Category: Removing Odors

One of the major challenges when running a dog kennel is maintaining good air quality. You have to deal with everything from bad odors to kennel cough. Fortunately, you have a helpful solution at your disposal. After you have ensured good hygiene, with the right air purifier your kennel air quality problem can be a thing of the past.

To cut straight to the chase, the 4 effective air purifiers for dog kennels include the,

1. Air Oasis 5000 PRO
2. IQAir GC Multigas 
3. Amaircare 675 Airwash Whisper
4. Electrocorp I-6500 AH 120

After thoroughly looking around, I found these 4 air purifiers were among the most effective you can find online for kennels. They don’t just work for dog kennels but are also effective for dog groomers, vets, doggy daycare centers, and other dog boarding facilities. 

To get the best results from these air purifiers or any others you might try for your dog kennel, you have to know the types of air purifiers that will work for pollutants released in a dog kennel or facility that keeps dogs. You also need to know how to operate your air purifier in order to get the most out of it.

With the hope that this information will help you make the best call for your dog facility when it comes to air purifiers, in the rest of this post I explain all the various aspects of air purifiers you need to consider and why the air purifiers I found are among the most suitable for dog kennels.

Types Of Air Purifiers That Will Improve Your Dog Kennel Air

When trying to improve the air quality in your dog kennel, you are essentially trying to get rid of airborne gaseous and solid particles (also called particulates) in your facility. Particulates include mostly dog hair, dust, bacteria, and dander while the gaseous pollutants in your air are molecules being emitted directly from your dogs or their excretions that cause bad odor.

The odor-causing molecules from your dogs are also classified as volatile organic compounds. So when you are looking for an air purifier for your kennel, you have to look for the types of air purifiers that get rid of both volatile organic compounds and solid airborne particulates.

There are several types of air purifiers out there and I have written about all the different types here. However, for dog kennels, the only types of air purifiers that will do a proper job in improving your air quality include, activated carbon HEPA air purifiers, photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) air purifiers, and HVAC air or better know as whole-house air purifiers. 

Let us look in more detail at how each of these types of air purifiers help keep the air clean in kennels.

Activated Carbon HEPA Air Purifiers

Activated carbon HEPA air purifiers are air purifiers that are built with both a HEPA and activated carbon air filter. The filters are placed at the core of your air purifier and as your device sucks air through itself these filters capture different kinds of pollutants.

While the HEPA filter traps tiny but solid airborne particles, the carbon air filter traps gaseous airborne particles including odor-causing volatile organic compounds. Accordingly, a device with this combination of air filters gives you a holistic air cleaning system, which as required attacks both dander, allergens, bacteria, and odors being spread in your kennel.

PCO Air Purifiers

PCO air purifiers are basically air purifiers that use an intense level and broad spectrum of UV light together with a metal catalyst (usually titanium dioxide) to cause a reaction that destroys air pollutants, turning them into harmless water, dead matter and carbon dioxide. 

In your kennel, PCO air purifiers will remove and destroy particulate matter from the air, kill bacteria, and even destroy the VOCs from your dogs that cause bad smells in your air. 

Just like the usual air purifier, this type of air purifier has air inlets and outlets. However, instead of filters in its core, it contains a reaction chamber where pollutants are neutralized using the broad spectrum UV light I mentioned earlier.

Whole-house Air Purifiers

Whole-house or HVAC air purifiers vary. These are usually a device that is inserted in your kennel’s ductwork or attached to your HVAC’s air handler, to filter out pollutants before air from your duct is released into your workspace or home. 

With HVAC air purifiers, you can either have a PCO or HEPA based purifier. Not only does such an air purifier give you better air purification coverage over your facility but it also keeps your air ducts clean.

Now of these three types of air purifiers, you are really choosing between 2 purification technologies (i.e. PCO and Activated Carbon HEPA) and whether you want a portable device or a fixed built-in device. 

When making the choice between the technologies, I would go with the PCO air purifier if you have an extremely large space (over 2000 sq ft). Less than 2000 sq ft, an activated carbon air purifier will do. The other beauty of PCO air purifiers is that they are low maintenance.

You just have to clean them ever so often and change the UV bulb, usually every 2 – 3 years. On the other hand, activated carbon HEPA purifiers, need regular filter changes for both your carbon and HEPA filter. 

The catch with PCO air purifiers though is that sometimes you will find by the time you need to replace a part the technology has advanced and you cannot find parts for your model. With filter-based air purifiers, this is easier to deal with as filters can be retrofitted. 

PCO air purifiers are also rarer and quite unique devices. I am yet to find any that have generic spares. In light of this, a common complaint with PCO air purifiers is that spare parts are hard to find when you need them most.

As for the choice between a HVAC or portable purifier, I would obviously go with the portable air purifiers if I do not have an HVAC system in place. If you have an HVAC and multiple rooms in which you need your air cleaned, then that’s when it is best to look into getting a whole-house air purifier. 

Otherwise, if I have 3 rooms or less that I need to freshen up the air in, I would stick to portable air purifiers. I would get an air purifier for each room as it works out much easier than getting one installed on your HVAC system. 

So in summary, when deciding on the type of air purifier you need for your dog kennel:

1. Go for a PCO air purifier, if you want good air quality over a greater floor space and lower device maintenance costs.
2. Go for an activated carbon HEPA air purifier, if you don’t want the headaches of finding spare parts long term and if you don’t need to cover a lot of floor space. 
3. Choose a whole-house air purifier if you have the suitable ductwork for it and over 3 rooms in which you want to improve air quality in. Otherwise, simply stick to portable air purifiers.

How To Get The Best Air Quality In Your Kennel When Using Air Purifiers 

When considering an air purifier for a dog kennel, you will find that one thing a lot of people get wrong is going for multiple cheap small air purifiers. If you go this route, it will just end up costing you a lot in filter replacements if you get some HEPA based purifiers. This is also a rather illogical approach with a PCO air purifier.

As a rule of thumb, for optimal air cleansing when getting a portable or movable air purifier, you should get the biggest devices you can for your floor space and these should be able to cover at least 100 sq ft more space than the actual sq ft of your room. I discuss more on what size air purifier is generally suitable in different spaces here.

Next, if you opt for an activated carbon HEPA purifier, make sure to go for a device with a minimum of 15-20 pounds of carbon. This will ensure you adequately remove the bad smells created by your dogs over a long period of time before you need to replace your carbon filter.

For optimal filtration of solid particulates, look for a HEPA filter that can get rid of particles as small as 0.1 microns. Lastly, you have to position your portable air purifier well. The more central you can get the air purifier in a room the better. Also, ensure your device is free of obstructions and gets good airflow and that your air purifier is not in a busy, high traffic area.

The 4 Air Purifiers That Will Work For Your Dog Kennels

So now that you know what type of air purifier to go for and how to get the best results out of your device, we can look at the specific devices I pointed out earlier in more detail.

Air Oasis 5000 PRO Air Purifier

The Air Oasis 5000 PRO is a commercial-grade air purifier. It is an AHPCO type of air purifier. This is an enhanced version of a PCO air purifier. It is specifically tailored towards getting rid of odors including pet and cleaning chemical odors among others.

The air oasis 5000 PRO will also eliminate airborne bacteria and infections in your kennel, preventing the spread of diseases such as kennel cough in your facility. The unit contains a fan and two PCO cells that work to purify air over an open room area of up to 5000 sq ft.

