Expert Articles >> Natural Health (Last updated Feb. 03, 2019)

Types of Odor You can Eliminate With an Air Cleaner

By Mark Sedo

There are many different unpleasant types of smell that every household has to deal with. Even if you house is entirely clean, unpleasant odors can make it look (and smell) unclean. The usual way of getting rid of these odors is using essential oils with diffusers, incense, sprays, or scented candles.

Not really the best solution, though.

These techniques barely cover the smell coming from the kitchen, or from your pet. And, they won’t impress the guests that are just about to come in. That’s for sure.

When you use sprays or fresheners, you don’t fix the cause of the problem. From the medicinal point of view, you merely add more chemicals to the air instead of making it clean and safe to breathe.

Investing in a decent air cleaner is the best way to do that.

Air purifiers can be costly, but they are a long term investment that will last you a long period of time. Regardless of the type of bad smell you have in your house, quality air purifiers will reduce or totally eliminate the unpleasant odors, and bring healthy and refreshing air to your entire family.

These purification systems will really purify the air in your home, rather than just covering up the bad odors.

Now the real question is what types of smells you can eliminate with a quality air cleaner?

Here is the list of most important types of smells that can be entirely eliminated:

Odors That Can Be Eliminated

1. Cigarette Smoke

The smell of cigarette smoke is very persistent and difficult to eliminate. It can permeate your entire house, including the carpets and furniture. Not to mention that tobacco smoke has several thousand chemicals, and quite a few of them are cancerogenic.

Even if you are not a smoker yourself, having someone in your home who smokes is enough. Thus, passive smoking can be a huge problem, especially for children. The other non-active members of your household are forced to inhale some of the tobacco smoke that has permeated the environment.

A quality air purifier can reduce the smoke smell in your home.

And not only the smell.

It can reduce the harmful action of tobacco smoke, whether you are an active or a passive smoker.

2. Pet Odor

Some pets stink more than others, but they all do. Regardless of whether you take a good care of them or not.

Not only do they fill the air with unpleasant smell, but they also shed pet dander.

This smell can be really bad close to the litter-boxes and pet beds. Something which is really embarrassing when friends, family, or neighbors come to your house.

No need to be ashamed, though, as a good air cleaner can pick up these odors as well as all pet dander. Most air cleaners have specialized filters that are great at removing the dander as well as the hair your pets shed.

3. Kitchen Smells

Certain foods are extremely healthy, but also extremely stinky. For example, let’s talk about fish.

Because of their omega 3 content, many types of fish are extremely healthy.

For example, tuna, salmon, or mackerel. They are packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids that we are often missing from our diet. Nutrition experts tell us that we should eat at least two servings of fish every week.

I myself certainly cook them several times a week. But the problem is, when I cook them they produce so much odor, that my house remains filled with unbearable stink afterward.

If you also prepare a lot of food in the kitchen, again the solution is to turn on your air purifier to get rid of the post-dinner unpleasant odors.

Fish is not the only food where you need to eliminate the kitchen odors. Some other examples include deep fried or burned food, using strong spices like curry, or any other stinky food you can think of. In case of kitchen smells, it is recommended that you turn on your air cleaner on high fan speed.

4. Garbage smell

If you dump a lot of fat, fish remains, rotten foods, or old vegetables into your garbage can, it sure would smell like hell. The longer it stays in there, the worse it would smell and you would have the more challenging task of cleaning the air afterward.

Even if you remove the garbage bag, the smell sometimes remains. Again, the best way to catch the smelly lingering particles in the air is turning on your air purifier on high for a couple of hours. Even after a couple of minutes you will see a noticeable improvement of the air in your home.

Other Characteristic Smells

Of course, there are some types of smell you can’t get rid of no matter how hard you try. In such extreme cases you would have to find and eliminate the root cause first, before switching on your air purification system.

Moreover, in these extreme cases, the smell could be the least of your problem. You should investigate the situation and consult the appropriate company to avoid being faced with considerable health danger.

Here are some examples:

Odors That Indicate Bigger Problems

1. Smell of Dead Animals

Animal waste, like hair, dander, or odor coming from cat litter boxes is one thing. But the characteristic noxious smell of a dead animal is something entirely different.

It can come from a dead animal, like raccoon, possum, rat, or insects somewhere in the duct or plumbing system.

If you smell a strong, distinct smell of a dead animal call a professional service to get rid of the problem as soon as possible. Only after the problem is solved can you remove the residual smell with your air purifier.

2. Sewage smell

You should get rid of sewage smell regardless of the cause. Sewer gases and very unpleasant and even harmful for your health. You might have a leakage, or the opposite might be true: there could be an empty P-trap somewhere in the pipes, which clears the way for sewer gases to invade your house.

3. Moldy or Musty Smell

This type of smell should be taken very seriously. If you can smell mold, you have a serious health problem that you should tackle as soon as possible. Because there are dangerous mold strains that can give off dangerous toxins in your home air.

In any case call a professional service and get rid of the problem immediately.

Sometimes you can solve the problem on your own, for example, if it is localized, and not persistent. More often than not, however, there will be some water damage or bad ventilation associated with it. Then you should call the professionals.

Having a whole house humidification system is a good idea to control the humidity levels in your house, so that you reduce the environmental conditions for mildew or mold growth.

Air Purifiers For Odor Removal

A number of air purifier manufacturers claim that their machines are able to remove odors. They all basically use one and the same technology – pre-filters and carbon filters to that aim.

Not all of them clean the odors in your home equally good. Check out this study for a reference. As a rule the more expensive units, like the IQAir HealthPro Plus, do a better job, even though you might have to wait for a total removal of the odor.

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