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Re: Air Purifiers and Ventilation Remedies for Apartment Smoke Infiltration

A Reader writes:

Hi Ed,

We currently are currently renting a ~600 sq ft apartment in Florida.

Off and on through the years my wife has complained of dust and other irritants although not as often and serious as others I have read about.

Within the last few months she would complain of our apartment smelling like cigarette smoke and blame me.

Now I have occasionally smoked but always outside by myself and if I was to enter our apartment I would immediately go wash my hands, face, and brush my teeth to minimize any smells or odors.

I am currently deployed as a government contractor to Afghanistan and have been for a couple months. This smoke smell has persisted and is more prevalent at night so I am finally blame free. A friend of hers has also noticed it at times lending to my wife's credibility.

From what we can determine the neighbors are smoking in their apartment and it seeps through to ours, more than likely through a section of dropped type ceiling where the A/C ducts are.

The management will not do anything to try and seal the apartment.

For a while before I left she would be coughing, hacking, and having a hard time sleeping through the night.

We dusted, vacuumed, shampooed carpets and cleaned fairly well which seemed to help for a while. This seepage of smoke though has been causing her problems again.

I have been researching options with air purifiers and came across your site. I would like to consider see about the feasibility of pressurizing our apartment and seeing what sort of foul smelling sources I could push back into theirs. I'm sure that idea has its downfalls but gives me something to think about while over here.

A short term solution while I'm over here is to buy her an air purifier till I return and we possibly move. Number one priority is that it works. I would also include that it needs to be quiet enough so she will keep it running while she sleeps to allow it to work. In addition I am thinking about when we move how usable will it be given I do not know the size or location of where we may end up.

I like the IQ Air HealthPro Plus for it's capability as well as the Rabbit Air Minus for its capability, size, looks, quietness, sensor, and negative ionizer.

I think the IQ would be able to handle the entire apartment as it is only 600 sq ft so could be placed in the living room while still effectively handling the entire apartment. Although from the numbers not extremely noisy while on lower settings this would help further block sound from reaching the bedroom while also helping through out the living area.

I came across the IQ Air QC Multi-Gas which is $250 more than the IQ Plus. I was wondering if you had experience or heard of any regarding a comparison of those two and if you thought there would be any appreciable benefit of choosing the QC if I went the IQ route. At first comparison it seemed obviously better with its 12 lbs of active carbon vs the 5 lbs of the Plus, but then I read that it lacks the HEPA filter. Given what our situation is which of the two IQ Air versions do you think would work the best for us?

I have also thought about getting the Plus and the Rabbit together but I'll already be spending quite a bit as it is.

More can be better but do you think that would be overkill? I prefer to do things right and will spend the money to do so.

While underspending costs more money in the long run so does overspending or erroneous spending which I hope to minimize.

I appreciate your time and any opinion you would be willing to give,

A Reader.

Ed's Reply

Hey Reader;

First, please read my article on third-hand smoke;

Dangers and Effects of Third Hand Smoke

This will save me repeating that material here.

The air purifier issues;

IQAir HealthPro Plus is fine, there is no added benefit for your situation with the specialized filter loads. However, the first air purifier, whether IQAir or not, should be installed in the bedroom, not the main room. Many see the big IQAir and assume it can handle a large room or suite. I do not recommend this, despite the high quality and efficiency of the IQAirs.

See my main IQAir Review for a discussion of using a HealthPro Plus in the main room. While it did a fine job of lowering particle counts over a broad area with 24 hour high-speed operation, this is not how we use air cleaners in real life.

Bedrooms, where we spend the most time, are critical air quality areas.

I like RabbitAir 421A/582A, designed in Japan, better than the stylish Korean-designed and built MinusA series. I recommend the MinusA2 for professional offices and Manhattan lofts where style is as important as substance.

For smoke in ordinary apartments, the 421A is the cost effective solution.

I'd get the $329 Rabbit 421A immediately for near her bed, and see if there is any benefit. I expect she will always do better with an air cleaner in the bedroom.

A decision about the IQAir could wait until you return and choose new accommodations.

I have two residences, in both I have installed home-built window mount filtered ventilation systems which pull outside air through filters. These have reduced my reliance on air cleaners for normal sleep.

I get a 12 by 36 inch furnace filter, of the higher filtration ratings - Merv-11 (new rating systems have been emerging) or better.

I cut about half an inch off the filter's length to make it fit the window (35 5/8 interior dimension), put a couple layers of carbon-impregnated cloth on the outside.

I hold these filters together, attach it to a twin window fan, and seal all, with 2 inch clear packing tape.

I stacked two furnace filters and two layers of carbon cloth for the Houston apartment ventilator.

Here is the window fan I used, which matches the 12 inch filters quite well in a 36 inch wide window. Some cheaper models, with manual controls, are not as good;

Bionaire Window Fan

I don't have a web page describing this project, but see another similar project; Do-It-Yourself HEPA?

There you'll find photos and a link to the carbon cloth filter kit and polyurethane AC filters I use.

I run this window fan on low speed on inward, drawing outside air through the filters. I turn on the kitchen and bath exhaust vent fans to create a continuous airflow which removes carbon dioxide build up, a key cause of sleep disruption.

This has produced, after some years of experimenting, better sleep and air quality than air purifiers alone.

Of course my air cleaners are running as well, but generally on low.

At my rural cabin, I have filters in the bedroom window, inches from my face, and an exhaust fan upstairs to draw in the outside air.

Of course, these ideas are best suited to southern climates, and won't be as nice in Maine or Minnesota in winter.

Your apartment could have an easy smoke fix - maybe it's just a plumbing or electrical conduit run which needs to be stuffed with insulation.

Or it could be intractable - like a common HVAC plenum which pulls and mixes air from a series of adjoining apartments. It could be that your landlord has confronted this issue before and found the cost too high.

I would still investigate the source by removing a ceiling tile, and poking around, when you get back.

And you are absolutely correct that underspending on air cleaners often backfires, especially where they fall apart or have long term filter and maintenance costs which exceed the purchase price.

I have three air cleaners in my bedroom, IQAir, Sharp Plasmacluster KC-C150U, and a little Holmes HAP-242 set up to collect large dust only.

The 6-year old IQAir, with original filters and homemade extra prefilters, runs while I sleep, the other two run 24/7. This setup keeps dust out of the two big machines' HEPA filters, allowing very long HEPA service life - and combined with the window filter, provides pretty clean sleeping air.

I also keep the room very dark while sleeping, and free of electronics with their electromagnetic emissions.

Overkill? I don't think so.

Best wishes,

Ed

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