Smoke, like dust and pollen, is a term to describe a collection of particles. Particles which are termed to be smoke are materials created as part of combustion or pyrolysis – fire and heat. These particles are solid materials which did not burn completely – when enough of it is produced it becomes visible and it is this visible gas we call smoke. The animal allergies are the worst as the symptoms are actually life-threatening. But if I simply avoid animals there’s no problem. If I go to someone’s home who has pets, I need to remember to take antihistamines beforehand and to take my inhaler with me. So this allergy is reasonably easy to control. It may be at the pricier end of the scale, but the AEG AX7 must be the best-looking air purifier on the market. Ideal for living rooms, its five-stage purification system ensures the capture of up to 99.9% of all microscopic particles and bacteria and can clean the air in 60m 2 room in as little as seven minutes, while making no more noise than light rain. At just 18dB on its lowest setting, the Blue 3210 is technically quieter than a whisper. It’s certainly the quietest we tested as well as one of the most efficient, using about as much energy as an LED lightbulb.

It’s as a purifier that we’re recommending it here. The Purifier Cool Autoreact offers an extremely high level of filtration, with a fully-sealed H13 HEPA system rated to remove 99.95 percent of particles down to 0.1 microns and a carbon filter to remove odours, harmful gases and VOCs (volatile organic compounds – see FAQ section below). A Hoover Air Purifier pulls in the ambient air and traps small particles within its three filters before blowing out purified air. A Swiss manufacturer we’d not come across before, Stadler Form launched their first product, the odd-looking Fred humidifier, in 1998 and now produce high-quality fans, heaters, dehumidifiers and air purifiers. Our favourite is this one, Roger Little (there’s also a Roger Big for 104m 2 rooms and plain old Roger for 66m 2 rooms). Considering an average UK living room of 20m2 (with a height of 2.4m), based on LABC UK data and a CADR of 330.

An air purifier works best when it is on all-day long in pollen mode. However, the air purifier will have to work harder if new pollen is being brought into the house constantly. Therefore, to make best use of your new air purifier follow these tips: Air purifiers use different kinds of filters to do their job – usually, a large, washable, reusable pre-filter to collect bigger particles, plus a finer filter, which is usually a disposable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. The length of time this lasts varies, but on average expect it to need replacing every six months (or fewer if you use the machine less). It’s the HEPA filter that catches all the tiny airborne nasties, and these are capable of catching particles as small as 0.3 microns, which is more than three times smaller than a cigarette smoke particle.

Otherwise, this has the same advantages as the smaller version: effective three-stage filtering, a built-in humidifying function and Sharp’s Plasmacluster ion technology, which – while it sounds like a weapon from a Halo game – works to kill odours, bacteria and mould. While the Vax PureAir 300 gives you even more airflow and covers larger rooms for less, the Sharp hits a sweet spot for price, performance and features, making it a great mid-range purifier for mid-sized rooms. Some purifiers have a built-in timer. This can be really useful if you want your machine to come on a few hours before you get home, or if you want to turn it off automatically at night. It’s speed makes it ideal for living rooms and bedrooms and it can be wall-hung to save space,” says Matt Thomas of John Lewis. This is because, rather than drawing in air from behind, it draws it from a ring around its front surface. There is also a ring of coloured light all round it, which changes from green to red according to the air quality levels. In smart mode it adjusts its power accordingly.The best air purifiers for larger rooms 1. Hoover H-Purifier 500: Best quiet purifier for larger rooms

You’re more likely to know Acer for its PCs, laptops or monitors, but its foray into air purifiers shows a lot of promise. The Pro P2 is a mid-sized tower – just under 58cm tall – with the top accommodating the fan’s grille, the minimal controls, and a 1.5in square OLED colour screen. The latter gives you the current PM2.5 reading, plus an at-a-glance air quality indicator, with the text turning from green through amber to magenta as it worsens. As you’d expect from something carrying the Hoover logo, this appliance seems to be pretty good at purifying air, based on our experience with it over a few weeks. It’s also very capable at covering sizeable areas too, with suitability for rooms up to 100m2, which will suit most household needs we think. An air purifier alone won’t rid your house of all smoke as some particles may be too small, however it can significantly reduce the amount and it will continually monitor the air quality and increase the air purification speed as it detects more smoke. Here are some tips on how to keep on top of it all with your new Hoover air purifier:We’re not sure how well that works in practice, but the UA-HD40U-L is impressively efficient at filtering out impurities and very quiet at its automatic and low-power settings. A strip on the top turns from red to orange to green to indicate the current air quality, and there’s a humidity readout so you can monitor humidity levels, although both this and the “ion shower” feature can be turned off if you just want air purification. Well designed and easy to use, this is a great air purifier for smaller rooms. The first thing you notice is that the multi-award winning briiv is unlike anything else in the air purifier market. With it’s Scandi-looks and natural filters, it looks like miniature greenhouse. But it could just be the future of indoor air purification. In terms of what to expect on the noise front then, if you’re running it at the standard mode, then Hoover’s official figures are 50dBA. Move it into the Sleep mode though and this goes down to 21dBA, which isn’t bad at all if you’re going to need to keep the unit running at night. At first, I was disappointed to see that our air quality is mostly very good. The levels remained consistently green and there weren’t many occasions when the device was triggered and activated. Can air purifiers remove dust?