If you get this air purifier, you won’t need to change any filters or do any parts maintenance. You only need to replace the device’s cells when they wear out and this happens every 2 to 3 years. 

The air purifier comes with a notification feature that tells you when you need to replace the cell. Additionally, Air Oasis will also offer you a 3-year warranty, with the expectation that your device will work maintenance-free over the first 3 years you use it.

That said, the reason I would avoid the Air Oasis air purifier is that the only place you can get spare parts for it is directly from the manufacturer. Should the company fail or not be reachable for any reason then your device becomes useless once your purification cells run their course.

Other people have also complained that getting support from Air Oasis for any of their air purifiers becomes very difficult after your device’s 3-year warranty has lapsed. So if you plan to invest in this device for your kennel, I say plan for the worst.

Prepare to replace this device every three years just in case you fail to get replacement parts from the supplier for whatever reason. You can check out the Air Oasis 5000 Pro Air Purifier here at Amazon.

IQAir Health Pro Plus Air Purifier

Now, when it comes to activated carbon HEPA air purifiers, I believe the IQAir GC MultiGas air purifier is a top of the range device. It will deal with airborne pollutants as small as 0.003 which is better than you will get from most HEPA air purifiers.

This air purifier is a heavy-duty device. It’s packed with 12 pounds of high-grade activated carbon in its filtration core and it is well suited to deal with odors and the various pollutants from your dogs if you run a kennel or any other dog boarding facility. 

Unlike other activated carbon HEPA purifiers, its filters can run for over a year depending on how polluted your air is. However, it’s quite expensive to replace the device’s filters and the purifiers coverage is limited to about 1000 sq ft, meaning you may need multiple devices if your kennel area is bigger than that.

A common complaint about this air purifier though is a sweet scent it produces. The problem was apparently caused by its carbon filters not being packaged properly and absorbing the odor from the surrounding material. 

This problem has however been resolved by IQAir sending the activated carbon filter section of the unit separately. That said, be careful when ordering this unit. 

Avoid getting this air purifier from resellers due to warranty issues and some resellers selling older stock which come with the smelly carbon filters.

If you order it through a good source, your carbon filter will come separately and may even arrive on a different day from your actual air purifier. A good place to get the IQAir Health Pro Plus is from IQAir’s official Amazon store here.

Amaircare 675 Airwash Whisper Air Purifier

I know I mentioned earlier that portable HEPA air purifiers are limited to spaces below 2000 square feet but you will actually find that there are some heavy-duty activated carbon HEPA air purifiers that can cover up to 7000 sq ft. 

These devices are however oversized and though they can be moved around, I don’t think they are worth being labeled portable. One such device that is well suited for dog kennels is the Amaircare 675 Airwash Whisper. 

One of these units can cover a room that is up to 5000 sq ft with a height of 8 ft from floor to ceiling. Besides the large size of this purifier, another catch is that you will only get 1 air change per hour (ACH).

Typically for a dog kennel, you need 3 ACH for an activated Carbon HEPA to effectively deal with all the smells and pollutants your dogs produce. So as much as the Amaircare 657 air purifier can cover 5000 sq ft, rather invest in one of these for every 2500 sq ft you need to cover in a room with a height of 8 ft. This will ensure you get over the needed 3 ACH.

The beauty of the Amaircare 675 is that you can also connect it to your HVAC. It works as a stand-alone purifier in a large open room or you can connect it on the return air portion of your HVAC air handler using a bypass installation approach. 

The bypass installation approach further benefits you as it has no impact on your HVAC and does not affect your HVAC warranty. With Amaircare on your HVAC, in no time you will be getting rid of pollutants and pumping back clean and fresh smelling air through your dog boarding facility.

Take caution though, the Amaircare 675 is not the best device for ultrafine particles. This device is all about giving you that heavy-duty large scale cleaning rather than specialized clinical air cleaning. 

Nonetheless, your air will smell fresh and your dogs, customers, staff and you will be satisfied with the quality of air it produces. The Amaircare will get rid of odors, pet dander and dangerous airborne bacteria and viruses in your kennel. 

Just make sure when you are getting this device that you select the correct filter options. For dog kennels, you need the HEPA filter and a heavy activated carbon filter. So you should choose the Plus Annual Kit filter option which comes with an extra activated carbon filter canister. 

To be more specific, the model number of the filter you are looking for is 93-A-16PL02-ET. The carbon part of your filter will last 6 months while the HEPA air purifier will last 2-3 years. You can follow this link here to check out the exact filter at Amazon. 

The Amaircare 675 Airwash comes with a 5-year limited warranty. You can have a look at the Amaircare 675 Airwash Whisper Air Purifier here at Amazon.

Electrocorp I-6500 AH 120

The Electrocorp I-6500 AH 120 is among the most reliable HVAC specific air purification solutions I could find for dog kennels. It is used in large morgues, hospitals, marijuana growing facilities, and police evidence rooms among other places. 

The Electrocorp I-6500 AH 120 is an industrial level activated carbon HEPA HVAC air purifier. At 120 pounds, it has the heaviest industrial strength activated carbon air filter I have seen to date for an HVAC. 

You connect the air purifier to your HVAC’s ductwork and it will ensure the air in all the rooms serviced by your HVAC is clean and smells fresh. The I-6500 AH 120, however, comes at a hefty price tag.

The air purifier is best installed by an HVAC professional and you also wanna make sure to consult with a professional before going out and getting one of these. You can have a look at the Electrocorp I-6500 AH 120 here.

Other Considerations When Improving Your Dog Kennel’s Air Quality With Air Purifiers

Armed with the knowledge of which air purifiers will work for your dog kennel and how to use them effectively, there are just a few more things you should consider with air purifiers when trying to get the best air quality you possibly can in your kennel.

Ensure Good  Ventilation

Number one on my list is ventilation. When trying to freshen up air anywhere ventilation is critical. Moving air is better for odor control than still air. Accordingly, you will find, occasional fresh air from outside is an important first step in dealing with odors and bacteria in your kennel. 

You have to get the air moving as much as possible, and using a good fan or industrial level ventilation (depending on your boarding facility size) in parallel with your air purifier will go a long way in ensuring you get the best air quality in your dog care facility.

Maintain High Hygiene Standards

You are probably already doing this but if you are not, you need to start otherwise, your air purifiers won’t really help you with your air quality issues. You need to implement strict hygiene measures in your boarding facility.

If you cannot implement a proper hygiene system in-house, consider getting a professional cleaning service. Your air purifiers will be fighting a losing battle if you have poor hygiene standards in your kennel. 

Control Your Humidity Level & Temperature

If your air is too humid and warm, your kennel becomes an environment for both surface and airborne bacteria and viruses to rapidly reproduce and for all sorts of pathogens to thrive. 

Your air purifier can only go so far with poor humidity levels. In fact, your carbon filters get saturated even faster and your HEPA filters can get damaged if the air is too moist.

Temperature is easy enough to control with a good air conditioner but when you have too much moisture in your air either due to the weather or moisture from your dog baths, it is a good idea to have an automated dehumidifier.

An automated dehumidifier will detect your kennel’s humidity level and reduce it to the ideal level if it is too high. In short, this will help improve your air purifier’s performance by cutting down the level of contaminants in your air that it has to filter out and also by making your filters last longer.

There are other factors, of course, you can consider beyond what I have mentioned. However, with the information I have provided you here, you now know pretty much everything you really need to know to get the most out of air purifiers for your dog kennel.

