A pleated filter and a carbon filter on a stone plinth

How they work

HEPA, carbon, MERV, and the main kinds of air cleaners.

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A plain air purifier on a console in a sunlit sitting room

How air purifiers work

What they can and cannot do.

Close view of a white pleated filter

HEPA filters, explained

What the 99.97% means.

Three plain air purifier shapes on a pale floor

Types of air purifiers

Filters, ionizers, UV, ozone.

A dark filter block leaning against a shallow stone dish of black granules on grey linen

Activated carbon filters, explained

Gases, odors, and VOCs.

A furnace filter and an air purifier filter side by side

MERV vs HEPA filters

Two ways filters are rated.

Start with how they work

What they can and cannot do.

Read how air purifiers work

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