Having clean air in my home is a must. As an asthmatic, I know the air quality is ideal when I’m not regularly coughing or sneezing indoors. On the flip side, if my sinuses act up when I’m home (but seem to be fine otherwise), then there’s a good chance that the air around me could use some attention.
A good first step to address this is to use an air purifier. These fundamentally simple appliances not only trap airborne allergens like dust mites, pollen, and even bacteria, they remove smoke and other unpleasant odors from the air. In my home, the Blueair 3-in-1 air purifier is the saving grace that frees me from all of the above.
Most air purifiers on the market solely focus on filtering airborne particles and toxins. But as the product name implies, Blueair’s “3-in-1” does more than your average air filter. Along with keeping my air quality in tip-top shape with its boosted purification setting, it also has cooling and heating, both of which have come in handy when facing New York City’s unpredictable weather head on.
The Blueair ComfortPure also features a proprietary HEPA filter which uses electrostatic and mechanical filtration technology to automatically detect and remove 99.8 percent of airborne pollutants. According to the company, air is filtered faster and more quietly than the average HEPA filter.
The unit I have is recommended for spaces up to 175 square feet. My room is about 85 square feet and I can attest that the air is noticeably clearer within an hour. As for the noise, the unit is 24 dB on the lowest setting—that’s whisper-quiet—and 52 dB on high, about as loud as a low refrigerator hum.
The model I own launched in October 2024 and I received mine pretty soon after its release. So, as one of the first to experience the Blueair 3-in-1, I have a pretty solid idea of how well it works. There’s lots I appreciate about it, but there are also some drawbacks that are worth noting.
Blueair ComfortPure 3-in-1 Air Purifier
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Key Specs
| Dimensions | 19.8 x 10.3 x 10.3 in. |
|---|---|
| Weight | 13.8 lbs. |
| Sound level | 24 dB – 52 dB |
| Recommended room size | 175 ft. |
| Number of filters | 1 |
The air in my room was noticeably cleaner and fresher—fast.
As I stated previously, I have asthma, so dust causes me to cough, sneeze, and even get a sore throat that can last for days. I got the unit right after I moved into a new apartment in uptown Manhattan—a space that was filled with dust, pollen, and other tiny particles that caused my asthma to act up like never before. (I’m not lying when I tell you that my inhaler was in my hand that entire first weekend.)
After a few days of deep cleaning and setting things up, I installed the Blueair 3-in-1 air purifier in my room next to my bed. Once it calibrated and detected the air in my room, the unit’s front light flashed red, indicating that the quality of the air in my room was very polluted. Yikes.
For context, Blueair rates air quality on a color scale. Red is the lowest quality (very polluted), while blue indicates that your air is excellent. In between those colors are orange (polluted), yellow (good), and green (very good).
I immediately put it on its “boosted purification” setting (more on that later), and the difference it made in under an hour was noticeable. In that short time, the purifier’s light changed from red to blue—and it genuinely felt as if I was breathing air from an entirely different room. I could feel the air—once heavy from the pollutants that were floating around—clear up significantly. When you have asthma, these things are indeed discernible.
The powerful filtration from Blueair’s 3-in-1 goes further than just clearing dust. About a month after moving in, smoke from wildfires in rural New Jersey blew across the Hudson and over Manhattan, which affected my neighborhood and apartment building.
This meant that my Blueair was working overtime. When I would come home from work in the evening, my room would be pungent from the fumes. But once I switched on the Blueair, all of this would clear in under an hour—my lungs and nose were grateful for that.
It’s worth noting that I don’t usually eat food in my room. Even so, my kitchen is just mere feet away from where I sleep—so cooking any meal often results in my room smelling like whatever is on the menu on a given day. Thankfully, the Blueair 3-in-1 clears my room of food-related smells, too.
I was pleased with Blueair’s app features and usability.
To work the Blueair 3-in-1, you have three options: use the touch screen dial pad that’s located on top of the machine, the remote controller that comes with it, or the mobile app.
I will say, the touch screen dial pad on the purifier does take a few taps to get it working sometimes. But other than that, using it is pretty self-explanatory. Similarly, the remote is also straightforward, and comes in handy if you aren’t exactly in arms length of your purifier.
I personally prefer to use the app, as it’s more functional and lets you see and control the purifier’s features with a bit more clarity. It allows you to opt for two of the three modes: boosted purification or cooling. (For safety reasons, heating mode can only be turned on manually on the unit.) When I first used the app, I liked that I could adjust the machine’s oscillation and the strength of both the cool and boosted purification modes (there are four strength levels that range from low to high).
Lastly, I liked that the app also gave me an overview of both my air quality in real time and over several days. I could see the status of my room’s ventilation, humidity levels, indoor temperature, and outdoor Air Quality Index (AQI). When it comes to air quality history, the app let’s you see this same information within a specific time frame as far back as the date that you started using it.
The 3-in-1 function comes in handy.
I’ve talked a lot about the air filter features, but as mentioned a few times throughout this review, this is a 3-in-1 product. Outside of air purification, the Blueair also has heating and cooling features.
At the time of writing this, I’m experiencing a rather cold winter in New York. The apartment building I live in has over 60 live-in units and we have no control over the heat. Some mornings are intolerably cold, and switching to the heat setting on the unit warms my room in minutes. (Honestly, I could even attribute this feature to helping me get to work on time—because it’s much harder to get out of bed while shivering!)
I haven’t needed to use the cooling feature as much, and when I have, it’s been because the heat is blasting. I’ve noticed cooling down my room takes a bit longer than warming it up.
Overall thoughts (and some drawbacks).
I’m genuinely very grateful for the Blueair 3-in-1 air purifier. After using it for a couple of months, I can say with full confidence that this unit does exactly what it says it does, which is all you can really ask for in a purifier. It has both improved my breathing and helped keep my room smelling fresh. The sound it emits is also pretty soothing and essentially acts like a white noise machine, drowning out any noise outside the room.
While I love this unit, it isn’t perfect. The Blueair 3-in-1’s proprietary HEPA filter technology emits small amounts of ozone whereas a traditional HEPA filter does not. That said, Blueair air purifiers are CARB-certified, meaning they’re safe and don’t exceed ozone emission limits. It’s also worth noting that while filters for this purifier are meant to last over a year (which is pretty ideal), a replacement filter costs anywhere between 60 to 90 bucks.
Still, I would recommend the Blueair 3-in-1 air purifier to anyone who’s asthmatic, or just wants to breathe some fresh, high quality air in their home. It’s just that good, making those drawbacks arguably worth it.
Josiah is the Digital Content Producer for the commerce team at Popular Mechanics, Best Products, Runner’s World, and Bicycling Magazine. He also writes for “BIO Buys”—a column on Biography.com—giving readers the lowdown on what products their favorite celebs are using. In another life, Josiah was an editor at ThePioneerWoman.com, where he sharpened his expertise on all things lifestyle, food-news, and entertainment. Outside work related matters, he’s a fan of Studio Ghibli films, unimportant reality TV drama, and melancholy Lorde songs.
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