I must say, if you keep your dog indoors dog smells have got to be one of the worst experiences. Fortunately, there are ways to manage the smell but can an air purifier help? To answer your question, in this post I share with you everything you need to know about air purifiers and dealing with dog smell.

But before you get into the details, in short, does an air purifier help with dog smell? An air purifier helps with dog smells but not all types of air purifiers will work. The best type of air purifiers for dog smell include activated carbon, ozone, and PCO air purifiers. Air purifiers work for dog smell but should be used with other measures for best results.

As much as there are air purifiers that will help you, it’s important to note that they won’t get rid of 100% of the smell. To use air purifiers effectively when trying to eliminate dog smell, the first thing you need to know is where your dog smell is coming from.

Once you know what is making your dog smell, you will then be able to determine what kind of air purifier you need or whether you even need an air purifier as you may find you can actually fix the problem in another way.

Accordingly in this post, I go over what could be the source of your dog smell, what kind of air purifier you could get to help you, how to best to use your air purifier and finally, alternative steps you can take in conjunction with using your air purifier to get rid of the smell. 

What Exactly Is Causing Your Dog Smell?

From my experience as a dog owner, I found that dog odor either comes directly from your dog’s body or from the space your dog spends a lot of time in. The worst time for me when it comes to dog smells is when it rains. I don’t know what happens but when my dogs get wet from rain, they smell so bad I don’t want them anywhere near the house.

Not all dogs smell bad when they get rained on, but this is a common source of dog smell. If we get a bit more scientific, apparently dogs have scent glands in their skin, that secrete a strong-smelling oil that you eventually smell after they get rained on.

Also, linked to your dog’s scent glands is its diet. When dogs are fed certain foods apparently the odor stemming from their scent gland secretions changes accordingly. People have commonly found when their dogs eat food containing fish meal or oil, they start to smell bad.

Furthermore, remember that for dogs, their skin and hair are also a way that their body removes impurities and also serve as excretory organs. Consequently, some foods they eat may cause them to smell terrible through their skin and fur.

Your dog could also be smelling bad because it has flatulence and this is again often linked to diet. Besides that, your dog’s smell may also be because it has health problems affecting its skin or teeth. With dental issues, the result is usually bad breath and this could stick to your dog’s fur as it licks itself and eventually you smell the bad odor around your house.

Dogs also obviously smell bad if they have not been groomed or had a wash in a while. Food and all sorts of organic stuff stick to your dog’s fur and if they stay there for too long, they start to smell as they decompose on your dog’s body.

If your dog’s body smells, the stench from its body can stick on surfaces around your home where your dog rubs against or spends the most time. Besides this, your dog may simply spray urine to mark its territory in your home and or take a dump in your house and if this happens often, the smell starts to stick and become persistent. 

Air purifiers will help you mostly for cases whereby the smell is largely from your dog’s environment. With smells directly from your dog’s body, air purifiers will clear the air but you will obviously still smell your dog if it is close enough.

However, you might find yourself in a situation whereby your dog’s odor is so bad that even way after you have cleaned up, your furniture and carpets continue to smell. 

In such a case the benefits of an air purifier will be limited. Your air might get constantly cleared of the stench, but you continue to smell your dog’s odor whenever you are close to the source or when your air purifier is off.

Keeping all this in mind, the trick in getting rid of dog smell with air purifiers is identifying the cause of your dog smell and killing or limiting the smell at the source while your air purifier deals with the odor-causing particles in the air stemming from either your dog’s body or living space.

What Type Of Air Purifier Is Best For Dog Smell?

I have now shown you what causes dog smells and how air purifiers can accordingly help. With this knowledge, I believe you are now ready to understand what type of air purifier will help you. 

Now, when it comes to dog smells, whatever the source, the odors coming from your dog are volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are gaseous pollutants made of very small molecules and to get rid of dog smell you will need an air purifier that gets rid of VOCs.

Some air purifiers do an amazing job when it comes to removing or destroying VOCs, while others are absolutely useless. The types of air purifiers that work best for VOCs (i.e. dog smells) include Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO) air purifiers, Activated Carbon air purifiers and Ozone Generators. 

If you come across ionic air purifiers, UV light air purifiers, or the common HEPA air purifier in your search for a suitable purifier these are going to be absolutely useless in helping you eliminate your dog’s poor odor. So, run far away if anyone claims these will help you.

Now let’s look at the 3 types of air purifiers that will help you with dog smell in more detail.

Photocatalytic Oxidation Air Purifiers

PCO air purifiers are very effective against VOCs and are sure to get rid of any dog smell lingering in your indoor air. They use UV lamps but unlike normal UV air purifiers, they use UV lamps with additional wavelengths and broad-spectrum as compared to ordinary UV lamps. 

This makes their purification process so powerful enough that they can get rid of toxic gases and dangerous airborne particles in your home. 

Within the core of a PCO purifier, you will find a film of titanium dioxide which when exposed to its broad-spectrum UV light causes a reaction that burns pollutants and VOCs sucked out of your indoor air and through your device. PCO air purifiers convert harmful particulates and toxic gases (dog smells included) into safer compounds such as carbon dioxide and water.

Activated Carbon Air Purifiers

Activated carbon air purifiers are another key type of air purifier for addressing dog smells. These air purifiers come either containing a pure activated carbon filter or more commonly with a combination of a carbon and HEPA filter within your device’s filtration core. They are designed to get rid of VOCs and will deal with dog smells quite well.

They work by a process called adsorption in which they capture odor-causing molecules and trap them within the carbon filter. The filter, however, has to replaced as it becomes saturated over time and fails to trap more pollutants and you will notice your dog smell resurfacing once this happens. 

Ozone Generator

Lastly, to help you with dog smell you can try an ozone generator. This kind of air purifier removes VOCs not only from the air but also on some surfaces by oxidizing them and turning them into different molecules. 

Ozone generators release ozone into the air which reacts with airborne pollutants and some surface pollutants and neutralizes them through a process of oxidation. Ozone generators work well for odor as the ozone they release into your indoor air has strong cleaning properties and they actually leave your room with a fresh and clean chlorine-like smell.

Of the three types of air purifiers that work for dog smell, I personally prefer the activated carbon air purifier as it is the most common and easiest to maintain. PCO air purifiers work really well but these devices are very unique and not as common.

The uniqueness of PCO air purifiers means that whenever you need to maintain them, you have to get whatever spare part you need from your device manufacturer as generic spares are not available. On the other hand for activated carbon air purifiers, you can more easily find generic parts and retrofit filters if you cannot find original parts from your manufacturer.

What’s great about PCO air purifiers though is they can go over 2 years without needing any part replacements. With most activated carbon air purifiers you need to replace filters every 3 months or so.

As for ozone generators, I really do not recommend these as ozone is actually a dangerous chemical. It can kill small pets and irritate your lungs. More seriously if you have anyone with asthma or any type of breathing condition, ozone can make it worse. 

That said, ozone generators are effective for getting rid of dog smell in your home or dog kennel. You just need to know how to use it safely and I explain how in the next section. All in all, I am biased towards activated carbon air purifiers to deal with dog smells indoors.

Some awesome activated carbon devices I have heard good things about for dog smell include the Hamilton Beach True Air Purifier, and the Winix WAC9500 Ultimate Pet True HEPA Air Cleaner. That said, you should be able to fare well against dog odor with any air purifiers that contain a heavy activated carbon filter. 

You can find out more about the activated carbon air purifiers I recommend for odors here.

