The past few weeks have been very busy here at BPA headquarters as we have seen an increase in smoke eater projects. We’re continuing to have a lot of success using our equation for sizing smoke eaters and fitting people with the smoke eater technology that fits their needs. Our amazing pricing on the Trion SE800E has been extended until at least the end of June, that is our best value, dollar per CFM.
One of the things I enjoy most about my job is that I get the oportunity to speak with interesting people all over the country. I take pride in explaning how different commercial air cleaners work, how to maintain them, instal them and plan so that the best results are achieved.
While about half of our smoke eater sales are to contractors, HVAC professionals and electrical engineers, the other half are directly to the bar and restaraunt owners or home owners. Dealing with some of the bar and restaurant owners has been quite entertaining. I wanted to list a few of our recent customers that have web sites and let people know that they also have some good smoke removal equipment:

Manchesters Bar & Grill in Raleigh, NC with head chef David Steadman features an upscale bar environment and a large menu with appetizers, pizza, sandwiches, burgers, wings, ribs, steaks, Italian entrees and a good selection of wine and beer. I look forward to the next time I am in Raleigh, I want to try the meat lasagna! Manchester’s has two SmokeMaster X11-Q smoke eaters flush mounted in a drop ceiling.

Dennis Hof’s World Famous Bunny Ranch has a lot more than food on the menu, actually, there is no food on the menu… It’s our first brothel, which you may know from the HBO adult series “Cat House“, which is available on DVD I’m told. Dennis was featured in the documentary movies; American Pimp and NightMoves, and has appeared on the Howard Stern Show and the Tyra Banks Show. He put two Trion SE800E smoke eaters in the lounge and the Bunny Bar. I must say that this was one of the most entertaining sales calls I’ve ever had.

Bask Bar and Grill in New Jersey went with two of the top of the line VisionAir 2 units! This sports bar is a favorite casual hangout for locals, especially New Jersey Devils Fans.
The SmokeMaster C-12 commercial air cleaner is a popular choice for many bars including Mingles Bar & Grill in Moscow, Idaho, the Kadoka City Bar at the gateway to the badlands and Boomer’s Bar& Grill in Austin, Indiana, just to name a few.

I spend a lot of my time working on technical projects for particle monitors, dealing with engineers, cleanroom technicians and scientists, which I also enjoy. I get a kick out of delaing with some of the characters who own and operate the bars and restaurants, it’s a welcome change of pace to my day and gives me some good conversation around the water cooler. : )

If you have a smoke removal project that you would like to discuss, please feel free to give me a call at 1-800-551-8544 or send me an email at rod@breathepureair.com

We’re approaching the end of April and I’ve just received some very good news. Our blowout sale on Trion SE800 smoke eaters is being extended another two months. While most of our competition is raising their pricing on the Trion SE 800 from $1699.00 to $1,785.00, we will be extending our “below wholesale pricing” on these smoke eaters to as low as $1,000 (with the purchase of four units) or $1,200 (each). We originally annouced this pricing back in October of 2005 and planned to keep the prices low until the end of the year (2005), we were able to make the deal to keep this pricing until the end of April when we would be returning to the list price. Today Craig had a meeting with the guys at Trion and informed us that we will be holding the pricing until the end of June, 2006.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Trion SE800, this is an electrostatic smoke eater that can either mount on a solid ceiling or be flush mounted in a drop ceiling, taking up te sapce of a standard 2″ X 4″ drop ceiling tile. The Trion SE 800 smoke eater does not have any costly filters to replace as it uses washable electronic cells. Learn more about the technology in my blog about smoke eater technologies.

In other good news, starting May 1, 2006 and running through the end of June, we will be offering a rebate (up to $100) to customers who purchase any of the AQE smoke eaters, these include both electronic smoke eaters; the SmokeMaster C-12, the SmokeMaster X-11Q and the media based standard and deluxe version of the MiracleAir CM12 and the Everclear Deluxe.

Looks like the next couple months will be the best time to get those smoke eaters you’ve been holding off on! I doubt prices will ever be lower and with these deals, I know we’ll be busy sizing smoke eater systems for bars and restaurants. If you would like to determine how many smoke eaters you would need for your application, read my blog post about Sizing Smoke Removal Systems or simply give us a call 1-800-551-8544 and we’ll be glad to assist.

Second hand smoke consists of a toxic blend of particles, gasses and odors. Generally, smoke eaters fall into two main categories, electrostatic or media based. Some newer hybrid smoke eaters combine technologies in an effort to offer features, convenience and benefits from both smoke eater groups.

Electrostatic smoke eaters usually consist of a prefilter, to remove large particles, an ionizing section and a cell containing several electrostatic collector plates. When second hand smoke is brought into the system, the prefilter removes that large particles of smoke, dust and other contaminates. Next, the second hand smoke passes through the ionizing section, which charges the smoke particles in the air. The charged particles then pass through the electronic cell, where the smoke particles magnetically stick to the collector plates. Some hybrid smoke eaters also include a carbon post filter section, which helps to remove gasses and remove smoke odor.

