Air Purifiers

How to Set Up and Get the Most Out of Your Air Purifier

Getting a purifier home is the easy part. Setting it up correctly is what makes the difference between clean air and wasted energy.

Unwrap the Filters Before You Start

Most air purifiers ship with filters already installed, but they're sealed in plastic wrappers. Open your unit, remove the wrapping from each filter, and reinstall them before powering on.

Give It Room to Breathe

Place your purifier at least 12 inches (30 cm) from walls and furniture, ideally near the midpoint of the room. Make sure nothing is obstructing airflow, including curtains.

The more open space around the unit, the better it can draw and circulate air. Models like the AirPursue™ PM20, which use 360° air intake, benefit especially from open placement.

One Purifier Per Room Works Best

Air purifiers clean the space they're in, not the one next door. If you want cleaner air in both your living room and bedroom (or other rooms in your home), either move the unit with you or use a dedicated purifier in each room. We recommend having a unit for each space for the most effective purification, or choosing an air purifier that's rated for whole-home coverage.

Keep It Running

Air purifiers work best when they run continuously, either on an Auto setting that adjusts fan speed to changes in air quality, or on the highest setting that stays at or below 50 decibels. Our AirPursue™ Purifiers use seven onboard sensors to adjust fan speed automatically in real time, so you can leave the unit in Auto mode and get on with your day.

Under known bad-air conditions, such as during a nearby wildfire, running the purifier on high for an hour every so often will help deep-clean the air faster.

Close Doors and Windows While It Runs

A draft or an open door can draw unfiltered air into a room faster than the purifier can deal with it. Normal in-and-out foot traffic is not an issue. Just close the door behind you.

Bigger Is Better Than Too Small

It's better to have too much purifier than not enough. Manufacturers base their room-size recommendations on tests with machines set on high. A purifier rated for a larger space can be operated on lower, quieter speeds and still clean your room effectively.

Set a Reminder for Filter Changes

Filter replacements are easy to overlook. Set a calendar reminder based on the recommended intervals.

Conveniently, the Dreamehome app sends replacement reminders straight to your phone, so you never have to track it manually. Your purifier stays at full performance without any guesswork.

What Is CADR and Why It Matters

CADR is the most meaningful number to compare when shopping for an air purifier. Room-size claims vary wildly by brand; CADR doesn't. It reflects, in cubic feet per minute, the volume of clean air an air purifier produces on its highest speed setting.

The higher the CADR, the faster and more efficient the air purifier is.

According to the EPA, for an air purifier to be truly effective, it should be able to perform 4.8 air changes per hour in a room. Some brands advertise their room-size coverage based on achieving just 1 air change per hour, which allows them to claim a much wider coverage area than the purifier can meaningfully serve.

Instead of focusing solely on recommended room sizes, also look at the CADR rating.

Start with your room's square footage, find the CADR you need to hit 4.8 air changes per hour, and compare from there. The AirPursue™ PM20 delivers a CADR of 400 m³/h using composite filter media designed to move more air per hour than conventional HEPA filters, which is exactly what strong CADR performance requires.

CADR is typically rated separately for tobacco smoke, dust, and pollen. Focus on the rating that matches your main pollutant of concern.

For example, if you live with a smoker, choose an air purifier with a high CADR for tobacco smoke, or if allergies are your primary issue, the dust and pollen ratings will matter most. (Note that not all brands publish separate CADR scores; if only a single figure is listed, it typically refers to dust or smoke.)

Types of Air Purifiers

Mechanical HEPA Filters

The most reliable and widely trusted technology in air purification. A fan forces air through a dense web of fine fibers that trap particles. Filters with very fine mesh are called HEPA filters, certified to collect 99.97% of particles at 0.3 micrometers in diameter. They're effective at removing airborne viral droplets, particulate matter from cigarette smoke and burning wood, pet dander, dust, and dust mites.

On their own, mechanical filters don't help with gases or odors, which is why many air purifiers pair them with a carbon filter.

Every Dreame purifier combines multi-layer mechanical filtration with activated carbon, and the FP10 steps up to certified H14-grade HEPA.

Activated Carbon Filters

These filters capture certain types of gases, including some odor-causing molecules, by trapping them on a porous carbon surface. However, they're not particularly effective against formaldehyde, ammonia, or nitrogen oxides.

