Bad smells such as pet odors, smoke, kitchen odors, garbage, and strong perfumes can negatively impact the quality of your indoor air. A home with lingering odors creates a wrong impression of being dirty. To improve the quality of your indoor air, you need to invest in a good quality air purifier. But do air purifiers help with odors? The straight answer is yes but not all air purifiers are designed to eliminate odors and bad smells.
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Many people tend to use air fresheners and scented candles to temporarily control the bad musty smells and odors. However, the use of air fresheners and scented candles does not cure the real source of bad odors in your home nor does it help clean your indoor air. That’s where the best air purifiers for odors come in to remove the source of bad odors in your house thus, making your indoor air cleaner and safe to breathe.
In this indoor air purification guide, we shall have a look at common indoor odors and how air purifiers for odors can help you get rid of unpleasant smells in your home.
Common odors that you might experience in your home
Pet odors
If you are a pet lover and you have kept cats, dogs, or any other animal pets in your home, one of the common indoor air pollutants that you will constantly fight is pet odor. Pets are furry creatures and they naturally produce secretion and shed pet dander from dead skin cells. Clean and healthy pets release low amounts of pet odors and pet dander.
Pet dander and pet odors spread in your indoor air thus, polluting it. Inhaling contaminated air can pose great health risks to you and your loved ones especially those with respiratory conditions such as allergies and asthma.
Buying a quality air purifier that has the potential to trap pet dander and absorb pet odors will help clean your indoor air and make your home smell fresh and clean.
Smoke
Smoke from firewood, cigarettes, unexpected house fires, or any other source can prove difficult to get rid of in your home’s indoor air. Smoke has a higher propensity to permeate through your upholstery, furniture, and carpets.
An irritating lingering smoke smell in your house can make breathing more difficult. To clean your indoor air and make your home habitable again, you need to invest in a good quality air purifier that can help you remove prevalent smoke odors. Air purifiers with activated carbon filters, ionizers, and True HEPA Air filters are effective in removing smoke odors in your indoor air.
Food/kitchen odors
Kitchen odors emanating from cooked foods such as fish and burnt foods can fill your indoor air with stinky smells that can last for days. Strong cooking odors make it hard for anyone in the house to breathe clean and fresh air. An air purifier can be of great help as it will trap all the kitchen odors once you are done preparing your healthy meals.
Garbage odors
A stinking garbage can fill your indoor air with pungent odors making it difficult for you and your loved ones to enjoy spending time in your house. Some strong odors can persist even after you have removed the garbage and washed the trash can.
Using air fresheners and scented candles to mask the bad smells can only help for a while. An air purifier with the right air filters or air ionizers can help trap or break smelly garbage odors that escape your trash can before they can spread and contaminate your indoor air.
Chemical odors
Strong chemical smells are common in newly built or renovated houses. This is attributed to the different types of materials such as wood, paints, insulation, carpeting, and cabinetry used during the construction process. Most of these lingering odors are a source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which pollute your indoor air and are harmful when inhaled.
When you invest in a good quality air purifier for odors, you can easily get rid of these irritant chemical odors in your home and have peace of mind. However, you should take any unusual chemical odors in your home seriously as they might be a sign of gas leakage or another dangerous substance that requires immediate professional help.
Household molds
Household molds and mildew produce a musty smell that contaminates your indoor air. Indoor molds are categorized as either allergenic, pathogenic, or toxigenic. To reproduce, they release mold spores that float in your indoor air and on surfaces around your home.
Exposure to mold spores can lead to negative health effects, especially for persons suffering from respiratory illnesses like asthma and allergies. The best strategy for dealing with household mold odors is to identify the root cause of mold growth and fix the problem.
Luckily, air purifiers fitted with True HEPA Air filters have a 99.9% efficiency level in trapping and destroying mold spores in your indoor air.
What are the main causes of bad smells in your home?
There are many causes of bad odors inside your house. Some are easy to identify especially pet odors and food/kitchen odors. Others such as musty mold odors and chemical smells require a thorough investigation so that you can identify the root cause.
Some of the most common factors that contribute to the accumulation and spread of bad smells include;
Poor ventilation systems
If your house has poor ventilation systems (maybe small windows, and tightly sealed doors) there is a high possibility of poor air circulation inside your house. When there is poor air circulation, your indoor air will start getting smelly because there is not enough fresh air getting in. Proper air flow is one of the easiest ways of getting rid of odors in your home.
