There’s a lot to consider when buying an air purifier: Does it match your room size? What types of filters does it use? Is it quiet? Then you’ll need to figure out where to put it once it gets home. While an air purifier’s location in a room might seem trivial, it is far more important than many realize. Set the device down over there, and it may not deliver the desired results. Tuck it behind here, and it’s likely the same outcome. So, where should you put your air purifier to get the most out of it?
This guide reveals the top spots for air purifiers and some practical placement guidelines to maximize the benefits.
Your air purifier is meant to clean and refresh the air you breathe. If it isn’t doing that, the problem might not be the device itself but where you put it. Just like you’d aim a fan toward the area you want the most cooling, you must strategically place your air purifier to produce the cleanest, freshest air possible.
It makes sense because air purifiers create an “air cone effect” as they pull in tainted air from the wider surroundings and push filtered air back into the room in a similar pattern. Anything in your home that impedes this natural airflow pattern, such as a wall or furniture, hinders the device’s ability to clean and circulate the air effectively. Its performance may also suffer if it is too far from your main occupancy zone (the area where you spend the most time).
As it turns out, putting your air purifier in the correct household location can unlock an epic performance boost. A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene found that placing medium-sized portable air purifiers (PACs) 12 inches from a worker’s breathing zone in an office reduced particle concentrations by 35% more than sitting them down behind the employee’s workstation.
Similar research conducted in a classroom setting garnered even more remarkable results. Amazingly, students’ airborne infection risk plummeted 94.5% after placing an air purifier 3 meters from an infected person. Moving the purifier 8 meters away reduced protection to 70.3%, showing quite a strong correlation between the purifier’s distance from the pollution source and its coverage and efficiency.
For optimal results, the researchers suggest placing an air purifier at the center of the room when the infector (or, more broadly, the pollution source) is unknown, as it is more likely to benefit the most occupants.
Now you know why optimal air purifier placement matters, where exactly do you put it? Read on to discover the best spots in your home for an air purifier based on the room in which you desire to use it.
Using an air purifier in your bedroom is the ultimate sleep hack. Cleaner air means fewer irritants and allergens to trigger reactions that could mess with your sleep. One caveat, though: your bedroom air purifier should be placed on a nightstand, dresser, desk, or table 3 to 5 feet away from your bed to reap this benefit. This setup ensures the air around your “sleep breathing zone” is filtered first to reduce the concentration of pollutants you inhale while resting. People with asthma, allergies, and other respiratory ailments can benefit greatly from this.
For even deeper, more restful sleep, position the purifier so it isn’t blowing at you. All that excess air may dry your skin and eyes and cause discomfort, which you do not want when trying to sleep. If the device is too noisy to sleep with, try moving it further away or enabling “Sleep Mode” to quiet the fans and dim the lights if it has that feature.
The living room is where you and your household members hang out, have fun, and occasionally entertain guests, and for precisely that reason, you want the air to be as clean and fresh as possible. Using an air purifier is one of the simplest ways to achieve this, but be sure to place it at a central location where it can clean the air more effectively and distribute it more evenly to all occupants in the room. Better yet, put it on a table or other dry flat surface a few feet off the ground so it circulates air better and kids and pets can’t knock it over.
Another golden placement rule for living room air purifiers is to set them between the occupants and the most likely pollution source. This could be near a kitchen to tackle cooking fumes and odors or close to a pet bed to neutralize not-so-pleasant smells and capture particulates like pet hair, dander, and dust.
The kitchen is one of the trickiest rooms to place an air purifier. You want the purifier to combat cooking smells and other lingering kitchen odors before they fumigate your entire home or apartment, but you also want to prevent heat, steam, or grease from damaging the unit. To feed two birds with one worm, so to speak, place the air purifier on a countertop near the stove or cooking area (but not right next to it) with plenty of space around the device. If you’re short on counter space, your kitchen island or a nearby shelf could also work if you have one.
Equally essential is placing the purifier away from your kitchen fan, like the one under your microwave or a more powerful range hood. These ventilation sources pull air up and out of the room, whereas air purifiers create circulation patterns by taking in polluted air and releasing clean air. As you can imagine, placing them too closely together can create competing airflows that can pull away the clean air before it circulates and disrupt each other’s operation.
