These purifiers use a combo of a pre-filter (which you can wash once it gets dusty), a deodorizing filter, and a HEPA filter that reduces 99.999% (yes, you read that right!) of .01-micron particles, including pollen. It also reduces 99% of VOCs.
This air purifier has a fan built into it, so you can really feel it working. It’s done a great job clearing up smoke when I used it by our wood stove in the winter. It has an “Auto” mode that turns the purifier speed up or down based on its reading of the air quality in the room.
I like that these air purifiers will indicate when the filters need replacement (once a year if you’re running them 24/7, so about half as often as the BlueAir purifiers above). They also come with a three-year limited warranty. Mine have both been running for three years at this point with no problems.
5. Coway Tower ($227)
- For rooms up to 330 square feet
- Change filters once/year
- 21 decibels on low
For larger spaces, the Coway Airmega Tower is designed to accommodate room sizes up to 330 sq. ft. This is another one of the best air purifiers for wildfire smoke, as (like the Airmega above) it offers a 4-stage filtration system that captures up to 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns, including pollen and other pollutants and allergens. It reduces VOCs and odors effectively, as well.
Like the Airmega, the Coway Tower has a washable pre-filter that catches larger dust particles and a pollution sensor that is constantly assessing the air quality in your home. It also features a timer and a filter change indicator light.
I appreciate that if this air purifier doesn’t detect any pollution for half an hour, the fan will automatically turn off and enter “Eco mode” to save energy. If you’re looking for an air purifier for smoke removal in an even larger space, read on about the Coway Airmega 400.
6. Coway Airmega 400 ($452)
- For rooms up to 1,560 square feet
- Change filters once/year
- 22 decibels on low
We are getting into more expensive air purifier territory here, but the Coway Airmega 400 is a serious air purifying workhorse. This little alien spaceship of an air purifier cleans spaces up to a whopping 1,560 feet in just 3o minutes. To put it another way, in a room of 780 square feet, it will go through four air changes per hour.
Like the other Coway Airmegas, this large air purifier has a 4-stage filtration system (pre-filter, deodorization filter, and HEPA filter). It reduces 99.999% of .01 micron sized particles and 99% of VOCs and odors.
The Airmega has a Smart Mode feature in which it adjusts its own fan speeds based on what it detects in the air of your room, making it more energy efficient because it’s not running at a higher speed than it needs to. It also has an Eco mode in which it turns off once the air is reading as clean from pollutants.
You can schedule this air purifier to work for 1, 4, or 8 hours and then turn itself off. It comes with a five-year limited warranty.
7. Levoit Pur-131 Large Room Air Purifier ($187)
- For rooms up to 720 square feet
- Change filters every six months
- 27 decibels on low
Levoit also makes some of the best air purifiers for wildfire smoke removal on the market. The Pur-131 air purifier has an activated carbon filter and a HEPA filter that together neutralize airborne pollutants and absorb bad odors and VOCs.
This filter captures at least 99.97% of airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns, which includes smoke particles, dust, pollen, and pet dander. Its noise level is on the lower end, at 27 decibels on its quietest “sleep” setting. It also has the option to turn off its LED display, in case you’re sensitive to light in your bedroom at night.
This filter is recommended for large rooms, so it will work well for spacious family rooms and playrooms. It can filter a room of 720 square feet twice in an hour when it’s on its highest setting. In rooms of 360 square feet, it will exchange the air 4.5 times in one hour, so it can filter most large spaces easily and effectively.
8. Honeywell HPA300 Hepa Air Purifier ($219)
- For rooms up to 2,250 square feet
- Change filters once/year
- 48 decibels on low
This extra large room air purifier from Honeywell is highly effective at removing smoke particulates from the air. It can clean a very large room of 2,250 feet in one hour, and provides 4.8 air exchanges per hour in a room sized at 465 square feet.
Honeywell uses a HEPA filter with three cleaning levels that remove airborne allergens and particles, including dust, pollen, pet dander, and smoke. It has also earned the Energy Star label, so it’s relatively efficient as it’s cleaning the air. This filter will keep your indoor air as clean and healthy as possible during wildfire season.
This air purifiers is noticeably louder than many of the others on this list, at 48 decibels on low and up around 70 decibels range on high.
9. Molekule Air Pro ($1,015)
- For rooms up to 1,000 square feet
- Change filters every six months
- 33 decibels on low
If you have a very large space (up to 1000 square feet), are looking for a smart air purifier to remove smoke by itself, and are willing to spend (quite a bit) more money, enter: the Molekule Air Pro.
The Molekule Air Pro’s HEPA filter captures 99.97% of particles and comes with an app that helps you track six different pollutant types as it works. It has two “Auto Protect” modes and a touchscreen interface.
The Molekule reacts to both chemicals like VOCs and particulates in the air. It will keep you informed of all the details you could want to know about your air quality, with daily and weekly air history statistics that go back as far as one month. If you’re a big numbers geek and can justify springing a thousand dollars for an air purifier, then this one may be for you.
Molekule also makes the smaller, less expensive Air Mini + ($359), which is equally effective as the Air Pro but for smaller spaces, up to a maximum of 250 square feet.
The Importance of a Good Air Purifier for Wildfire Smoke
The health concerns of breathing in thick wildfire smoke are numerous and concerning, especially if you have little ones or are prone to allergies or asthma. That’s why it is so important to find the best air purifier for wildfire smoke for your home, family, and pets.
Remember to change your air purifiers’ filters as often as the manufacturer recommends so they can continue to work effectively and efficiently to remove smoke and other particulates from the air in your home. Also be sure to clean any washable parts whenever you change out the filters or if you think your purifier isn’t working as well as it should.
Though we must let our representatives know that we want serious, fast, and consequential action to combat climate change, in the meantime we also need to protect ourselves and our families. Getting a few high-quality air purifiers for smoke removal in your home will help keep your indoor air clean so you can breathe easier during wildfire season.