How To Use An Air Purifier To Get Rid Of Dog Smell?

When you finally get your air purifier and you are ready to run it, depending on the type of air purifier you got, there are a couple of things you have to do to use them effectively. Let us start with ozone generators. 

As I said earlier, ozone generators are dangerous machines and you need to be extra careful when you are using them. The first thing I tell everyone who asks about ozone generators is “do not use an ozone generator if you live with anyone with a breathing condition.” This applies at home or wherever you need to get rid of dog smell.

If there is no one with any breathing condition sharing your space, then when you decide to use an ozone generator the first step is to ensure that there is no one including pets in the room where you decide to place it in. 

You can run your ozone generator for half a day or for a full day and this should get rid of the smell. If you want to run the purifier across your entire home, I have found the best approach is to plan a day away for yourself and your family. 

By doing that you make sure no one is home and you can actually run multiple devices at the same time to save time covering your entire house.

Be sure to leave home early to give your ozone generators a longer period to work over the course of the day. Then an hour or two before everyone comes back home, stop running the devices so that you do not come back to a home ridden with ozone. 

If you think this is such a process but you would still like to use ozone generators to get rid of dog smell, the other option is to hire a professional cleaning service to do it for you. The beauty of ozone is that you only need to run it once or twice every 3 months or so. This is, of course, assuming that you have also dealt with the source of your dog’s odor.

The other types of air purifiers are much easier to use. For activated carbon and PCO air purifiers you need to ensure you get the right size air purifier. If your air purifier is too small for the area infested with dog odor, it will not really help to get rid of the bad smell. 

Wherever you decide to plug in your PCO or activated carbon air purifier make sure it is well-positioned free of any obstructions to its airflow. You also want to place it away from busy areas but as close as possible to the source of the smell if it’s coming from a fixed area. 

You can learn more about positioning your air purifier for best results here. In addition to positioning your air purifier well, you should also ensure you run your air purifier 24 hours a day as you initially try to get rid of your dog’s bad smell around your home.

Make sure you maintain your device by either cleaning your filters or replacing them as recommended in your device’s manual. This will ensure your device works properly year-round.

Finally, you have to be patient with both PCO and activated carbon air purifiers. Unlike Ozone generators which work more immediately, give PCO and activated carbon air purifiers at least a couple of days to get rid of your dog smell. 

If your device does not work within a week then either you have not dealt with the cause of your dog smell at the source or something is wrong with your air purifier. It might not be large enough, or it might not be well-positioned, or it simply does not work.

Other Things To Consider In Addition To Using An Air Purifier

Keeping in mind that air purifiers are designed to mainly deal with airborne odor-causing molecules, below is a list of other measures you should consider in getting rid of dog smell whether this is at home or if you own a dog kennel. These measures all entail addressing the problem at the source. 

In order to effectively get rid of dog smell with air purifiers, you should additionally:

1. Clean up your dog’s urine and fecal accidents immediately
2. House train your dogs
3. Bath and groom your dogs on a recommended schedule
4. Wash your dog’s bedding and your beddings if you allow your dog on your bed
5. Clean your furniture and the area where your dogs spend a lot of time with odor cleansing detergents
6. Use a blacklight to detect urine you may have missed
7. Ventilate your home or whatever space you need to get rid of dog odors from
8. Use a high-quality vacuum cleaner  with a HEPA filter
9. Change your dog food 
10. Take your dog to the vet to check if it has an odor-causing dental, skin or gut condition that can be cured.

To sum up, if you implement good pet hygiene and good-housekeeping measures and run a reliable air purifier in your home, you are well on your way to having your air purifier ensure that your home remains free of bad dog odor.

In my search for a bathroom air purifier, I found many retailers and online stores misunderstand what people are looking for. Most websites I have browsed show me stuff to eliminate bathroom odor. However what I actually want is a device that doesn’t just eliminate odors but also airborne germs, dust and other air pollutants lurking around in my bathroom.

If you have had the same experience as me or if you actually just want an odor eliminator for your bathroom then read on as I think I have got exactly what you are looking for. 

I am going to show you some devices worth trying that get rid of both dangerous and annoying air pollutants and odors in your bathroom. In summary, the 5 powerful small air purifiers for a bathroom are as follows,

1. Cogswell Toilet Air Purifier
2. NoMO Air Purifier for Bathroom & Toilet 
3. The Odorless
4. Duofresh By Gerberit
5. AeraMax 100 Air Purifier

The 5 devices can be split into 2 groups namely Standalone and Attached devices. All the devices except the AeraMax 100 Air Purifier are attached devices in that they have to be connected to your toilet to work. 

These five air purifiers are among the few worth your while for bathrooms. Of the five I personally like the AeraMax 100 Air Purifier which is available  at Amazon. Unlike the other options, you can plug the AeraMax pretty much anywhere in your bathroom as long as you have a power socket. 

The AeraMax air purifier is a standalone appliance and will improve your air without having to be attached to anything. On top of that, it also deals with both bad odors and air pollutants in your bathroom, unlike the attached purifiers which are mainly focused on eliminating odors.

I talk about all this stuff and the pros and cons of each of the 5 bathroom purifiers more extensively in the rest of this post. I also go over some extra measures you can use together with these devices to ensure your bathroom air quality is always at its best. So read on to learn more about the air purifiers that can best improve the air quality in your bathroom.

1. Cogswell Bathroom And Toilet Odor Eliminator 

The first convincing bathroom air purifier I came across in my search for devices that do a sufficient job was the Cogswell Bathroom and Toilet Odor Eliminator. This device works by attaching it to your toilet bowl in a way that allows it to extract unwanted odors coming directly out of your bowl pit.

The manufacturer of the Cogswell Odor Eliminator says it is able to get rid of bad smells in and around your toilet because of the unique Helixion Technology filtration system it uses. 

The system neutralizes odors by creating a vortex around your toilet bowl which sucks up and gets rid of odors and releases cleaned fresh air back into your bathroom without using any harmful chemicals or sprays. This device is actually a great option if you have chemical sensitivities.

The substance in its filters that enables it to get rid of bad odors is an enhanced type of activated carbon. Activated carbon is known to absorb odors, vapors, and various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and is wildly used when trying to get rid of odors. 

For the Cogswell Bathroom Odor Eliminator, you get your activated carbon in the form of a scented or unscented filter cartridge that can be replaced once it gets saturated. The device is powered by 4 AA batteries and fits easily on the rim of most toilet bowls under your toilet seat. 

It has a built-in motion sensor that allows the device to switch on automatically and start cleaning your air before bad odors start to spread and thereby keeping your bathroom smelling fresh at all times. The device features a small led light that comes on to show that it is cleaning your air. 

The led light also lights up your toilet bowl allowing you to do your business without turning your bathroom light on when its dark, which is awesome when you don’t want to turn on the lights when you go use the loo in the middle of the night (some of you will know why I think this is so awesome 😊). 

Below is a video showing how the Cogswell Bathroom Odor Eliminator works.

A lot of people who have tried the Cogswell Odor Eliminator say it works well but like many appliances, it’s not without problems. The common complaint about this bathroom air purifier is that it munches through batteries. 

The reason for this is that the motion sensor is designed in a way that makes the fan and lights work even when it’s unnecessary. To fix this, people have resorted to blocking the sensor with duct tape and removing the duct tape when they want the device to work. 

Doing this has seen the batteries last for more reasonable periods of time. However, this kind of improvisation is the last thing you want to do when you spend your hard-earned money on a device designed to work otherwise. 