Setting up an air purifier in your baby’s room or nursery requires careful consideration to ensure a clean and comfortable environment for your little one. Ideally, the purifier should be placed 6 to 10 feet from the crib or bassinet on a flat, sturdy surface like a dresser or bookshelf, around 5 feet high. This position keeps the unit close enough to clean the air where your baby breathes, but such that those curious little hands can’t reach it. Also, avoid aiming purifiers with side exhaust vents directly toward the baby, as the draft could make them cold and dehydrated and disturb their peaceful sleep. Position the unit so it still cleans the air but doesn’t cause discomfort for the baby.
Basement air typically isn’t the cleanest since the room sits slightly underground and has very little air flowing through it. All that built-up damp air can create a hub for mold and mildew. Therefore, place your purifier in the center of the largest space in your basement to help mix the air, limit stagnation, and hopefully reduce musty smells. For the same reason, the device should be positioned centrally in other household areas with poor ventilation, such as storage spaces, attics, laundry rooms, or garages.
You might also consider adding a dehumidifier to the mix to control moisture levels and prevent mold growth. If mold has already taken hold, you must address it ASAP; otherwise, it will persist even with an air purifier.
There are several placement tips and tricks you should follow to squeeze even more value out of your air purifier. Here are a few of them:
The best place to put an air purifier is near sources of smells and pollutants. Perhaps your asthma or allergy symptoms flare up more frequently in that area, it gathers more dust, or a scent is more potent. This could be near a window or door if you live in a polluted city, your pet’s hangout spot, or the go-to areas for possible smokers in the household. No one knows your home as well as you do, so focus on the areas you suspect are causing the pollution.
Running an air purifier in a corner or tight space is an absolute no-no. Airflow is usually the lowest in those regions, which could impede the device from purifying the air as it should. The fewer physical obstacles near its vents, the better it performs. So, place the purifier at least a foot (12 inches) from walls, doors, or furniture, and keep its intake and exhaust vents clear. This way, the purifier can pull air from all directions and circulate it more effectively.
Like many other electronic appliances, air purifiers may get hot after running for some time. Keeping them beside heating vents, radiators, or in direct sunlight for sustained periods can cause them to overheat and become damaged. Similarly, air purifiers placed in spaces with high humidity, such as basements, attics, or bathrooms, will require more energy to generate airflow and more frequent filter changes due to the excess moisture brought into the unit. Using a dehumidifier is a great way to circumvent this.
Your air purifier will most likely work better when placed around the same height as your breathing zone. Therefore, elevate it about 4-5 feet off the ground in rooms where you mainly stand, and 2-3 feet off the ground in rooms where you primarily sit or sleep.
Some stereos, microwaves, televisions, and other electronics run on similar wavelengths to air purifiers and hence, could disrupt how they all operate. Even your wireless router could experience issues. Keep the purifier at least six feet from electronic devices in the room to prevent this issue.
Proper placement is key to harnessing the full benefits of your air purifier. Following the tips in this guide ensures the device cleans and distributes your air for maximum coverage and comfort, whether in your bedroom, living room, or basement.
If you’re looking for an advanced air purification solution for your home or office, our Smart HEPA Air Purifier is an excellent choice. It uses state-of-the-art filtration technologies, including HEPA and activated carbon filters, to clear your air of harmful particles, gases, and odors. Plus, its large coverage area (up to 1,900 square feet), whisper-quiet sleep mode, automatic function, and smart app controls make it a great fit for most rooms.
Contact TrustedAir today if you have any questions or concerns, and visit our blog to read more informative and interesting air quality articles.
Here, you can find answers to the top questions about proper air purifier placement.
Yes, it’s okay to run an air purifier while you sleep. In fact, doing so could help you sleep better. However, you’ll want to choose a low-noise system like TrustedAir’s Smart HEPA Air Purifier, which runs quieter than a whisper at only 26 dB in sleep mode to help you sleep more soundly.
The living room is where you, your family, and guests spend the most time together (and where everyone’s sensitivities collide), so it’s probably the best room to put an air purifier to keep the air clean and everyone comfy.
In most cases, you shouldn’t. Unless it’s a larger unit designed for floor placement, most portable air purifiers should be placed on a stable, elevated surface that can hold the device’s weight.
A single air purifier with a high-enough CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) can work for multiple rooms, as long as the door for each room remains open to allow proper air circulation. Open-concept homes don’t have this limitation.
