Are Air Purifiers Enough for Delhi?
A suitably sized air purifier can help reduce particles in a room. Whether it meets your needs depends on the space, indoor sources, outdoor conditions and how it is operated. If you also need outdoor-air supply, assess ventilation separately.
What particle filtration can do
Portable air cleaners are intended to serve a room or area. Look at the clean air delivery rate, the area rating, the fan speed you can live with and filter availability. EPA describes filtration as a supplement to source control and ventilation with clean outdoor air; no air cleaner removes every pollutant. EPA’s home air-cleaner guidance.
There is no single outdoor AQI at which every purifier stops working. Avoid comparing equipment through a universal promised percentage reduction. Measure the room under representative conditions.
What ventilation adds
A recirculating HEPA purifier captures particles but does not supply outdoor air or remove CO₂. A filtered fresh-air system supplies outdoor air while filtering particles in that supply. The achieved room conditions depend on the installation, occupancy and airflow route.
Read our bedroom ventilation guide before using a CO₂ number as a reason to buy equipment. Morning tiredness or coughing alone cannot identify the cause of an indoor-air problem.
Choose around the space you actually use
| Your requirement | What to assess |
|---|---|
| Particle filtration in one room | Suitable room coverage, clean air delivery rate, noise and filter cost |
| Several separate rooms | Air treatment in each occupied space and airflow between rooms |
| Outdoor-air supply | Intake location, outdoor conditions, distribution and exhaust paths |
| Rental or restricted alterations | Permissions, installation work and whether equipment must be portable |
| Ongoing maintenance | Access, replacement availability and the service plan |
These are assessment questions rather than automatic prescriptions based on family size or symptoms.
Compare costs on the same basis
Ask for the purchase price, installation work, replacement-filter cost and expected operating power at the setting you will use. Multiply those by the same ownership period. A comparison that assumes four expensive purifiers at maximum power against one fresh-air unit is not representative of every home.
For aqi0, the system is ₹82,600, fully installed. The annual care plan is ₹14,750/year. The optional AQI/PM2.5 monitor is ₹4,000, sold separately. Review pricing and the technical note for sizing, exclusions and operating conditions.
A worked example: 1,500 sq ft 3 BHK, five years
One scenario, not every home — the point is the method, and you should re-run it with your own quotes and your own room count.
Option A — four premium room purifiers, one per room
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| 4 units at ₹25,000 each | ₹1,00,000 |
| Electricity, 24/7 (320 W × 5 years) | ~₹1,12,000 |
| Replacement filters (₹6,000 per unit a year × 4 × 5) | ₹1,20,000 |
| Five-year total | ₹3,32,000 |
What it leaves you with: lower PM2.5 in four rooms, each with its door closed. CO₂ is unchanged — a recirculating unit has no outdoor air path. The rest of the home is untreated.
Option B — one whole-home air purifier
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| System, fully installed, all taxes included | ₹82,600 |
| Care plan × 5 years (₹14,750 × 5) | ₹73,750 |
| Electricity (30 W × 5 years) | ~₹10,500 |
| Five-year total | ~₹1,66,850 |
What it leaves you with: the whole home, PM2.5 under 15 µg/m³ sustained across the filter cycle, CO₂ under 1,000 ppm continuously, and inside doors you can leave open.
Roughly half the five-year cost is the headline. The more useful point is that the cheaper column is doing a smaller job. If your home is one or two rooms you actually use, run the same arithmetic with two units rather than four and the gap narrows considerably — that case is set out below.
Check the result after installation
Record indoor PM2.5 over comparable periods and note outdoor conditions, cooking and equipment settings. Where ventilation is being assessed, use an appropriate CO₂ measurement as well. Keep particle and CO₂ readings separate, and check the rooms you occupy rather than only the inlet.
Discuss your layout
aqi0’s whole-home air purifier supplies H13 HEPA-filtered outdoor air through a positive-pressure system. We’ll confirm with you whether the layout is suitable and what work is needed.
Explore system specifications, Gurugram installations and Delhi NCR service information.