Some people have also complained that the device does not fit well on their toilet but to the credit of the manufacturer they do point out on the product packaging that it won’t fit for everyone’s toilet. 

Another thing you have to be prepared for is to replace your filter cartridges every 2-3 months. So in a year, you will need about 5 or 6 filter changes at most. 

Despite the quirks of this device, it does get the job done in eliminating odor. If you can deal with the cons, then this device will serve you well. Another thing you should note is that this bathroom air purifier is designed only to eliminate bad odors. 

In view of this, go for the Cogswell air purifier if you are only concerned about getting rid of bathroom odors from your toilet bowl. Compared to the other devices I looked at the Cogswell is the most reasonably priced. Check out the Cogswell Bathroom Odor Eliminator here at Amazon.

2. NoMO Air Purifier for Bathroom & Toilet 

Next on the list is The NoMO bathroom air purifier. I think the guys who made this air purifier saw the Cogswell air purifier and thought to themselves, “We Can Do Better”. The NoMO air purifier is like the Cogswell on steroids and it accordingly costs twice as much.

It also attaches to your toilet bowl but you are given two attaching options. You can attach it directly to your bowl like the Cogswell, or alternatively, you can attach it to your toilet seat. Once attached the device works by sucking the bad-smelling air out of your bowl pit using its fans and channels it towards its filtration system.

Like the Cogswell, the devices’ filtration system also contains activated carbon which adsorbs the bad smell from your toilet bowl and thereafter releases the cleaned air into your bathroom. It also does this without the use of harmful chemicals.

The video below shows how the NoMO works.

The difference and in my opinion the improvement with the NoMO purifier is that you never ever need to replace your carbon filter. The device is packed with 240 grams of activated carbon which the manufacturer claims will last you a lifetime. 

They stand by this claim so much so they will replace your device if your filter fails. Additionally, the NoMO air purifier comes with a motion sensor and a power button so you can turn the device on and off whenever you want. 

To get the device working you simply wave your hand at the motion sensor and then it cleans your air for 3 minutes. You also won’t face any battery issues as it has a built-in rechargeable battery just like your phone. 

When the battery runs out you can detach the part of the device that contains the battery and plug it into your power supply using its charger to recharge. Alternatively, if you have a power supply near your toilet, then you don’t even need to move the unit and you just plug the charger in and it charges on the spot. 

However, you can’t use it while it’s charging. But once it is fully charged, the beauty of it all is your purifier can run for up to 2 months before needing another recharge.

As much as the NoMo purifier is a serious upgrade compared to the Cogswell, it has its flaws. The common issue I have seen with the NoMO bathroom purifier is that it does not fit on all types of toilets. 

That said a guide is provided to make sure you know whether or not it will fit for you before you make your purchase. See the picture below for more details.

As much as NoMO claims, the bowl mount will fit anywhere, as I have seen from a number of reviews this has just not been the case. On the size issue, some people have also found that the device is quite large in itself.

Some people’s toilet bowls are quite low and when they install the device it ends up touching the floor and accordingly fitting poorly. But don’t be dismayed if you bought the device and you find yourself battling with sizing. You can always return the device for a full refund within 30 days of getting it. 

Another common complaint about the NoMo is the noise it makes when it’s cleaning your air. It sounds like a mini hoover or hairdryer and you can hear it from outside your bathroom. So if you don’t want another distracting noise in your bathroom then you best avoid it.

For some people, the NoMO works but not fast enough but I think this issue comes down to personal preference and you would have to judge for yourself. 

It’s another great device to go for if all you are concerned about is odors and no other air pollutants in your bathroom. For a more intense bathroom air purifier than the Cogswell, you can find the NoMO Air Purifier at Amazon.

3. The Odorless

The Odorless air purifier is another bathroom air purifier focused mainly on getting rid of bad odor from your toilet bowl. Though it also uses activated carbon to get rid of odor, it works differently from the Cogswell and NoMo air purifiers.

The device comes in two parts. A fan unit and battery and sensor unit. Instead of being placed directly on your bowl pit you actually place the fan part of the device in your toilet tank while the battery and sensor unit sits outside.

Inside your toilet tank, the fan unit is placed on the overflow-vent pipe of your toilet tank and connected to the battery and sensor unit which is strategically positioned to detect when someone is using the bathroom.

When the sensor detects someone using the loo it turns on the fan in the tank automatically. Then through the overflow-vent pipe and holes in the rim of your toilet, the fan unit sucks the polluted air in your bowl pit.

The fan unit then releases the sucked air into the activated carbon filter core contained within it. Thereafter all the bad odors from your bowl pit get stuck on the carbon and the freshened air is released back into your bathroom.

The video below shows how it works in more detail.

I have heard a lot of good things about the odorless and seen numerous comments that say this unit makes it seem as if no one even used your bathroom after someone has just used it. The odorless also purifies your air without the use of any harmful chemicals.

The manufacturer also claims beyond getting rid of odors, The Odorless also deals with some airborne bacteria that are otherwise released into your bathroom air from your toilet bowl.

The bummer though when running this unit is that you will eventually have to replace your carbon filters and they last for about 120 hours of continuous usage. The Odorless comes with a rechargeable battery and will need to be recharged about every 2 to 3 weeks depending on how often you use your bathroom.

What’s also pretty cool about The Odorless is that it has sensors that warn you when your battery is low or when your filter is almost worn out. This allows you to plan ahead and maintain your device without any surprises.

The main challenge I have seen people face with the odorless purifier is installing it. It apparently should take only 10 minutes to install. However, the installation process requires you to be a bit of a handyman and not everyone is wired that way and I think that’s where the trouble lies.

People complain about not being able to properly align the sensor and so the unit does not detect their presence well when they are using the bathroom and fails to switch on the fan as it’s supposed to. The best solution here is to have someone who is handyman inclined to set the unit up for you.

Some people also complain the unit is not aesthetically pleasing but this is subjective. A less common problem is how the battery behaves. Sometimes the battery has to be recharged for 2 cycles when it is completely drained which is rather unusual but fortunately, this problem happens only with a few faulty units.

The other thing you have to note before you get The Odorless air purifier is that it is not designed for all types of toilets. Though a version for a tank-less toilet is being developed as I write this post, the device is currently only available for toilets with a tank.

Even for toilets with tanks, the air purifier will not work if you have the older float bulb fill valve. This means you have to make sure you have the right type of fill valve in your tank before you this device,

If you have placed your order and it turns out it does not fit in your toilet tank, you can always return the device for a full refund within 30 days of ordering it.

Besides all the complaints, there is barely any complaint about the ability of The Odorless to eliminate bad odors in your bathroom from your toilet bowl. That’s because it does an awesome job. It works well, so much so that the manufacturer guarantees it will eliminate your bathroom odor.

All in all, I would go for The Odorless if I have the correct fill valve and I don’t mind having a device glued on and hanging on my bathroom wall.

It’s also a good device if you want a device that will get rid of some bowl pit airborne germs in addition to eliminating the odor.  You can find out more about The Odorless on its website here.

4. The Duofresh By Gerberit 

The last of the worthwhile attached bathroom air purifiers is the Duofresh. I have not seen any consumer reviews on this device but its largely marketed to big corporate firms, industry and in luxury home magazines. 

The Duofresh only works for tank-less toilets and it really takes things to the next level when it comes to eliminating bathroom odors from your toilet bowl. It’s the kind of device you install when you are revamping your bathroom as it works best with its own uniquely designed ceramic toilet bowl.