Outdated or faulty appliances
If you have faulty or outdated appliances like refrigerators and HVAC Systems that have not undergone routine maintenance, there is a high likelihood of them releasing smelly odors. When you notice some unpleasant odors coming out of your home appliances, consider engaging a professional technician to get them fixed as soon as possible.
Failure to carry out regular general cleaning
Cleaning your home on a regular basis ensures your home stays fresh and appears welcoming. When you fail to maintain cleanliness in your home, you will not notice mold growth, drops of foodstuffs, uncollected trash, or dust buildup. After a while, you will start noticing some unpleasant odors.
They often emanate from uncleaned bathrooms, rotten foodstuffs, smelly dirty dishes, uncleaned appliances, dusty rooms, or musty smells from mold growth in areas with high moisture content and water leakages. Doing routine cleanup in your home is one of the easiest ways to remove odors in your home.
Tips on how to get rid of odors in your home
Are constant smelly odors making your home inhabitable? The good news is it’s possible to eliminate unpleasant odors in your home. Use the following easy tips;
- Start by identifying the source of odors. There are many causes of household odors and each type may require a specific method of eliminating it.
- Do a regular deep cleaning of your home. Avoid using chemical cleaning detergents as they will contribute to the increase of VOCs in your indoor air. Try to use natural products like vinegar, lemon, baking soda, and essential oils.
- Invest in a good ventilation system for proper air circulation. If possible, keep windows and doors open so that fresh air can circulate to every corner of your house.
- When the doors and windows are closed, consider running a high-performance air purifier for odors in every busy room to trap any odors and improve the quality of your indoor air.
Best Air Purifiers to Help with Odors
As you try to identify and fix the source of odors in your home, the best way to get rid of odors is by investing in a good quality air purifier that has the ability to remove odors. There are different types of air purifiers in the market each with a specific air purification technology.
When shopping for the best air purifiers to help with odors, consider choosing one with either of the following air purification technologies;
Air purifiers with HEPA Air Filters
Air purifiers with True HEPA air filtration technology are effective in trapping 99.9% particulate of common indoor air pollutants but they are less effective when it comes to dealing with odors.
If the cause of smelly odors in your house is airborne particulates such as mold spores, HEPA air filters can help trap the spores that float in the air as you look for ways to fix the root cause of mold growth.
HEPA Air Purifiers with UV Light technology
HEPA air purifiers with UV light technology will not only capture airborne particulates but will also help fight the growth and spread of bacteria and viruses. UV light inactivates microorganisms such as bacteria hampering their growth potential.
However, the effectiveness of UV lights in eliminating already present household odors is not sufficiently proven. In addition, HEPA air purifiers with UV light are known to release Ozone gas which is harmful and can contaminate your indoor air.
Air purifiers with Activated Carbon Air Filters
Air purifiers with activated carbon air filters have been proven to be excellent when it comes to absorbing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are a major source of indoor odors. For better results, it’s recommended to go for air purifiers with higher carbon weight and one with a thicker carbon structure.
Air purifiers with Photo Electro-chemical Oxidation Technology
Air purifiers with Photo Electrochemical Oxidation (PECO) are effective in dealing with VOCs that are responsible for smelly indoor odors. The technology works by generating free radicals that damage the airborne VOCs’ molecular bonds to prevent them from multiplying and spreading.
Bi-polar air ionizers use ionization technology to release positively and negatively charged ions that attach to the floating VOCs molecules and other airborne pollutants responsible for odors making them heavy and they eventually fall to the surface.
Wrapping up; do air purifiers help with odors?
The presence of unpleasant odors in your house lowers the quality of your indoor air making it inhabitable. Masking odors using pungent perfumes or using air purifiers can’t be a long-term solution to constant smelly odors if you don’t make an effort to identify the root cause of indoor odors.
When you identify the odor source, you can use an air purifier to maintain a clean and healthier indoor air quality as you look for the best option to fix the problem. Regular deep cleaning of your home and maintenance of appliances can help keep constant smelly indoor odors at bay, therefore, improving your indoor air quality.