If you need stronger gas and odor filtration, look for purifiers that use pelleted or granular activated carbon, which has a wider surface area to collect pollutants. An impregnated carbon fabric filter is not as efficient, but it can help reduce mild everyday smells.

Our AirPursue™ PM20 goes a step further by adding a catalytic layer that actively breaks formaldehyde down into harmless CO₂ and water, addressing one of the key limitations of carbon filters alone. Because the catalyst isn't consumed in the process, this stage never needs to be replaced.

Ionizers and Electrostatic Precipitators

These electronic models work by charging airborne particles so they stick to plates on the machine or nearby surfaces. While this can remove some particles from the air, these devices can produce ozone as a byproduct. Ozone is a lung irritant, which is why many health and consumer organizations advise caution with this technology.

Ozone Generators

These appliances intentionally produce ozone, a molecule that can react with certain pollutants, which can result in dangerous indoor air quality.

Studies reviewed by the EPA have shown that low levels of ozone don't effectively destroy indoor pollutants.

Even at low settings, some ozone generators have been found to quickly exceed the Food and Drug Administration's limit of 0.05 parts per million for medical devices. Ozone exposure has also been linked to decreased lung function, throat irritation, coughing, chest pain, and lung tissue inflammation.

UV-Based Purifiers (UVGI)

These purifiers claim to kill airborne viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores using UV lamps. However, they may miss certain bacteria and mold spores that are resistant to UV radiation.

For this method to be effective, the UV light must be powerful enough and the exposure long enough, typically minutes to hours rather than the few seconds that most consumer UVGI purifiers provide.

Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO)

This technology uses ultraviolet radiation and a photocatalyst, such as titanium dioxide, to produce hydroxyl radicals that oxidize gaseous pollutants.

Depending on the pollutant, this reaction can generate harmful byproducts, including ozone, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide. A laboratory study conducted by researchers at Syracuse University reported that PCO devices didn't effectively remove any of the volatile organic compounds typically found in indoor air.

The Bottom Line

The safest, most effective approach remains mechanical filtration: HEPA for particles, activated carbon for gases, and no harmful byproducts introduced into your air in the process.

We build every Dreame Air Purifier entirely around this principle, combining multi-stage mechanical filtration with smart sensors, so your air stays cleaner without you having to manage any of it.

How HEPA Filters Actually Capture Particles

HEPA filtration doesn't work like a net, where particles larger than the holes get caught and everything else passes through. It's more complex than that, and the science explains why HEPA is so effective across such a wide range of particle sizes.

Inside a HEPA filter, a fan draws air through a dense, felt-like filter that has billions of tiny gaps of varying size. Air passes through almost unimpeded, but the particles suspended in it do not. Three mechanisms do the work:

Impaction handles the largest particles, roughly 0.5 microns and above. These particles carry enough momentum that they are unable to change their course when the airstream bends around a fiber. They slam into the fiber and stick.

Diffusion captures the smallest particles, below 0.1 microns. At this scale, particles get bounced around randomly and slowed by their interactions with atmospheric atoms and molecules. This erratic movement eventually causes them to drift into a filter fiber and stick.

Interception catches the particles in between, roughly 0.1 to 0.5 microns. These particles tend to flow around the filter fibers, but eventually they come close enough to touch one on the way by, and they stick.

The hardest particles to capture are about 0.3 microns in diameter. They sit at the low end of the interception range and above the limit where diffusion takes effect. The solution is to make the filter dense enough that it has a sufficient amount of fibers to capture most of the 0.3-micron particles.

In the North American definition, "true HEPA" means that a filter removes at least 99.97% of airborne particles at 0.3 microns in a single pass. The European equivalent, designated H13 and increasingly marketed in North America as "medical grade," requires 99.95% single-pass capture of the most penetrating particle size, which is typically close to 0.3 microns.

Our purifiers use H13-grade high-efficiency composite filter media as standard, and the FP10 steps up to certified H14-grade HEPA, which captures an even higher percentage of particles at the most penetrating size.

Because air purifiers cycle the air in a room several times per hour, the air-cleaning effect is cumulative over time. Particles that aren't captured on one pass have another chance on the next.

Our composite filter media is specifically designed for higher airflow than conventional HEPA filters. That means more air cycles through per hour, and more particles are captured across every cycle. The result is consistently clean air, not just right after you switch it on, but throughout the day.

How Quiet Should an Air Purifier Be?