It also uses an activated carbon filter but this is built into the flushing system of your toilet. Like The Odorless air purifier, the Duofresh captures bad odors through existing holes in your toilet bowl  using an extraction fan.

However the air is instead routed through a  replaceable activated carbon filter hidden behind your wall within the flushing unit of your tank-less toilet. Once the air goes through the filters it is unnoticeably released back into your bathroom as clean ozone fresh air.

The device is a work of class and really for you if you are looking for elegance. I am convinced it works just by its intense installation process. It’s built to work. You can definitely not self install this unless you are a proper handyman.

It’s something you would ideally go for when you are initially installing your toilet. Otherwise, you have to do some renovation work and this entails digging into your wall as the electric cable and air extraction pipes for your device run through your wall.

Have a look at the video below to better understand its workings.

This is a powerful device but it’s not for you if you are looking for a plug and play solution.

That said if you get the complete system, you are guaranteed your bathroom air will always be clean, refreshing and free of bowl pit germs and odors. You can learn more about the Duofresh here on Gerberit’s website.

5. AeraMax 100 Air Purifier

There are many stand-alone air purifiers out there to choose from and it was a difficult choice but one such air purifier I found works well in a bathroom setting is the AeraMax 100.  It is not exactly on the small side of life, but it’s the smallest standalone unit I managed to find that has proven to be most effective for improving air quality in a bathroom.

This air purifier has both a HEPA and activated carbon filter. Additionally, the air purifier also has an ionizer which you can turn on or off as you choose. Personally I would keep the ionizer off because it releases ozone into your indoor air which can prove harmful if inhaled by pets or children or anyone with respiratory issues.

Using just its  HEPA and Carbon filters, the AeraMax 100 can get rid of 99% of particulate pollutants and reduce odors in your bathroom respectively. It can clean the air in your bathroom under an hour if your bathroom is smaller than 200 square feet. 

The purifier contains a fan and filtration system in its core and when operating, it cleans your air by its fan firstly drawing polluted air out of your bathroom and passing it through the filtration system and thereafter releasing purified air back into your bathroom.

The process is continuous and the purifier mantains good air quality in your bathroom by moving both clean and foul air through its filters over and over. The device will show you when your filters need changing and it can also sense how bad your air is and accordingly adjust its cleaning speed automatically.

The main shortcomings with the AeraMax I have picked up from countless reviews is that it can be quite loud especially when operating on its highest speed setting. If you get this purifier, you will have to replace its HEPA filter every 12 months and its carbon filters every 3 months. 

It’s a slim device that you can squeeze into a corner even in a small bathroom but it would have been better if it was smaller. There are smaller air purifiers out there but it is really hard to find one that will give you great performance in your bathroom over the long term.

In view of this, I would stick to the AeraMax or any standalone purifier of comparable capacity. Additionally, if you find a smaller device that can give you the same performance as the AeraMax don’t hesitate to go for the smaller device. If the AeraMax 100 sounds like it’s up your alley, you can take a peek at it here on Amazon.

Additional Steps You Can Take For Fresh Air In Your Bathroom

Now you have seen all the small air purifiers that will pack a punch in your bathroom’s air quality. However, the journey in improving your bathroom air quality does not end with air purifiers. Below are other measures you can try together with or besides using air purifiers to keep the air in your bathroom germ-free and smelling fresh.

Install A Bathroom Exhaust Fan

If you do not already have a ventilator in your bathroom, installing one can go a long way in freshening up your bathroom’s air. They really help ease the humidity in your bathroom and dissipate bad odors faster.

Keep Your Bathroom And Toilet Brush Clean

Do not expect any device or intervention to improve the air quality and get rid of odors in your bathroom if you do not clean your bathroom, toilet bowl and toilet brush regularly. 

Keep Your Towels Clean And Dry

One trick I learned to keep my towel dry is to wipe myself dry using my face towel before I use my bath towel. This way my bath towel does really get wet and stays dry enough to avoid that dirty damp smell. Meanwhile, my small face towel always dries up quickly and rarely smells damp.

That said, you should wash your towels at least once a week to keep them clean. To keep your towels clean and dry and odor-free, you can also look into getting a bucket towel warmer like the Zadro Ultra Large Luxury Bucket-Style Towel Warmer (click to see at Amazon) or install a towel warmer rack like the Warmly Yours Riviera Towel Warmer  (click to see at Amazon).

Use Air Sanitizer Spray

To quickly freshen up the air in your bathroom, like when you have announced guests or if you just want your bathroom air extra clean you can spray an air sanitizer spray like Ozium in your bathroom periodically. Ozium will kill bacteria in your air and eliminate your bathroom odors for some time until the odors are produced again from their source.

Use A Dehumidifier

Lastly, if you have high humidity and mustiness in your bathroom, a very effective combination that can deal with this is an air purifier and dehumidifier. The dehumidifier will dry up the moisture and reduce the bad odor in your bathroom.

On the other hand, the air purifier will deal with airborne mold spores and other air pollutants and odorous particles your dehumidifier would otherwise fail to eliminate. 

Together the two will help you achieve much fresher air faster in your bathroom. An awesome dehumidifier I have been eyeing for some time that will work very well in many bathrooms is the Eva Dry Wireless Mini Dehumidifier (click to see at Amazon).

There are many other measures you can put in place for improved air quality in your bathroom but it will be a never-ending story if I was to exhaust them all here and so I rest my case here. If I missed anything important or if you have any questions or suggestions, do comment below.

There are many ways your house can get polluted by smoke and smoke smells. The pollution could be second hand from smoking neighbors or just you smoking your own cigarettes. With the recent wave of weed legalization across different states and countries, you might also find yourself having to deal with the terrible stench of marijuana smoke. Moreover, you could be dealing with a more dangerous situation like wildfire, forest fire or volcano smoke which can last for weeks or months.

Whatever your situation, you probably ended up here because you asked, “can an air purifier help with smoke?” An air purifier can help with smoke and smoke smell but only if it is a true HEPA filter combined with an activated carbon filter or  a PCO air purifier. Other types of air purifiers simply cannot deal with smoke odor and trap or destroy all the harmful air contaminants produced by different types of smoke.

To add on, the types of air purifiers that can deal with smoke are pretty much the same for all types of smoke except e-cigarette smoke. I explain more on this later in the vaping smoke section but for now, let me start with my personal experience with smoke pollution and how I discovered air purifiers could help.

I think the worst smoke pollution I have had is second-hand cigarette smoke from my neighbors in an apartment block I once lived in. This caused my wife and I so much discomfort and in trying to deal with this problem I had my early encounters with the idea of air purifiers.

My neighbor in my previous apartment home used to smoke indoors and our apartments were built in a way we shared the same air vents, and all the smoke and smell from his cigarettes would crawl up the vent from his apartment and straight into my bedroom, through my wardrobe.

A lot of this would happen while we sleep and my wife and I would wake up all choked up and with our clothes smelling like cigarette smoke. Then one day my wife and I had enough and I went down to politely to ask this neighbor to be considerate and at least smoke on his balcony. Long story short, the situation got confrontational and I had to resort to alternative solutions.

After some research on legal actions and the alternatives I eventually stumbled on the idea of smoke proofing my house, then when I came across air purifiers and I was like, “why didn’t I think of that?” You see, this was not my first encounter with air purifiers but I really didn’t consider them as a useful means of dealing with smoke pollution at the time.

