September 01, 2021

The Best Air Purifiers for Wildfire Smoke—Whatever Your Budget

IN AUGUST 2020, when Jeff Deshon peered out the windows of his Fairfield, Calif., home, the sky was so sickly orange “it looked like an apocalypse,” he said, with smoke spouting from the LNU Lightning Complex Fires just 2 miles away. And the acrid air had bullied its way inside.

Mr. Deshon quickly took action, buying three Molekule air purifiers that September, then a fourth the next month. The odor improved throughout the home he shares with his wife, especially in their bedroom, where they installed a purifier and kept the door clamped shut.

Home air purifiers, designed to be easily plugged into a standard outlet to cleanse contained indoor atmospheres with just a whisper of white noise, do more than improve odors. They work as a way to clear haze and eradicate some of the worst pollutants from wildfire smoke, said Dr. Mary Prunicki, director of air pollution and health research at Stanford University’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research. To really help vanquish the effects of smoke, Ms. Prunicki recommended seeking out an air purifier with a HEPA filter—an acronym for high-efficiency particulate air. Here, four new-guard purifiers to satisfy a range of tastes and needs. Read rest here