Inspect a gadget: Three of the best air purifiers for your home

Targeting smoke, dust mites, pollen, mould, allergens and bacteria, an air purifier could improve your indoor air quality

Air purifiers can enhance the indoor air quality in your home.

Air purifiers boost indoor air quality when adequately sized to the rooms they are serving. 

Some also offer cooling and heating functions in one unit. 

Look for a high clear air delivery rate (CADR) in more expensive products (CADR) to clean the air super-fast.

Most will offer HEPA filtration and carbon filters as standard.

Dyson Hot+Cool HP09: Operating as a heater and cooler too, this feted air purifier captures dust, allergens and H1N1 virus, destroying formaldehyde and 99.95% of pollutants as small as 0.1 microns. It senses your air quality in real time and delivers useful readings; €649.99, dyson.ie.

A Which favourite, the MeacoClean CA-HEPA 76x5 Air Purifier with Wi-Fi has a laser sensor to measure air quality and can be controlled from your phone. It changes air five times an hour in a typical room of 6m x 5.5m x 2.3m; €245, DID, Soundstore and meaco.ie.

Ideal for smaller homes, the Philips Series 800 purifier, above, has powerful airflow circulation that effectively covers rooms up to 49 sq m and distributes clean air in every corner of the room. It cleans 20 sq m in under 16 minutes; €229.99, check out Irwinsmegastore.ie.