Once the idea of air purifiers was planted in my mind, I did some research and discovered that when you are trying to deal with any type of smoke pollution you are fighting with visible particles (the smoke that you can see) and invisible particles (this includes odors and other harmful particles).

Like most people, you may only be concerned about the smell but you should know that the most dangerous part of smoke is actually the other harmful parts you breathe in but do not even notice or see with the naked eye. Knowing this, made me even more determined to implement a solution. I think everyone knows that smoke can lead to cancer and worsen respiratory conditions like asthma but reading this information again  and refreshing one’s mind really hits home. It reinforces your will and need to act to protect yourself especially when you are not the one causing the smoke.

Next, in my research, I also found others trying to solve the problem for many different reasons and from many different angles. It was not only second-hand smoke sufferers but also considerate people who smoked who were trying to prevent smoke pollution. I also came across a lot of weed smokers who were trying not to get busted.

You could either be in a middle of a wildfire or live in a block of apartments where you have no option but to smoke inside or you live with your parents and you don’t want your vaping smoke to pollute their home. We are all in the same boat, we are all trying to avoid the smoke smell or the harmful effects of smoke and you will be glad to hear there is an air purifier for your problem.

In view of the different situations where someone may need to get rid of smoke pollution, I go over 6 different types of smoke pollution, starting from cigarette and cigar smoke to volcano smoke with an explanation of what kind of air purifier can help and how it can help for each kind of smoke. Lastly, I leave you with some brief tips on what else I have found you can do in addition to using an air  purifier to minimize smoke smells and the impact of smoke pollution on you and your family.

1. Cigarette and Cigar Smoke

Both cigars and cigarettes contain tobacco which when burnt produces smelly odors and dangerous air contaminants. Besides the pollution from the paper or cover holding the tobacco together tobacco smoke alone contains over 400 dangerous chemicals and 50 of these chemicals are carcinogens.

Most of the pollutants released in tobacco smoke are gaseous and the major non-gaseous contaminant in tobacco smoke to get rid of is tar. Now there are several types of air purifiers that claim to get rid of both the gaseous and particulate parts of cigarette and cigar smoke.  However, from my  research I have found the best purifiers, in this case, are ones that have a tar pre-filter, a HEPA filter and a carbon filter which contains at least 2 pounds of activated carbon.

Activated carbon works by absorbing gases and it can absorb over 4000 different dangerous chemicals that can pollute the air. With cigarette smoke and any smoke, for that matter, it will absorb all 400 dangerous chemicals and its the element of your air purifier that gets rid of smoke odors.  A good HEPA air purifier to get rid of tobacco smoke at home and that has a tar pre-filter and contains enough activated carbon is the Airpura-T600 (check it our at Amazon).

The other option is to get a photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) air purifier.  Like activated carbon HEPA purifiers, PCO air purifiers will get rid of both tar and odor. However, instead of trapping the contaminants PCO purifiers actually burn them and completely destroy them.

Also, with PCO air purifiers you do not need to replace filters frequently. A typical PCO purifier has a reactor chamber which lasts for about 2-3 years before you need to replace it and when its replacement time it’s as easy as inserting an ink cartridge in a printer.

A PCO air purifier I have been eyeing for the longest time is the Airocide air purifier (check it out at Amazon). I have heard too many good things about this one and it’s just a matter of time before I get it.  Other air purifiers that can deal with tobacco smoke include ionic/electrostatic air purifiers and ozone generators but because these produce a dangerous by-product called ozone I generally suggest for people to stay away from them. 

All in all, for cigar and cigarette smoke, stick to either a HEPA purifier with an activated carbon filter or a PCO air purifier and you can’t go wrong. You will find devices called smoke eaters, especially for cigars but this is just a special name for air purifiers specifically designed to deal with smoke and most of them are essentially activated carbon HEPA filters with the exception of vaping smoke eaters which I discuss in the vaping section.

The only other important factor to consider here is room size. Go with a PCO air purifier for a home with really large rooms and spaces to cover and go with a HEPA purifier for small apartments and homes with rooms that have an area that is less than 1000 sq. ft. This is a general principle you can apply when considering an air purifier for all the other types of smoke pollution.

2. Weed Smoke

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse like tobacco,  many people don’t realize that marijuana smoke is also an irritant to your throat and lungs. It also has similar volatile chemicals and tar that could cause respiratory problems.

However, with the legalization of weed and the increase in its usage for medical reasons, I think the biggest problem when it comes to air pollution will be its strong pungent smell. I have seen enough forum posts of people complaining about the smell in one way or another if you are smoker or not.

You could be living with neighbors who smoke weed and the smell seeps into your house or you could be sharing a house with your landlord or in your father’s basement and you don’t want the smell going to the rest of the house. Whatever your scenario, the right kind of air purifier will help you.

Like cigarette smoke, the best type of air purifiers that will help you get rid of cannabis odor are either PCO air purifiers or true HEPA air purifiers with an activated carbon filter. Just apply the same principles as for cigarette smoking and you can live in your home and barely notice that anyone around you smokes.

On top of getting rid the smell, these air purifiers will also minimize the harmful effects of cannabis smoke. Keep in mind though, that if you are after an air purifier for health reasons, the best solution here is always to stop the smoking all together. Air purifiers then come into your rescue in situations where you cannot stop the smoke.

3. Vaping Smoke

Vaping smoke differs a lot from other types of smoke. In fact, you would rather call it a cloud of vapor than smoke. Because it differs from the usual smoke, the type of air purifier you can use to deal with its odor and harmful effects also differ.

If you vape often, besides the smell, you soon notice that things in the room you vape in start to get covered by vape residue or an oily film. It’s so tedious cleaning this mess up and to make matters worse, if you have electronic gadgets lying around like laptops, T.Vs and what not, the vape smoke can seep inside them and ruin your device.

I won’t go into the harmful effects of vaping as it is still a grey area and scientist are yet to draw factual conclusions on this. That said, if you want to get rid of all the side effects of vaping smoke from smells and residues on surfaces to potentially damaging effects on devices, then an air purifier can help you.

Vape smoke is made of mainly water, glycerin and propylene glycol which are emitted into the air in the form of droplets and moisture whenever someone puffs out a vape cloud. Given, that e-cigarette smoke is moisture, your typical carbon activated HEPA air purifier cannot effectively clean their smell and residues out of the air.

Try using a HEPA air purifier to get get rid of vape smoke and soon enough you will see your filter replacement and maintenance bill shoot up. The reason for this is that HEPA air purifier filters are made out of cardboard like material which quickly becomes useless as it gets soaked with e-juice moisture and gets soggy.

So, to effectively clean vaping smells and pollution out of your air, what you need is an air purifier that’s specifically designed to filter the billowing and moist smoke unique to vaping. This type of air purifier is also commonly called a smoke eater and is made to handle moisture without any impact on its electrical components.

I have mostly seen commercial smoke eaters for vaping and it seems there are very few companies manufacturing this kind of device. The ones you will see commonly online are the Smokemaster C12-E-Cig Smoke Eater and the X11Q-E-Cig Electronic Smoke Eater. You will also find one called the Cloud Crusher by a small company called Get The Smoke Out. 

These devices have filters that are resistant to moisture. They all work like ordinary HEPA air purifiers and the same principles apply in their usage with regards to room size and their placement but they also have the extra filtration capacity to deal with vaping moisture.

