Discover the Best Air Purifier for Smoke
The risk from cigarette smoke might be declining, but wildfire smoke risk is increasing and can still be a threat to your lungs and respiratory system. For many, this means using air purifiers for smoke. Either at home or at work, an air purifier that can remove smoke particles, resulting in healthier air and, hopefully, better breathing.
The Dangers of Smoke in the Home
If you really want to remove smoke from your home, it helps to fully understand why smoke is bad for our health. You need to know, with specific details, why smoke from cigarettes, as well as wildfires and other sources, can be so harmful to not just our lungs, but our complete respiratory system.
Cigarette Smoke
What was once a fashion and social statement now is a societal outcast. And for good reason, as cigarette and tobacco smoke has been discovered to be one of the most harmful substances we have ever exposed ourselves to. It’s hard to image people smoking in buses, planes, and office buildings, but they simply didn’t have the information that we have today. (And don’t judge, because who knows what habit might be the health pariah of the next generation!)Thanks to scientific research and the expansion of knowledge, we now understand the significant risks that come with not just smoking, but being next to people who smoke. For the sake of this conversation, we’ll focus entirely on secondhand smoke and thirdhand smoke. (An air purifier can’t do anything about firsthand smoke.)
Secondhand smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control, causes a wide variety of health issues, including the heightened risk of lung cancer, stroke, and coronary heart disease. It can even cause reproductive harm in women, giving the air pollutant a significantly frightening element.
In children the risks of second-hand smoke can be staggering as well. It can give children middle-ear disease, cause respiratory issues, impair lung function, and has even been linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or “SIDS.”
There is even a link between smoking and aggressive behavior in children, according to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health. This report found that children who were exposed to secondhand smoke at home were more likely to display aggressive behavior. To be fair, the causation of smoke and aggressive behavior was not established (in other words, there could be other factors at play that cause smoking in the home and aggressive behavior to increase simultaneously), but it does set a scary trend for homes with cigarette smokers.
Wildfire Smoke
Smoke can, of course, come from other sources, and while it may not have the high levels of carcinogens and chemicals that are found in tobacco smoke, it can be harmful nonetheless.Smoke from wildfires can create symptoms such as difficulty breathing, coughing and chest discomfort, and can worsen seasonal allergies, which are already a major concern for many Americans. If you live in an area with wildfires, your house doesn’t have to be near the flames to have the fires impact your life.
A study published in Epidemiology found a link between exposure to wildfire smoke and issues with respiratory systems. The researchers surveyed people as to whether they could smell smoke in their communities, then looked at any respiratory and eye symptoms. The results showed a clear association between smoke exposure and respiratory issues, with an increase in wheezing being the most common effect.
How Do Air Purifiers Remove Smoke?
Air purifiers are one of the most trusted ways to remove cigarette smoke and provide clean air in your home. While there are certainly other methods, having an air purifier in your home will help you take a proactive approach to smoke removal and maintaining healthy indoor air quality.You’ll have active smoke-removal technology, like a HEPA filter and an activated carbon filter, with a HEPA air purifier. It will in constantly be working to purify your air as long as the machine is on.
Air purifiers start with an internal fan that pulls the air into the machine. These fans are powered electrically, and the best units will have fans that are not only powerful, but are also quiet and don’t use significant amounts energy. Once the air is pulled into the machine, it will be forced through a series of filters. These filters can come in a wide variety of materials, but the most effective air purifiers usually have HEPA filters, activated carbon filters, and for smoke removal you will want both.
HEPA filters are made from different materials, but they usually use fibers of glass that are shaped into a paper-like material. This material is then folded to increase surface space in a filter, giving greater air purification. To be classified as a HEPA filter, it needs to remove 99.97% of all airborne particles that are a certain size (0.3 microns or larger).
Activated carbon, also known as activated charcoal, is another material that is used to purify air. This is essentially high-carbon raw material, such as wood, coal, coconut shells, and even olive pits, that have been specially treated to have a high surface space and the ability to grab and hold microscopic gas or chemical particles. Activated carbon is used for numerous purposes, including the cleaning of water. It is even advertised as a cleansing substance that can be used to remove toxins from your body.
UV light is another technology used by air purifiers to remove airborne contaminants, but it doesn’t work under the same principles as filters. Instead of trapping contaminants, UV light can destroy organic cells, making it useful for mold mitigation.
When airborne mold spores go through a UV light air purifier, the UV light damages the spore’s DNA, rendering it ineffective for reproduction. So while it can’t actually remove the spores from your air, it can destroy the spore’s ability to create new mold colonies. In theory, this should reduce your chances of having mold growth in the future. However, UV light is not an effective way to remove the smell of smoke from your home, as it can’t actually remove the cells. It’s great to have a UV-C light air purifier in your home, but you can’t rely on it as an air purifier for smoke.
What Other Technologies are Used to Remove Smoke?
Ozone Generators
Another technology that is often cited as a way to clean indoor air is an ozone generator. However, this is actually a controversial topic.This is because ozone generators release ozone into the atmosphere. (Surprised?) This ozone is advertised as a way to destroy odor, mold, and harmful air pollution at the molecular level. Ozone is actually a combination of three oxygen atoms, and while two atoms will stay together, the third atom is able to attach itself to other atoms and alter chemical compositions. Being able to react with other substances is why ozone is so effective at eliminating smoke odors, but also why it is harmful to our health. When inhaled, it can damage lungs and cause chest pain; it can also worsen chronic respiratory issues.
Numerous studies show there are dangerous levels of ozone after use of an ozone generator. If you want to eliminate smoke, there seems to be better options.
