How much electricity do air purifiers use?

Of all electronic devices you’ll find in a home, air purifiers use a small amount of electricity. In fact, air purifier filters cost more annually than the electricity it takes to run the air cleaner itself.

We’ll do our calculations using a modern Medify air purifier made for large rooms.

Measuring air purifier electricity use

Calculating how much electricity anything in the home uses is simple. We only need to know a few things.

First, we need to know the wattage of the air purifier. This can be found on the manufacturer’s website, on the air purifier itself, or in the manual it came with.

Second, we need to know how long the air purifier will be in use.

Finally, we need to know the cost of electricity in the home it will be used in. This can be found at your electricity company’s website or on your monthly electricity bill.

Here’s the equation for daily use:

Air Purifier Wattage × Hours Used Per Day x 365 Days ÷ 1000 x Electricity Cost (kWh) = Annual Cost of Electricity

The equation can be used not only for air purifiers, but also for an air scrubber, ozone generator or any other household appliance or electronic device.

Calculating the cost of running an air purifier annually:

The steps to run an air purifier can be calculated with the instructions below.

Example: Air purifier annual electrical cost

In this example we’ll use a Medify air purifier which consumes 68 watts of electricity while in use.

We will run the air purifier 8 hours per day, every day of the year in a home in Los Angeles where electricity cost is 22 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).

Using the equation above, here’s our result:

1. Air purifier daily energy consumption: 68 w x 8 = 544
2. Annual air purifier energy consumption: 544 x 365 = 198,560
3. Cost of operation annually: 198,560 / 1000 * .22 = $43.68 a year

So, running this air purifier every day for eight hours a day where electricity cost is fairly high results in an annual cost under $45.

Cost of air purifier electrical use vs. cost of air purifier filters

The cost of air purifier filters for this unit run around $60 and should be replaced every 4 or 5 months according to the manufacturer.

So, assuming we replace the air filter every 4 months, that would be 3 times in a year. 3 x $60 = $180, or more than triple the cost of electricity used by the air purifier.