Tobacco Smoke

The IQAir GC MultiGas is our best selling unit for homes and offices where smoking is permitted

Removing tobacco smoke is a challenge for any air purifier because of the complex nature of the more than 4,000 chemicals found within the smoke itself and the fact that these come in solid, liquid and gaseous forms. Add to that, the enormous amount smoke rapidly created by a room full of smokers and you have a very difficult situation to clean up. The IQAir GC MultiGas is one of the best products on the market for the effective capture and control of smoke in small to medium sized environments.

The visible components of smoke are made up of millions of tiny particulates, some of which are as small as bacteria. Even more dangerous to your health is the invisible component containing a deadly mix of gaseous chemicals such as these; nicotine, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, glycerol, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, cyanide, nitrogen oxides, benzene, ethane, toluene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acetone. To effectively capture tobacco smoke, you absolute must use high efficiency air purification technologies that include HEPA filtration and copious amounts of active carbon and impregnated alumina, like those found in the GC MultiGas.

Why is the IQAir GC MultiGas so Effective with Tobacco Smoke

In order to deal effectively with tobacco smoke an air purifier must be able to capture particulates of all sizes--seen as smoke--as well as capture the large number of gaseous chemicals—experienced as odors--but that are responsible for the majority of health effects from both first and second hand smoke. The IQAir GC MultiGas air purifier offers you the following key benefits when it comes to controlling second hand smoke.

• Very high efficiency on smoke particulates that are on average 0.1 microns in size
• A large collection area for the capture of smoke particulates that can quick fill up smaller filter surface areas
• A very high air delivery rate, allowing the air in the room to be cleaned multiple times per hour

Tobacco smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is one of the more demanding contaminants to remove from household and office air due in large part to the high level of re-contamination, and the wide array of chemicals contained in cigarette, cigars and pipe smoke. ETS, which can be easily recognized by it’s characteristic odor, is a blend of smoke emitted from a burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe, and the smoke exhaled by the smoker.

Tobacco smoke decreases lung efficiency, it can aggravate sinusitis, rhinitis and chronic respiratory problems such as cough and post-nasal drip, and it increases the frequency of allergies and asthma. Tobacco smoke also contains tar which adheres to walls, carpets, furniture, clothing and other objects. This damages personal property and leaves an unpleasant coat of liquid tar.

Air cleaning devices tailored specifically for dealing with ETS should be able to capture both particles (seen as smoke) and gaseous chemicals (experienced as odors). To bout the high rate of contamination cause by smoking indoors, you’ll need an air cleaner that is capable of providing a higher number of air exchanges per hour (can process more cubic feet of air per minute). Considering the square footage of the area or room the air purifier should clean (bedroom, bar, restaurant, hotel) you can select the proper unit to deal adequately with tobacco smoke and the associated harmful toxins.

A HEPA filter alone can’t fight ETS. Secondary filtration using activated carbon is highly recommended and air purifiers featuring specific tar filters and/or special carbon blends are more effective. In general, the larger the carbon filter, the more absorption of smoke, odors, and chemicals.

Recommended Models

The IQAir GC MultiGas is the best IQAir air cleaning system for the removal of ETS in home and office environments. It features multiple independent filter stages to remove ETS. The IQAir MultiGas GC device contains a large capacity, high-efficiency, particulate pre-filter to remove the vast majority of ETS particles (over 99%) immediately at the first filter stage. This high-efficiency pre-filtration is a key factor in the long-term performance of the MultiGas GC. The system also contains four substantial gas filter cylinders to deal with gas and odor filtration. Unlike conventional activated carbon filters, the MultiGas filter uses both physical adsorption and chemical oxidation processes. As a result, more odors and gases are removed with a higher efficiency. As a final filter, each cartridge has its own electrostatically charged post filter sleeve wrapped around it to prevent any of the carbon dust from exiting the machine and circulating into the room.

The IQAir GCX Series due to its even larger gas phase filter is able to deal with even higher ETS concentrations. In most cases, however, the use of multiple GC units will be preferable over the use of a single GCX system.

For dealing with low concentrations of ETS, the IQAir HealthPro 250 is equally recommended. While offering a slightly higher efficiency for particles, this system provides a smaller (2.5 kg / 5.5 lbs.) wide spectrum gas phase filter.

In addition to offering one of the world's most advanced air cleaners for ETS, IQAir offers a number of accessories (InFlow, OutFlow, VMF) that further enhance the system's performance.

The OutFlow is the right complement for filtration systems to be positioned inside the smoking environment, whereas the InFlow is the appropriate solution for filtration systems to be positioned outside the smoking area.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more how our IQAir GC Multigas air purifies can help clean up tobacco smoke in your home or office, please give us a call today.