Levoit Core 400S
$249
Clears a 35 m² living room quickly and costs little enough that you could run two. The one we'd point most people to.
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Perth & WA · Updated September 2026
The air purifiers worth buying in Perth
Perth's air is clean most of the year, and then for a few weeks it isn't. We rate purifiers on how they handle those weeks: summer bushfire smoke, autumn and spring burn-offs, the spring grass-pollen run and winter wood smoke. Rankings lean on independent lab testing where it exists, and every price is in Australian dollars.
- Smoke
- Dec to Feb, and burn-off seasonBushfires in the Hills and the south-west, plus prescribed burns in autumn and spring.
- Pollen
- Sep to DecGrass pollen peaks in October and November. Hard going for hay fever and asthma.
- Wood smoke
- Jun to AugWinter haze from home wood heaters, worst on cold, still nights.
Our picks
All seven reviews
What to buy
Four units cover what most Perth homes need. Prices are a guide in AUD and move around, so check before you buy.
Breville Viral Protect Max
$599
The highest clean-air rate on our list and a proper carbon stage. The one to have running when the Hills are burning.
Read the review
Winix Zero+ Pro
$429
An H14 filter and near-silent running. Handles an open-plan living area and suits anyone who dreads October.
Read the review
Coway Airmega 150
$169
The cheapest to run on our list and dead simple to use. Right for a bedroom or nursery, wrong for the lounge.
Read the review
Purifier finder
Three questions, three matches
Tell us the room, the budget and what you're up against. No email, no sign-up. If you know the exact dimensions, the room-size calculator is more precise.
Choose your options and press Show my matches. The best fit comes first, with the reason.
The Perth air year
When Perth's air turns, month by month
A general pattern drawn from WA Health, DBCA and DWER information. Individual years vary a lot: a dry spring or a big Hills fire can shift everything. The current month is outlined.
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Bushfire smoke
Burn-off smoke
Grass pollen
Wood-heater smoke
Dust
Fit fresh filters in September
Winter wood smoke loads a filter up, and a clogged one moves less air just as pollen and burn-off season arrive.
Watch the morning easterlies
Summer mornings often bring wind off the Hills. If there's a fire or a burn out that way, smoke can sit over the suburbs until the sea breeze comes in.
Buy in the off-season
Demand drops over winter and retailers tend to discount. Set up in June or July and you're ready before spring.
Health guides
Why it's worth caring about
Fine particles from smoke reach deep into the lungs, and the smallest get into the bloodstream. Two guides written for Perth homes, with every source listed so you can check them.
Bushfire smoke and your body
Between 2002 and 2017, prescribed burns caused more days of unhealthy particle pollution in WA than bushfires did.
What smoke does to the heart and lungs, who's most at risk, why Perth gets smoky without a fire nearby, and a step-by-step plan for bad air days.
Read the guideWhat's in the air inside your home
About 12% of Australia's childhood asthma burden has been linked to gas cooktops. Rangehoods that vent outside would cut that to around 3%.
Gas cooking, wood heaters, mould after winter, new-furniture fumes and stuffy bedrooms. Which ones a purifier fixes, and which it can't touch.
Read the guide
Questions
Common questions
Do air purifiers actually help with bushfire smoke?
Indoors, yes. A true HEPA filter with an activated-carbon stage clearly cuts the fine particles and smoke smell that get inside, provided it's sized for the room and the house is closed up. Switch off the evaporative cooler too, or it will keep pulling smoke in. A purifier does nothing for the air outside.
What size do I need?
Measure the room and choose a unit whose realistic coverage is bigger than it, not the figure on the box. As a rough guide:
- Bedroom, 12 to 20 m²: Coway Airmega 150 or Levoit Core 300S
- Living room, 30 to 45 m²: Levoit Core 400S
- Open-plan, 55 m² and up: Breville Viral Protect Max or Winix Zero+ Pro
The room-size calculator works it out for your ceiling height too.
Doesn't my evaporative cooler or ducted air con already clean the air?
No. An evaporative cooler pushes outside air through the house. That's good ventilation on a clean day and a problem on a smoky one, which is why WA Health says to switch it off in smoke. Ducted reverse-cycle systems usually have a coarse dust filter, not a HEPA filter. Set them to recirculate on smoke days, but don't count on them as a purifier.
How often should I change the filter?
Most HEPA filters last 6 to 12 months, but Perth's smoke and dust can shorten that. Change it before spring in September, and again after a long smoky stretch. Each review lists the yearly filter cost, and the running-cost calculator adds it all up.
Is a dearer purifier always better?
No. The Dyson is the clearest example: the $249 Levoit 400S beats it on clean air per dollar by a wide margin. Paying more can get you heating, an H14 filter or a bigger carbon stage. Match the feature to your problem, not the price tag.
Do ioniser or PlasmaWave features matter?
Not much. They help a little with odours, but the HEPA and carbon filters do the heavy lifting, and ionisers can produce trace ozone. Plenty of owners leave them switched off. Treat one as a bonus, never a reason to buy.
Alerts
Smoke-day and price-drop emails
An email when smoke or a high-pollen day is forecast for Perth, and when a unit we rate goes on sale. Nothing else, and you can unsubscribe any time. See our privacy notice.