Air purifiers should always be running to be effective, which means noise level isn't a bonus consideration. It's a core part of whether you will actually use the unit consistently.

For reference, a noise rating of around 50 decibels is roughly equal to the hum of a refrigerator.

One practical approach is to size up. Most models suitable for large rooms (350 sq. ft. / 32m² and larger) can also work well for smaller rooms at lower speeds. Lower speeds tend to be quieter, which is helpful when you are watching TV or sleeping.

Some air purifiers suited for big spaces can be whisper-quiet when running at their lowest fan speeds, so going bigger to get a quieter unit is a worthwhile strategy. The PM20, rated for up to 1,883 sq. ft. (175m²), is a strong option if you want effective purification in a bedroom or living room without turning the fan speed up.

On the other end, smaller units won't make much of a difference to the air when running at the slowest fan speed, and they tend to be noisier than larger ones at top speed. Getting a unit that's too small for your room means you'll be forced to run it at high speed constantly, which makes the noise problem worse.

A simple approach to managing noise: run the purifier on its high-speed setting when you're not in the room, and turn it down to low when you're nearby. Or buy an air purifier certified for a larger area so you can run it on a low speed and still have it work effectively for your space.

If you prefer not to think about it at all, our AirPursue™ Purifiers handle this automatically. The AI-powered airflow tracks movement in the room and adjusts output accordingly, ramping up when needed and idling quietly when you step away.

How Dreame's Multi-Stage Filtration Actually Works

Every Dreame purifier moves air through multiple stages, each targeting something different.

A pre-filter catches hair and larger particles first, a high-efficiency layer captures fine particles like pollen, dust, and mold spores, and an activated carbon stage absorbs odors and household chemicals.

The AirPursue™ series also includes a catalytic layer that decomposes formaldehyde into CO₂ and water. And because the catalyst isn't consumed in the process, this stage keeps working without ever needing to be replaced.

Most Dreame purifiers use H13*-grade composite filter media, built for higher airflow than conventional HEPA filters, so more air gets cleaned per hour across the full room. The FP10 uses certified H14-grade HEPA filtration — the highest grade available in a home purifier.

What It Actually Costs to Run an Air Purifier

Running a Dreame air purifier costs less than most people expect. The PM10 and PM20 draw just 33W in fan mode, roughly the same as an LED desk lamp, and that works out to around $23 a year in electricity at typical usage.* The FP10, running at up to 45W, comes in at around $32 a year.**

Filter replacements for the PM10 and PM20 are two separate components — a composite filter, replaced every 16–24 months, and a carbon filter, replaced every 6–12 months depending on your usage. The formaldehyde-catalytic stage never needs replacing. The AP10 uses a single main filter replacement.

* ** Based on rated power consumption at 12 hours of daily use and the US average electricity rate.

How We Test and Certify Every Air Purifier

Every Dreame air purifier is tested against strict performance standards before it reaches you, so the air quality you get on day one is what you can expect a year in.

Every model uses filter media verified to H13* grade or above, which is fine enough to catch pollen, dust mite debris, pet dander, mold spores, and bacteria. The PM10 and PM20 achieve 99.99%* particle filtration accuracy, with a validated ≥99.9% bacteria removal rate, meaning the air circulating through your home is genuinely cleaner, not just filtered-looking. The FP10 goes further with certified H14-grade HEPA filtration, the highest grade available in a home purifier.

Filters are also rated by Cumulative Purification Volume, which measures total pollution capacity across the filter's full lifespan and not just when it's new. That means consistent performance from the first week to the last.

*Based on controlled lab conditions.

Why Choose Dreame Air Purifiers?

Your purifier pays attention. The AirPursue™ Purifiers track movement and direct clean air toward where you are, not just into the room. Step away, and it quietly idles. Come back, and it picks up where it left off.

Air quality sensors working constantly. While most purifiers watch for one pollutant, ours monitor air quality in real time and adjust automatically, so no manual changes needed.

Formaldehyde, handled permanently. The catalytic layer in the PM10 and PM20 breaks formaldehyde down into harmless CO₂ and water. It doesn't fill up and need replacing — it keeps working.

Built around how pets actually live. The AP10 and FP10 were designed for pet households from the start.

Three things, one unit. The PM20 purifies, cools, and heats your space year-round. One less thing to find room for.

Ready to find your fit? Explore the full Dreame Air Purifiers range today.