man swiping finger across dusty surface

Do you have a dust mite allergy that affects your day to day? Or are you just tired of dust collecting in your home and want it to stay cleaner? It’s so frustrating cleaning the house and looking through the window’s light to see that there’s still dust floating around the air. Whether the dust bothers your health or peace of mind, you’re probably looking for any way to help alleviate the build up. So, do air purifiers help with dust that’s taunting you? We’ve done all the work to help you find the answers for a happy and healthy home for your family.

If you are, then you landed on the right page.

Do Air Purifiers Help With Dust Build Up and Dust Mites?

In short, yes, an air purifier can remove dust and reduce dust mites. To be effective against dust the air purifier must have a HEPA filter. This filter removes microscopic particles that form dust before it has time to accumulate. The less dust there is, the fewer dust mites you’ll have to contend with.

If this is what you’re looking for, you can find our review of the best dust air purifiers here.

What is Dust?

Dust is so much more than just dirt, and it’s one of the most common irritants on the planet. To make matters more complicated, most dust particles are microscopic. The tiny size of dust makes it very hard to get rid of by regular dusting or vacuuming. It also makes it easy for you to stir these particles up when you clean your house.

Dust particles are made up of dozens of different things. Because of this, dust won’t ever truly go away no matter how much you try to do a deep clean. Common sources of dust include pet dander, hair fibers, fabric fibers, carpet dust fibers, construction materials, human skin, outdoor elements, and much more.

How Do Air Purifiers Work?

Simply put, an air purifier is designed to take the dusty air and turn it into air that is clean and healthy for you to breathe.

Inside the best home air purifier units, you’ll find an electric fan that draws air into the unit and then forces the dirty air toward a filtration system as a way to clean it. There are two main layers of this filtration system that this air will pass through. The first filter layer that the dust hits contains a larger more coarse material that traps the bigger dust particles, called a pre-filter air filter. Anything that is small enough to slip through this pre-filter goes to the second part of the system, the HEPA filter.

HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air, and this is a very dense layer of material that traps even tiny dust particles and keeps them out of the air you breathe. An air purifier with a HEPA filter can filter out and trap up to 99.97% of dust particles. That’s why it’s considered the most best air filter for allergies. To keep your air purifier operating at peak performance you’ll need to change or clean these filters every couple of months unless you buy an air purifier with a washable or permanent filter.

The best air purifier with reusable filter can work to remove dust particles from the air, but it’s not going to be as efficient as a device with a replaceable True HEPA filter. That’s because the filter material is not as dense to trap microscopic pollutants. The difference in efficiency for a reusable HEPA filter is around capturing dust particles as small as 2 to 5 microns in size versus 0.3 microns for a replaceable HEPA filter.

Dust mites feed on the dust particles that float around your home. If you reduce the number of dust particles indoors, the dust mites will have less to feed on. You should start to notice fewer and fewer dust mites around your home the longer you use your air purifier and keep the filtration system clean. This is great news for anyone with a dust mite allergy or other respiratory issues like asthma and COPD.

Our Top Pick: VEVA 8000

do air purifiers help with smell

The VEVA 8000 air purifier is our top pick for a reason.

Its true HEPA filter captures tiny particles and the premium pre-carbon filter absorbs smells. It will remove all household odors such as smoking, cooking and pet smells, leaving your indoor air fresh and clean.

Better yet, the VEVA 8000 is user friendly to operate and periodically replace the filters. It also comes with suction cups and a detachable base so you can put it on your shelf for additional storage. It even captures up to 325 square feet.

The VEVA 8000 consistently gets high marks due to its value — it’s a high-quality air purifier at a budget-friendly price point.

View VEVA 8000 on Amazon

 

Bottom Line

There are a lot of reasons that dust can accumulate in a space and whether you have an allergy or not, keeping the air clean is the healthiest option for you and your family. An air purifier is the best way to ensure that, and there are just a couple things to remember:

  • Dust particles are one of the most common things on the planet, and dust mites eat dust particles.
  • Dust is extremely hard to get rid of via cleaning methods only because it comes from multiple sources.
  • An air purifier will cycle your home’s air through a coarse filter first and then a HEPA filter to trap up to 99.97% of microscopic dust particles.
  • Filtered air is healthier for you to breathe, especially for people with allergies or respiratory conditions.