Anyone who wants to run an air purifier day and night naturally wants to know what that costs in electricity. The good news: air purifiers are among the more energy-efficient household appliances. Below, you can read how much power an air purifier actually consumes and what that consumption depends on.
How many watts does an average air purifier use?
Most residential air purifiers consume between 20 and 70 watts, depending on their size, CADR rating (the volume of air filtered per hour), and the chosen setting. For comparison: a modern LED bulb uses about 5 to 10 watts, a laptop 30 to 60 watts, and a hairdryer can easily use 1,500 to 2,000 watts. An air purifier therefore falls into the same category as small electronics, not the heavy consumers in the home.
The maximum wattage is reached on the highest setting, when the fan runs at its fastest to pull as much air as possible through the filter. On the lowest or automatic setting, consumption is often a third to half of that maximum. The AirPure Plus PA244, for example, has a maximum power of 45 watts and uses significantly less on its lowest setting.
How do you calculate the consumption yourself?
You can calculate the power consumption of any device with a simple formula: power in watts, divided by 1,000, multiplied by the number of operating hours. This gives the consumption in kilowatt-hours (kWh), the unit upon which your energy bill is based.
- 45 watts x 24 hours / 1,000 = 1.08 kWh per day with continuous use at full power.
- 45 watts x 8 hours / 1,000 = 0.36 kWh per day with eight hours of use, for example only at night.
- On a lower setting of, for example, 15 watts, continuous use comes to just 0.36 kWh per day.
In practice, an air purifier on automatic mode runs at a low speed for most of the day and only switches to a higher setting temporarily, for example after cooking or vacuuming. Consequently, actual consumption is often closer to the lower limit than the maximum.
Why is the consumption so low compared to other appliances?
An air purifier requires no heating element and no compressor, two components that demand a lot of power in other appliances (such as a heater or air conditioner). The only thing that consumes energy is the fan motor that moves air through the filter. This means that, unlike an electric heater, you can safely let an air purifier run all day and night without it causing your energy bill to rise significantly.
Tips to limit consumption
- Use the automatic setting so that the unit scales up itself when air quality is poor and scales down as soon as the air is clean.
- Use a sleep timer if you only want to filter at night or during specific hours.
- Keep the filter clean: a clogged filter forces the fan to work harder for the same result, which unnecessarily increases consumption.
Are you looking for an air purifier that remains energy-efficient at all settings while being powerful enough for a room of up to 55 m2? We recommend the AirPure Plus PA244, with a maximum power of 45 watts and a HEPA13 filter that filters up to 99.97 percent of fine dust, pollen, bacteria, and viruses from the air.