Don’t buy this · Air
Five situations where an air purifier is the wrong purchase
The verdict
Air purifiers work — within one closed room, correctly sized, against particles. There are five common situations where buying one will disappoint you, and in every case the money is better spent elsewhere: when carbon monoxide is the concern, when there is damp or mould, when cooking is the main source, when dust mites are the allergen, and when the room is too leaky for filtration to keep up.
When this does not apply to you
Placed here rather than at the end, because if one of these describes your situation then the rest of this page is the wrong advice and you should know that now.
Outdoor particulate is your problem and the room can be closed
Then a purifier is exactly right, and it works well. This page is about the five cases where it does not — not an argument that they never work.
Someone has asthma or allergic rhinitis with a pollen or pet trigger
Both are cases where filtration genuinely helps, because the allergen stays airborne long enough to be captured.
You have already fixed the source and want to handle what remains
A purifier as a support measure after source control is a sensible purchase. The ordering is the whole argument.
Why you were told otherwise
Usually not because anyone lied to you. Almost every claim in this category is technically true and incomplete, which is a much more durable technique.
- Air purifiers are marketed against AQI, which is high everywhere in India for months at a time, so the pitch always lands.
- 'Removes 99.97% of particles' is true and says nothing about whether particles are your problem.
- Coverage claims are usually calculated at two air changes per hour, which makes units look adequate for rooms they are not.
- The interventions that beat a purifier — an exhaust, a dehumidifier, encasements, draught excluders — have no marketing budget between them.
What to do instead
A page that only says no is an opinion. This is the part that makes it useful.
- 1
If you have a gas appliance: buy a certified CO alarm
EN 50291 or UL 2034, ₹1,500 to ₹3,500. No purifier removes carbon monoxide, and an LPG geyser inside a bathroom is a documented recurring cause of fatalities in India.
Read more → - 2
If there is damp: fix the water and buy a dehumidifier
Get relative humidity below 60% and find the leak. WHO frames the health issue as the dampness itself, not the spore count.
Read more → - 3
If cooking is the source: fix the extraction
Check whether your chimney ducts outdoors, and run it from before you light the hob.
Read more → - 4
If it is dust mites: buy encasements
₹1,500 to ₹5,000, and more effective than any purifier for this specific allergen.
Read more → - 5
If the room is leaky: draught-proof it first
A few hundred rupees on door sweeps and gap sealing raises the effectiveness of everything else you do, including a purifier you buy later.
Note
Frequently asked questions
Are air purifiers worth it in India?
What should I buy before an air purifier?
Will an air purifier help with a damp, musty smell?
Cost figures are indicative Indian market ranges for budgeting, last reviewed 2026-08-08. This page argues about the general case; the exceptions section above is where the specific case is dealt with, and it is written honestly rather than as a hedge.