The California Air Resources Board approves air cleaners for sale within the state of California and this includes verification that the machine does not produce excess levels of ozone.
The general rule of thumb with an ozone generator is that if you do not want to be in the room while it is running or shortly after it has run. It is meant as a one-time shock to the room to remove any odors and then for the room to be fully ventilated. It is mainly used in commercial spaces such as if someone smokes in a hotel room and they need to get the smell out. We don't suggest this for normal home air cleaning.
Ionizers
One option you might consider is an ionizer, which uses an electrical charge to clean air. Using essentially the same principles of static electricity that make your clothes stick to your skin, ionizers create negative ions using electricity to positively and negatively charge plates that are held inside the unit. Using electricity, particles stick the plates, filtering the air as it passes through.The issue with these machines, however, is that they can create ozone. Instead of creating ozone intentionally, these appliances create ozone as a byproduct of the ionization process. Once again, this can impact the health of people living in the home, especially people with respiratory issues.
The better solution for smoke relief is to buy an air purifier that uses both a real HEPA and activated carbon filters.
How Well Do Air Purifiers Remove Smoke?
We get a lot of inquiries about the best way to rid a home of smoke. The last thing we want to do is sell you an air cleaner and not have it meet your expectations.It's important to understand that smoke is made of a hundreds of airborne particulates and gases/chemicals. We find that many people judge the effectiveness of an air purifier by it's ability to remove the odor.
So, to remove the smell you will need a high quality activated carbon filter. In order to do a decent job you will want a high number of air changes. This means you should lower your expectations for the room size coverage.
To get rid of the particles you also need a high efficiency HEPA air filter.
What Can You Expect to Pay for an Air Purifier That Removes Smoke?
mod HEPA Air Purifier: $599
When you need a powerful, efficient, and effective air purifier for removing smoke particles from an indoor space, the mod is a great option. This unit uses a proprietary carbon filter, which helps trap the microscopic particles that create the smell of smoke.This filter is also a great choice for any needs in the home home, thanks in large part to the combination of a carbon activated filter and real HEPA filter.
The mod HEPA air purifier can be used in numerous locations. It is ideal for bedrooms, living rooms, basements, and even large open areas. Thanks to the powerful yet efficient motor, this purifier is capable of effectively cleaning a space roughly 1,250 square feet for large airborne particulates such as pollen, pet dander or dust. For smoke odor removal we suggest it be used in a room up to 500-600 sq ft so you get the added air changes per to remove the pesky smoke particles.
It is also simple and easy to use with touch screen functions that give you simple control with no distracting lights that will keep you up at night. The filter is easy to access, and you won’t need a complicated manual to operate the machine.
The mod also uses a real HEPA filter which has a MERV filtration rating of 17. It can remove 99.6% of all airborne allergens and particulate matter, so it’s effective for removing airborne pollution both large and small. This means smoke, but can also include mold, bacteria, dust, pet dander, and many other allergens and pollutants
Other Ways to Get Smoke Out of Your Home
Air purifiers are without a doubt a great way to get rid of the annoying, potentially harmful smell of smoke lingering throughout your home. But it’s not the only way. Even when using an air purifier, it helps to have a comprehensive strategy that will result in cleaner air and a pleasant-smelling home.
Improve Indoor Ventilation
Perhaps the easiest, and one of the most effective, methods for reducing the smell of smoke and other substances in your home is to simply increase ventilation.The easiest way to do this? Open the windows!
If the weather allows, you can open the windows to increase the amount of fresh air flowing into the home. This will not only dilute the smoke particles in the air, if you have windows open on multiple sides of the home, a natural breeze can actually take many of the harmful particles away. While outdoor air pollution is a problem in many areas, indoor air is generally considered to contain more pollutants than the outside air in even the most industrialized cities.
Another way to increase indoor air ventilation is to install and use a whole-house fans. Installed in the ceiling above the top living space (between top floor and attic), whole house fans gently pull air though the home and expel it through vents in the attic. They are an effective way to cool the home on warm (but not excessively hot) days, and can help with indoor air ventilation to remove pollutants like smoke and indoor air pollution.
Clean or Replace Curtains, Carpet, and Other Fabrics
When a house is exposed to smoke, either from an internal fire, tobacco, or drifting wildfire smoke, the fabrics can often act like a sponge, smoking up the smell (and the chemicals) and allowing the smoke to linger long after you can’t see it. This generally means you’ll need to clean or replace most of the fabrics.Drapes and curtains are the most obvious culprit, and they are fortunately the easiest to clean or replace. However, you’ll also want to consider having the carpets shampooed, and if that doesn’t do the trick, they may need to be completely replaced. Any other fabrics on the home that hold cigarette smoke need to be addressed.
Repaint the Walls
Smoke particles will also cling to the walls, only to be released at a later time. To reduce the lingering smell of smoke in the home, one of the best strategies is to completely paint the interior. This will essentially create a barrier between your lungs and the surrounding air, allowing you to enjoy your interior without the annoying smoke smell.
Use Creative Smell-Removal Techniques
If you can’t remove the smoke smell, you may want to at least mask it. While it won’t remove the potential harms of smoke, it can help you have a more pleasant smell in your home. There are many techniques you materials try, including baking soda, vinegar, cotton balls, and even apples. Get creative, but avoid air fresheners that release harmful chemicals and air pollutants such as VOCs.
Get Rid of Smoke Smell with Oransi Air Purifiers
If you have a lingering smoke smell in your home, you need a comprehensive strategy to remove it as quickly as possible. With an air purifier for smoke from Oransi, you’ll not only remove smoke particles, you’ll give your home long-term air quality.From offices to bedrooms, we have the best air purifiers to fit your specific needs!
