How to Best Place an Air Purifier

An air purifier can help improve the indoor air quality of your home, but its placement can greatly affect its efficiency in cleaning the surrounding air. So where should you put your air purifier?

Where in your home to put an air purifier

There is no one-size-fits-all answer as to the best placement for an air purifier. This depends on many factors, including the specifics of your air purifier, your home, and where you spend most of your time. Ideally, you should think about the placement of your air purifier when you buy it. This is because the number of air purifiers you purchase and the size of the area they can efficiently clean play a major role in where you place your air purifier.

At best, you have air purifiers for every room that you spend a lot of time in in your home. Then all you have to think about is where to place these air purifiers in their respective rooms. However, if you only have one air purifier, it’s best to place it in the room where you spend the most time. For most people, this is the bedroom as we spend almost a third of our lives asleep. But if you work from home, you can also put it in your home office since you would spend a lot of time there.

Air purifiers can also be moved between locations throughout the day. So an air purifier can stand in your bedroom while you sleep and in your home office or living room during the day. However, keep in mind that some air purifiers can be heavy or clunky to move. So if you think you’ll be moving the air purifier around a lot, it’s a good idea to invest in one that has wheels and handles.

Where to place in a room

Once you’ve chosen the room in which to place your air purifier, you need to decide exactly where in the room you want to place it. The best placement is usually in the center of the room, as this allows the air purifier to disperse the filtered air in all directions for the most efficient operation. But due to cable lengths and the way we arrange our furniture, that’s rarely possible.

So the next best placement is to place the air purifier in areas with the best airflow as this would help the cleaned air get everywhere quickly. For example, areas around a door or near windows are usually best for airflow. On the other hand, corners have the worst airflow, so avoid placing your air purifier in a corner.

You can also place it next to a pollution source such as mold growth, pet living quarters or air vents to efficiently and quickly catch any contamination before it spreads. In addition, it is recommended to place the air purifier three to five feet off the ground to take advantage of both horizontal and vertical air movement.

Finally, make sure there is enough space around the air purifier so that the inlet and outlet are not obstructed.

Can you run it 24/7?

Now that you’ve got your air purifier set up, you might be wondering if you should leave it running all the time or if a few hours is fine.

It is generally recommended that you leave your air purifier on continuously for the best experience. Because the air in your home is constantly changing. Whether it’s the outside air that’s bringing in pollutants or something in the house that’s releasing pollutants, it doesn’t take long for the filtered air to become polluted again. So leaving the air purifier running all the time is ideal and it doesn’t hurt as it’s usually designed to run 24/7.

But unless you want or can’t keep it running continuously, there are times when you can turn off an air purifier. For example, if you and your family go out for several hours or days and no one will be home, you can turn it off when you leave and turn it on again when you get back. Additionally, many air purifiers these days come with built-in smarts, so you can even turn them on an hour before you return to ensure filtered air greets you.

Additionally, if you have multiple air purifiers in your home, you can turn off all but those in the bedrooms when you sleep.

Some people leave their air purifiers running intermittently due to power consumption concerns. But unlike many other devices in our homes, air purifiers use relatively little electricity. For example, an air purifier consumes about 50W of power on average, which means that it uses at most 1.25kW of power in 24 hours. So even if you run it 24/7 for a full year, you end up using just 465kW of electricity, or $91 of electricity billed at 20 cents per kWh.

TIED TOGETHER: How much electricity do all your devices use?

Get the best performance

The location of your air purifier can significantly affect its performance. So it’s a good idea to spend some time finding the best spot before just stuffing it out of sight. Hopefully our recommendations will help you choose this place. Also, consider running it anytime for the best performance. Finally, if you are still deciding between air purifiers or thinking of upgrading, our best air purifier buying guide can help you.