Best Air Purifier for Wildfire Smoke

Wildfires and the smoke that is produced from these natural disasters can prevail over an entire area – including indoor and outdoor air spaces close to the scene of the forest fire. The smoke from the wildfire, including the ash that is produced from the smoke, will circulate for weeks on end after the containment of the wildfire smoke and cause potential health issues to those who are exposed to this contaminated smoky air. Wildfire smoke has the potential to drastically impact the air quality of the outdoor air, as well as the indoor air that it creeps into through open windows, doors, or recirculated air conditioning units that sweep the contaminated smoky air into the indoor environment.

We are going to discuss the effects of wildfire smoke on indoor air quality and determine what is the best air purifier for wildfire smoke removal inside a home or other personal indoor environment.

Do Air Purifiers Work for Wildfire Smoke?

Smoke that is created from a wildfire is made up of a mix of complex gases and fine particles that are produced from wood and other organic material that was burned in the fire. During and even after a fire, hundreds and thousands of chemicals will be found in the smoke including corrosive gases, hydrocarbons, fats and oils, resins and waxes, and particulate matter. The long-term risks to public health from wildfire smoke are the fine particulate matter that is found in high quantities within the smoke that is flooding into the air space including into indoor environments like a home.

Air purifiers have become a useful device for cleaning the air of indoor environments from pollutants of all kinds. Air purifiers are devices that are designed to filter out and clean the indoor air of pollutants such as noxious odors, chemicals, particulates and even microorganisms (like mold spores, bacteria, and viruses). Certain air purifiers are highly effective at removing and eliminating those pollutants produced from wildfire smoke, including the small particulate matter and corrosive gases, odors from the air.

How to Choose an Air Purifier for Smoke Removal

The selection process of an air purifier for wildfire smoke removal can be somewhat of a difficult task – as air purifiers are all designed differently and work inversely from other purifiers depending on the pollutants at hand in the air. When it comes to air purifiers, there are a few select types that are the most popular ones purchased by consumers, these air purifiers include ozone, ionizers, carbon, and HEPA air purifiers. Which of these types of air purifier technologies is the best for the removal of pollutants produced from wildfire smoke? Find out down below!

• Ozone: An ozone generator machine is a device that produce ozone into the air (three atoms of oxygen) that is designed to detach the third atom from the molecule into the air in an attempt to attach this oxygen molecule onto other substances found in the air. Ozone, however, whether in its pure form or mixed with other chemicals can be harmful to human health when inhaled into the body – as the body is only designed to inhale O2 molecules, not O3 molecules.
• Ionizer: An electronic air cleaner like Ionizer air purifiers use a small electrically charged negative ion that is produced into the air to collect particles from the air by pulling them through the device and attaching the ion to the pollutant. These air purifiers, however, are known to produce small amounts of ozone into the air that can be damaging to the human body and work conversely against protecting human health from pollutants and dangerous chemicals in the air.
• Carbon: Activated carbon air filters are one of the most popular air purifier technology used for wildfire smoke removal from the air. A carbon air filter works by increased surface media that is able to capture and hold pollutants within this large surface area. These filters fill by weight, and when it reaches maximum capacity the filter will begin to re-release pollutants back into the air that were previously captured, re-contaminating the air space once again.
• EnviroKlenz: The EnviroKlenz technology is unlike any other air purifier technology, the patented earth mineral technology of EnviroKlenz provides toxic and noxious chemical elimination capabilities in a system that also filters particulate matter down to 0.3 microns in size. The EnviroKlenz Mobile Air System uses metal oxides, allowing a variety of chemical pathways to interact and breakdown the various toxic and noxious compounds in the air from wildfire smoke.