Air Purifier Smoke

For the best smoke air purifiers we recommend the IQAir Multigas, Allerair, NQ Clarifier and Blueair Air Purifiers.

See All: Smoke Air Purifiers

by Mercia Tapping, President, AllergyBuyersClub.com

Editor's Note: I wrote to Jim and told him that I did not think he would be 100% satisfied with any air cleaner. That being said, we tried to answer his question.

INFO LINKS Air Purifiers Overview - view all air purifiers sold by AllergyBuyersClub.com Air Purifiers Comparison Chart - a comparison with pluses and minuses of all the best air purifiers Pollen and Hayfever Solution Guide - a quick buyers guide of the best recommended products to solve airborne allergen problems Best Air Purifier Articles - Editor's top picks on air purifier info

Q. I'm ready to buy 3 air cleaners. From you, if you can help and convince me.....

I need help in selecting a model. Every manufacturer has evidence why their's is the best solution. I'm tired of researching. Please pick the models best for my application and explain why.

I'm going to do the same with a several competitive manufacturers that use the same and different technologies as well, then I'm going to buy 2 for application #1 and 1 for application #2. I've already read all about filtering, air flow, ozone, particle sizes, noise, maintenance costs, efficiency and energy draw, maintenance frequency, effectiveness longevity....

I'm also looking for a good price, but effectiveness is most important. I will spend up to US$2000 for all 3 but were I to just pick units from different companies based on what I have already read, I would probably end up spending US$400 each for application#1 (2 of them) and US$200 for application #2, for a total of only US$1000.

I'm only interested in removing the affects of indoor cigarette smoking under the following 2 conditions (different solution for each condition).

APPLICATION 1:
600 Sq Ft. apartment, nearly continuous cigarette smoking, 6 hours a day.
Noise is not a big issue. Efficiency is not an issue. I will only run it when people are smoking, perhaps an hour or so after.
Most of the time, the apartment is vacant.

APPLICATION 2:
1000 Sq. Ft. living room.
I just want to be able to smoke in the house, while sitting on the sofa watching TV, 1 to 2 cigarettes an hour, several hours a day. I can sit right next to the unit if that will help. Noise is an issue. It must be quiet so as not to disturb the person sitting next to me watching TV, since the unit will likely be right next to them if it is right next to me.

In both applications 1 and 2, I want to make sure the smoke actually gets captured, because I don't want it settling down into the furniture and carpet. I do not want to "mount" either unit. Frequency of cleaning is not an issue, I'll clean it everyday if needed. I don't want to have to frequently buy new filters because if that is the case, it just won't get done and the unit will end up useless.

I prefer to be contacted only by E-mail, but you are welcome to send information by regular mail. Consider that I wish to make a decision within the next 3 days.

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A. Hi Jim,

We do have a number of units to choose from when considering cigarette smoke. These would be the IQAir GC Multigas, Clarifier, Allerair 5000 D/S, Austin HEGA, and the Blueair 501 with the smokestop filters. The Blueair 501 and the Austin HEGA would be for under 600 square foot applications, so I would not recommend these for your #2 applications.

For application number one, the IQAir GC Multigas would be the number one unit. This unit will have the particulates including the smoke particles filtered out by the H11 filter. This will enable the four gas filter cartridges to be available to adsorb the gases and odors from the cigarette smoke. The final filter is a post filter sleeve, which will prevent any of the carbon particles from the gas filter breaking off and being disbursed into the room. The price is $1149. There will be filters to change but this unit will tell you when with a reminder light so you will not forget to change them. Also, the indicators will eliminate any guesswork.

A good second choice would be the Allerair 5000 D/S double smoke unit which has 21 pounds of activated carbon to adsorb a great deal of chemicals, gases, and odors resulting from the cigarette smoke. The price is $699.98. This also has expensive filters to change and the unit will not tell you when they will need to be changed.

For application number two, I would recommend either the IQAir GC Multigas or the Clarifier. The reason I would not recommend the Allerair is because the unit is noisier than the IQAIR or the Clarifier. The Clarifier would cost $679 and contains 15 pounds of activated carbon to adsorb the gases and odors. It is the most cost effective choice. However, my first choice, if price was not a factor, would still be the IQAir GC Multigas because of the fact the particulates of smoke will be removed by the H11 filter thus allowing the pores in the gas filter to be able to concentrate on the gases and odors. Smoke is made up of millions of tiny particulates and they will clog the pores of carbon in a gas filter very quickly.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Thank you,
Dave Barnaby
AllergyBuyersClub.com Staff.

See all the air purifiers at Allergybuyersclub.com

First Published: early December 2002
Updated: April 2007

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