Best Air Purifier for Dust

A purifier clears the dust floating in your air, not the layer already settled on shelves and carpet, so size it to your room and keep vacuuming. If your room is up to 388 sq ft, get the Levoit Vital 200S. If it's bigger, up to 600 sq ft, get the Levoit Core 600S.

Home studies of air cleaners found significant reductions in PM2.5 and PM10, so yes, a purifier works on airborne dust. If dust is only one of several concerns, start with the best air purifier.

Best Air Purifier for Dust Small Room

For dust in a bedroom or other small room, get the Levoit Vital 200S, which covers rooms up to 388 sq ft.

That limit follows EPA's guidance of at least 4.8 air changes an hour for the recommended room size, and the Vital's maker rating covers 388 sq ft at that rate. Multiply your room's length by its width, then pick the line that matches what you see:

• Your bedroom or living room is up to 388 sq ft, roughly 19 by 20 ft: get the Levoit Vital 200S.
• Your room runs 400 to 600 sq ft, roughly 20 by 30 ft, or it opens into the next room: get the Levoit Core 600S.
• You want a pre-filter you can rinse: get the Coway Airmega Mighty MegaScan.
• A smell hangs in the room along with the dust, and you want heavy carbon filtration: get the Airpura R600.

For an open floor plan, measure the whole space, not the corner where the unit sits. If your ceiling is above 8 ft, choose a unit sized for a larger area. If you're between two sizes, take the bigger one.

If you live in California, portable cleaners must be certified by CARB, and the Vital 200S and Core 600S pages show CARB certification, so take one of those.

Skip the Blueair 311i Max: its ionization generates small amounts of ozone and can't be turned off.

Best Air Purifier for Dust Large Room

For a large room, get the Levoit Core 600S. EPA's chart says a room of 600 sq ft needs a CADR of 390 cfm, and the Core 600S meets that bar on both figures. Levoit rates it at 391 CFM and covers 606 sq ft at 4.8 air changes an hour. Air Purifier First puts it at 410 CFM.

Run it on the higher speeds in a big room, since more airflow filters more air. Keep it clear of curtains and furniture.

Best Air Purifier for Dust with Washable Filter

For a washable filter, get the Coway Airmega Mighty MegaScan. Its pre-filter washes clean and sits ahead of a carbon-plus-HEPA main filter, which you replace.

Its laser sensor detects PM1, PM2.5 and PM10. In a 728 cubic ft test room it cleared incense smoke in 23 minutes at Turbo, and it cleared test air faster than the original Coway Airmega Mighty, with less noise and less energy.

For dust and pets, the Levoit Vital 200S from the small-room pick fits too. Its washable pre-filter suits pet homes, and its main filter is HEPA at 99.97 percent of 0.3-micron particles. The vacuum still handles whatever has settled.

Best Air Purifier for Dust and Odor

For dust plus odor, get the Airpura R600. Carbon works best with a large amount of material, and the R600 carries an 18 lb activated carbon bed, 2 inches deep, alongside 40 sq ft of true HEPA for the dust. Its 560 CFM is airflow, not CADR. It runs at 28.1 dB on low at 6 ft and 62.3 dB on high.

CADR rates particles only, so it can't tell you how well a unit handles smell:

Judge a smell-first purchase by its carbon weight. Skip any unit sold on ozone, ionizers or plasma as an odor fix, because EPA advises avoiding devices that intentionally produce ozone, a lung irritant.