The last thing to note when you get a smoke eater or air cleaner for vaping smoke is to get a separate and different air purifier if you need one for dust, allergies and other forms of air pollution. You should also not use your second air purifier while vaping even though your vaping air purifier is running. This approach will save you on maintenance costs of your second device.

4. Second-Hand Smoke

If you are concerned about second-hand smoke then you are likely concerned about the harmful effects of tobacco and cannabis smoke beyond just the smell. Whether its smoke or vapor from smoking , the principles in protecting yourself do not change from what I have outlined under each smoking section.

Here is a summary of the kind of air purifier that will help you by type of second-hand smoke:

• Weed/marijuana smoke  – either an activated carbon HEPA air purifier or PCO air purifier
• Tobacco smoke  – either an activated carbon HEPA air purifier or PCO air purifier
• E-cigarette/vaping smoke – a water resistant HEPA air purifier with activated carbon

5. Air Purifiers for Wildfire Smoke

According to the EPA short-term exposure to wildfire smoke is mostly a threat to children, the elderly, pregnant women, people with preexisting respiratory problems and weak immune systems. However, wildfire smoke pollution may last for weeks or even month after the fires stop burning meaning possible prolonged exposure for everyone and that everyone and every home will need some form of protection against it.

Now, wildfire smoke is like cigarette smoke in that it contains many of the similar dangerous chemicals in gaseous form. It, however, differs from cigarette smoke in that it also has high levels of ash and harmful micro airborne particles. So whatever air purifier you go for has to be supported with a prefiltration system that can keep out larger airborne particles.

As for the smaller wildfire particles, these range from 0.4 to 0.7 microns and any HEPA certified air purifier can deal with this size particles as they can filter out particles as small as 0.3 microns which are much smaller.

Like for other types of smoke, if you go with a HEPA air purifier, it has to be combined with a carbon activated filter to absorb the dangerous gaseous chemicals and smoke odor left behind in your home by wildfires. I would suggest a heavy duty air purifier when it comes to wildfires.

A good one I have seen for this purpose, especially if you live in an area where wildfires happened often is the Amaircare 7500 AirWash Cart Air Purifier (click to see it at Amazon). This purifier can clean large areas of up to 3750 sq. ft and will do well in larger homes. If you stay in a smaller home or an apartment you can go for one of their smaller devices like the Amaircare 3000 which cleans spaces of up to 900 sq. ft. 

These purifiers all contain enough carbon activated material to constantly absorb odor from wildfires over a period of at least 6 months before you need to replace any filters. Besides your air purifier device, if your home has an HVAC system, you should really consider adding a HEPA filter to it to prevent micro and ultrafine smoke air particles from the fires from getting into your home through the HVAC.

With HVAC air filters though, you have to make sure you get the correct MERV filter for your HVAC. If the MERV is too high, this could strain your HVAC and restrict air flow into your home. A rule of thumb is to go for lower MERV filters the older your HVAC system is.

If you already have a HEPA filter on your HVAC, replace it during and after the wildfire period to maintain the best performance on your HVAC. You can also get furnace filters and similar principles apply to furnaces as HVAC filters. Besides HVAC filters, you can also get window HEPA filters. These sit under your window to let fresh air in when your windows are closed. 

Now you might be asking how these help with the smell of smoke beyond preventing contaminant particles from getting into your home. Well, these filters come pleated with either baking soda or activated carbon to minimize odors from getting through. This also applies to HVAC and furnace filters.

These filters act as external prefilters for your room air purifier. A good single place to find all these kinds of filters for Windows, HVACs, and Furnaces is at Nordic Pure. Nordic Pure is a great brand, with great quality guarantees and take my word for it, you won’t be disappointed by them when it comes to set and custom filters for both your air purifier and HVAC.

In addition to air purifiers and filters at home, in the event of wildfires its advisable to wear a mask when you are outside on the go to protect yourself from smoke inhalation. Effective respiratory masks for both adults and kids are ones that are N95 certified (you will N95 is also called P2, FFP2 or DS2 in different countries).

The certification is usually printed on the mask’s packaging or on the mask itself. The gold standard when it comes to masks for wildfires or air pollution is the 3M healthcare range. Masks come in different shapes and sizes but you need to ensure that whether you get one for kids  or adults that they are a tight fit to the face. Otherwise, if there are gaps in your mask they are pretty much useless. Check out my post on recommended anti-pollution masks if you want to find out more about what kind of mask to get.

6. Air Purifiers for Volcano Smog or Smoke

The final type of smoke pollution I found you have to deal with is volcano smoke (VOG). This is less common but if you find yourself in Hawaii or Bali or any other place in the world with active volcanoes, your air is prone to VOG pollution. The main contaminant gases in VOG are sulfur dioxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulfide. These contaminants can penetrate deep into your lungs and cause all sorts of irritations in your nose, eyes, and throat.

Besides the gases, you also have a set of particles which are collectively called laze. Laze is formed when lava from the volcano cools rapidly when it meets with cold water. As a result of the rapid cooling, the lava turns into ultrafine particulate glass which becomes airborne. So if you put all the pollutants together, VOG pollution in your home is a combination of toxic fumes and tiny glass shards ready to attack your body and respiratory system.

The research available on VOGs shows its effects are especially pronounced for children, individuals with chronic asthma, and those with respiratory problems. Studies done in urban areas with similar kind of pollutants contained in VOG show that these types of air contaminants degrade lung function. If you are exposed long enough to VOG your lungs can get permanently damaged.

Now when it comes to cleaning VOG contaminated air, the best way to do this effectively is by using air purifiers with large amounts of particle absorbents like activated carbon. Like other smoke, this needs to be combined with a true HEPA filter that will help remove aerosols, laze, fine ash, and microscopic solid particles found in VOG. 

When it comes to choice of air purifiers here, out of the many choices I would stick to the Amaircare range because their filters are designed with large amounts of activated carbon. In addition to your air purifier, for extra protection, I would also use filters and masks, in the same way as I would for wildfires.

The only other addition I would make here is safety goggles so that laze and irritants don’t get in your eyes. You can get anti-fog goggles like the Dewalt Concealer Anti Fog Safety Goggles to prevent steam build up when you wear them over a long period but any goggles that fit tightly around your eyes will do.

What Else To Consider and Do?

An important point I mention repeatedly across Fresh Air Genie is that air purifiers on their own will not completely keep the air in your home clean. With cigarette and vaping smoke, wherever possible, the first step to getting rid of the pollution is to smoke outside your home.

If smoking outside is not an option, then try to have a designated smoking room in your home where your air purifier is also located. For indoor smoking, you can also try to paint your home and man cave with odor absorbing paint. This has been shown to work well for cigarette and cigar smoke odors.  

Next, if you are in a situation whereby you are dealing with wildfire smoke or second-hand smoke, start by putting carbon activated or soda filters on your doors, ventilation system and under your windows to filter out bad odors and dangerous air particles before they enter your home.

Lastly, smoke particles, gases, and smells seep through holes in walls, and gaps around doors and windows. To minimize this, in addition to placing filters under doors and windows, you can also properly insulate your home and seal holes where smoke is obviously leaking through with some form of sealant.

Everything I have shared here includes the fundamentals you will need to apply to deal with all sorts of smoke pollution using air purifiers. Apply the extra measures above in addition to using an appropriate air purifier for your home and smoke pollution situation, then it won’t be long before your home is free of smoke smell and most of the harmful smoke particles that may contaminate your air.