Does Adding a Carbon Layer Reduce a Purifier’s Cleaning Effectiveness?

Yes adding a carbon filter to an air purifier will reduce it’s ability to filter out particulates from the air. However, in our tests the effect was only small when using strong (DIY) fans. Based on tests we ran using the DIY air purifiers and carbon filters, the ability of the DIY air purifier to clean an entire room of tiny PM2.5 particles was 2-5% lower for the Smart Air DIY air purifier; while there was no difference in cleaning efficiency for the Cannon DIY air purifier.

Learn more: How adding a carbon filter to a DIY air purifier affects its ability to clean out PM2.5 particulate air pollution from the air »


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Smart Air is a social enterprise that creates simple, no-nonsense air purifier and provides free education to protect people’s health from the effects of air pollution. We are proud to be the only certified B-Corp dedicated to fighting air pollution.

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