Air Purifier specific questions

[Sid.Stavros]

Gentlemen, although in the past i have smoked many times indoors my pipe, i have done lately some cigars and i realise that the remaining smell creates a problem to the family. Yes the door of the room was closed and the balcony door was open but: Winter is coming so i have to find a solution, i don't want to smoke out in the balcony and i can not have a dedicated room exclusively for smoking so i have to make things better in the room when i left it.

I was inspired by this video:

https://youtu.be/vZUS4rOnyqE?si=gYp68KWDeFjoAD-M

and i bought an Air Purifier with the below specifications:

Smart Wi-Fi option: Yes
Filtration percentage: 99.95%
Operating range: 22㎡
The amount of purified air (CADR): 200m³/h
Humidifier: No
Filter type: HEPA + activated carbon
Recommended filter replacement time: 6 months
Timer: Yes
Automatic mode: Yes
Filter replacement indicator: Yes

I already have test it 3 times and yes it works, things are far better than before (natural ventilation only) but i have some specific questions and i need your help.

a) when i am smoking, the balcony door must be one click open or i had to let the air purifier handle all the smoke?
b) when i leave the room i must let the air purifier in the timer and after 2-3 hours to open the balcony door or i must open it immediately when i leave the room?
c) the burst of fresh air will make the air purifier absorb the odour better or will increase it's task and make him work harder?

[SoCal gunner]

Gentlemen, although in the past i have smoked many times indoors my pipe, i have done lately some cigars and i realise that the remaining smell creates a problem to the family. Yes the door of the room was closed and the balcony door was open but: Winter is coming so i have to find a solution, i don't want to smoke out in the balcony and i can not have a dedicated room exclusively for smoking so i have to make things better in the room when i left it.

I was inspired by this video:

https://youtu.be/vZUS4rOnyqE?si=gYp68KWDeFjoAD-M

and i bought an Air Purifier with the below specifications:

Smart Wi-Fi option: Yes
Filtration percentage: 99.95%
Operating range: 22㎡
The amount of purified air (CADR): 200m³/h
Humidifier: No
Filter type: HEPA + activated carbon
Recommended filter replacement time: 6 months
Timer: Yes
Automatic mode: Yes
Filter replacement indicator: Yes

I already have test it 3 times and yes it works, things are far better than before (natural ventilation only) but i have some specific questions and i need your help.

a) when i am smoking, the balcony door must be one click open or i had to let the air purifier handle all the smoke?
b) when i leave the room i must let the air purifier in the timer and after 2-3 hours to open the balcony door or i must open it immediately when i leave the room?
c) the burst of fresh air will make the air purifier absorb the odour better or will increase it's task and make him work harder?

The answer to all of those, to a certain extent, is negative pressure. It makes sense to our brains to open a window for fresh air, but if by doing so you create positive pressure in the room, you're going to force the odors into the rest of the house. Have you tried a box fan exhausting air OUT the window?

[Sid.Stavros]

Have you tried a box fan exhausting air OUT the window?

My first thought was an exhaust fan to lead out the smoke in the stairwell of the apartment building (and then to the roof) or outside the balcony.
As you can understand i have to demolish a wall, draw an electric line, put an extension plastic etc and this job is not revesrable plus will create a small mess (noise-debris) inside the room while making it.

[Nature]

The answer to all of those, to a certain extent, is negative pressure. It makes sense to our brains to open a window for fresh air, but if by doing so you create positive pressure in the room, you're going to force the odors into the rest of the house. Have you tried a box fan exhausting air OUT the window?

Yes, I have experienced this. I have run a box fan in an open window, but unless the rest of the window is sealed off, the incoming replacement air that the box fan blows out pushes the smoke to other areas of the house. Counterintuitively, this created a positive pressure rather than a negative pressure.

When you leave the room, I concur with opening the balcony door AND running the filter for a time. The fresh air will ventilate the room faster than the filter can take care of it. The filter helps with any residual smoky air in the room.

Meanwhile, anything you can do to sequester the room from the rest of the dwelling (towels at the bottom of the door, etc) will help. Do this while smoking and have the balcony door cracked a bit. Take a two pronged approach. Additional fresh air will not cause the filter to work harder in double duty, but will help as the smoky air is more diluted. This may prolong the filter life, particularly of the carbon filter. They have a finite amount of odor absorbing capacity.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sid.Stavros]

Bad news

Yesterday i tried to do a simulation as experiment, winter, the door to the rest of the house closed and the balcony door slightly open, cigar smoking and the air purifier on the 2nd scale (it has 3) to see how much smoke it could absorb. After an hour, my wife tried to come in twice to talk to me, she started coughing and complaining loudly that she was suffocating, it smelled awful, she couldn't stand it, and finally she started whining because i stopped smoking a pipe in the room and started smoking a cigar, it's not nice, i will make everyone in the house to suffocate, etc.
When I left the room, i closed the door to the house and left the balcony door as it was with the air purifier working like that for another 4 hours.

Results:

1) the evening when i opened the room, there was still a lot of smell inside. I opened half the balcony door for the rest of the evening and unfortunately in the morning there were still remnants of the smell.
2) the so much exposure to smoke caused me cardiac arrhythmia and a drop in pulse to 28 (yes 28). I was one step away from calling the doctor! It took me several hours to recover and honestly I don't want to go through the same thing again. It turned out that the air purifier alone cannot absorb all the cigar smoke so i can't rely exclusively on it anymore.

If I opened the balcony door wider, a lot of smoke would escape, but at the same time, a lot of cold would come in so no real gain. If I have to smoke with the balcony door full open, then why to go out on the balcony wearing a jacket, etc? But this is not a pleasure thing, i can't drink coffee in peace or write on the computer while siting comfortable in my desk. I can't put my family through such torture again, ι can't hear so much grouchiness and of course expose my heart to such danger again.

​The solutions as i see it are:
1) stop smoking cigars in the house
2) get a second air purifier or put another ''smoke killer" device in the room
3) drill a hole in the wall and put an exhaust fan to blow the smoke out and when i turn it off, it blocks the incoming air.

What is your opinion Gentlemen?