Is It Better to Have Multiple Air Purifiers in One Room or One Big One?

The need for air purifiers is becoming more prevalent across the world as air pollution concerns continue to dominate global climate conversations. Allergy sufferers know too well how devastating indoor pollution can be to their health and wellbeing.

Pollutants like dust, mold, mildew, pollen, dander, smoke and even VOCs affect not just furniture and walls but can also lead to severe complications and diseases in the respiratory system. Asthma can also be triggered and exacerbated by such pollutants if not properly controlled.

As appliances, air purifiers are rated according to their capacities and coverage strength. Usually, you’re expected to buy a unit that fits the square footage of your room or home (in the case of whole-house air cleaners).

However, you may have wondered if it’s possible to use multiple air purifiers in one room. Perhaps, indoor air pollution has become too much or you just think your room is too large for your current purifier; but is it right to use multiple air purifiers in one room?

Can You Use Multiple Air Purifiers Together?

Yes, you certainly can. Air Purifiers have pretty much the same mechanism and work the same way. No two units can possibly work against themselves.

This is why you can use two, three or more units in a single room, as long as you’re not hurting your pocket in the process.

If you have an existing air purifier that’s struggling to deal with pollution in your room, you may decide to add another to boost effectiveness and get better results. The only concern would be whether or not you’ll be doing too much.

It is important that you check the coverage capacity of the units you intend to combine in one room alongside the square footage of the room, so you’re sure it’s not a waste of money.

For instance, if you have a 300 square foot room, with an existing air purifier that can cover around 280 to 350 square feet, it’s probably economically unwise to buy another unit within that range for the same room.

If your 350 sq ft unit is unable to clean the air in a 300 sq ft room, then it’s possible something is wrong with the filter, the unit’s motor, or it’s just a poor product.

The best action in a situation like that would be to replace the filter or the entire unit, rather than add a second unit. The implication on your energy bills will be huge, so it’s best you fix the unit or replace it altogether where necessary.

However, if the case is that of a small unit in a large room, you may add another small unit to make up for the inadequacy.

For instance, a 150 sq ft unit will struggle to clean a 300 sq ft room, so you may decide to add another unit with as much as 200 sq ft coverage to make up the lapses. On the other hand, replacing the existing unit with a bigger one is another option.

There is another important factor to consider here. You may be struggling with a wide range of pollutants such as dust, smoke and even odors and bacteria, and your existing air purifier can only remove particles like dust and dander.

You may decide to have your HEPA unit and add another unit with diverse filtration technologies, including Activated Carbon, UV-C and electrostatic filters to deal with odors, smoke, VOCs, bacteria and other microorganisms.

Is It Better to Have Multiple Air Purifiers or One Big One?

Whether it’s better to have multiple air purifiers or one big one in a room would depend on several factors. Cost is at the heart of it. You need to consider what makes more economic sense.

If it is cheaper to buy and run small multiple effective air purifiers in one room- offering the needed coverage and air exchanges- than one big unit, then you should use multiple units.

Otherwise, if buying, installing, and running a big unit is more cost-effective than using multiple smaller units, then that should be your choice.

More often than not, it is better to run one big unit in a large room than running multiple units.

Apart from the clumsiness, noise and aesthetic unpleasantness of having different appliances running in a room, it is mostly cheaper to run one big unit, especially if it is an energy-efficient one.

Also, other running and maintenance costs such as filter replacement will practically be higher than if you’re using one big unit.

Let’s consider a practical scenario:

1 Big Air Purifier Vs 2 Small Air Purifiers

The levoit Core 300 air purifier is a 547 square foot unit that uses a 3-in-1 filter that costs around $30 for a replacement unit.

However, using two smaller units like the smaller Levoit 178 square foot air purifier would require two replacement filters over the same period at the cost of around $25 each. That amounts to around $50 for replacement filters if you decide to use two of those.

But, you’ll require about three of such units if you intend to cover an area above 500 square feet, which the Core 300 can cover.

Do You Need an Air Purifier in Every Room?

The answer to this question can be Yes and No. So many factors come to play here, including the design of the house, the airflow between rooms and throughout the house and the power of the air purifier you intend to purchase.

At the end of the day, it’s mostly about needs and choice. If you own a big air purifier that can take care of the entire house and your rooms are well connected in a way that air moves freely, you may not need an air purifier in every room.

The only issue might be the time it would take for the unit to exchange the air in all the rooms.

But if you already have an air purifier in a single room and you realize your air contamination problem exceeds that one room, you may simply need to buy additional units for the other rooms in the house.

However, this should only be done when you’re sure that it’s more cost-effective to go this way than to simply replace the small unit with a big one that can cover the entire house.

Another option would be to move your air purifier from one room to another as required, but this can only be done with movable units.

Can I Move My Air Purifier from Room To Room?

This totally depends on the type of air purifier you have. For the record, only portable air purifiers can be easily moved from one room to another.

Wall-mounted and whole-house air purifiers lack this mobility due to their bulkiness and stationery design, in most cases. Also, you need to be sure the air purifier will perform optimally in each of the rooms you move it to.

Some rooms may be bigger than others, while some may be better ventilated or scantier than others. These factors will determine how well or badly the unit will perform in those rooms.

There’s a need to emphasize that you can move an air purifier from room to room, but it may also be difficult to achieve adequate air filtration if the rooms are connected and have free airflow between them.

Also, this is probably not the best option if pollution is a problem all around the home.

Do Air Purifiers Work in Rooms with High Ceilings?

Yes, air purifiers work in rooms with high ceilings. The general rule of thumb is to multiply a room’s length by its width to arrive at the square footage.

Where you have a 350 sq ft room with a really high ceiling, for instance, you should get a unit with at least 450 sq ft in coverage or specifically look for air purifiers designed for high ceilings.

Also, if it’s a large room with high ceilings, you may have to use more than one air purifier in that situation.

Final Words:

We’ve been able to unravel many mysteries here; from answering the question of whether multiple air purifiers can be used in one room, telling you how to go about choosing between multiple air purifiers and one big unit and whether air purifiers can work in rooms with high ceilings.

Now you know how to make the right choices and make the right decisions on using air purifiers for tackling air pollution in your home, regardless of the size, design and level of pollution.