Media based smoke removal systems consist of a prefilter, a main filter and usually a carbon post filter. These smoke filters work together to remove smoke particles and to remove smoke smell. Media filters, such as HEPA, are made of tightly woven fabric, which traps the smoke particles, removing them from the airstream. Gas phase media is usually granulated carbon, or a specialized carbon blend. Potassium iodide or potassium permanganate is often used to treat carbon. Activated carbon contains thousands of tiny pores which trap gasses and smoke odors through a process called “adsorption.” Potassium additives oxidize gaseous contaminants and combine with carbon to provide superior smoke odor removal.

There are a few things to keep in mind when selecting the right smoke removal system for your needs. Some smoke eaters claim to have carbon post filters, when in fact they use a foam pad with carbon dust sprinkled onto it which has very little effect in removing toxic gasses or odors. Always look for a unit that has several pounds of granulated carbon if you want to effectively remove smoke odor.

Pros and Cons of Different Smoke Eater Technologies

There are benefits to each kind of smoke eater, when choosing a smoke removal system you should select a system that best suits your needs and budget. Electrostatic smoke eaters use a washable filter as the main filter in the smoke removal system. This filter does not need to be replaced, but it does need to be cleaned regularly. Washable electronic filter cells offer considerable long term savings, but they do require some labor.

Another benefit in using a smoke eater that utilizes an electronic filter cell is that, unlike media filters, they do not decrease the airflow as they load. The benefit of not restricting airflow means that the unit will provide the same coverage area, even when the filters are dirty. The same cannot be said for media filters, which lose as much as 50% of their airflow, when the filters are only halfway through their lifespan.

Media based smoke eaters use a replaceable smoke filter, which do not require regular maintenance, but the smoke filter does require replacement about once per year. Media smoke filter replacements usually cost around $200 or more. Any smoke removal system with carbon must have the carbon replaced periodically if it is to remove smoke smell.

Other Smoke Removal Technologies

In recent years there have been a number of companies claiming to have found the next great smoke removal system. It is important to understand what these technologies are, how they work and what other effects they have, or may cause.

Ozone Generators

Many new products on the market that claim to be smoke removal systems use ozone. Ozone is a powerful cleaning agent and is capable of odor removal. Ozone is not a smoke filter and does not remove smoke particles. There are many companies on the internet touting their ozone producing machines as a smoke eater or a smoke odor eliminator. It is important to know that ozone has been proven to be harmful to humans and may pose a potential health hazard.

Ozone producing units are more suited to restoration work and should not be used in occupied spaces. While some manufacturers claim that their units only emit a “safe level” of ozone, the fact is, almost all units exceed this specification. What is deemed a safe level is not nearly enough ozone for it to be effective as an air cleaner or “smoke odor eliminator.” Furthermore, ozone levels are measured in “parts per million” and in order for a claim of a “safe level” one would need to know the total volume of air in the area in the area in which the unit is to be used.

Ionizers and Ionic Air Cleaners

Ionization is the process that charges the particles in the air with an electric polarity. When these charged particles come into contact with other items, they cling to the surface. Electrostatic smoke eaters have an ionizing section followed by a series of collector plates to capture the smoke particles.

Most ionic air cleaners, claiming to be smoke eaters or smoke removal systems, use only an ionizing section. These ionizers emit the air with the charged particles; the particles adhere to anything with which they come into contact. This commonly includes walls, clothing, furnishings and even the interior of your mouth and lungs. Some ionizers will have only 1 or 2 collector plates which are not really enough to effectively handle smoke removal and are more intended to reduce household dust.

Coverage area of a smoke removal system is the most common area where people are confused. Manufacturers and marketers of smoke removal systems contribute to this confusion by overstating the coverage area for their smoke eaters. As an indoor airquality specialist, this is the area where I am most helpful to my clients. While calculating the coverage area of smoke eaters is not an exact science, we are going to share with you some of the rules that we use everyday, when designing and configuring systems for our clients, which include many popular bars, restaurants, casinos, bowling alleys, bingo halls and our favorite… night clubs!

There are several factors to consider when sizing a smoke removal system:

1. Air changes per hour

2. Obstructions

3. Number of people / number of smokers

Air Changes per Hour

We usually try to meet or exceed 12 air changes per hour in most smoking applications. If you are trying to eliminate cigar smoke or if you are dealing with secondhand smoke, you should try to achieve 14 (or more) air changes per hour. To calculate airchanges per hour, you will need the measurements of the room or area you intend to cover and use the following equation:

In the below example, we will use a 2500 square foot room, with 9 foot ceilings and we will try to achieve 12 air changes per hour.

1. Square footage X ceiling height = cubic feet of air

example: 2500 square feet X 9 foot ceilings = 22,500 cubic feet of air

2. Cubic feet of air / 60 (minutes per hour) = CFM required for one air change

example: 22,500 cubic feet / 60 = 375

3. Multiply – CFM required for one air change X the number of air changes required = CFM needed

example: 375 X 12 = 4500
 

Estimating air change per hour:

No smoking =  6-8 air changes per hour

Light Smoking = 10-12 air changes per hour

Moderate Smoking = 12-14 air changes per hour

Heavy smoking = 16+ air changes per hour
 

In the above example we would need 4500 total CFM to effectively remove the smoke from our 2500 square foot room. In this case we would recommend 4 units that each have about 1100-1200 CFM.

A few things to consider…

If you are using media based smoke eaters remember that as the smoke filters load (become dirty), they restrict airflow. A smoke eater that has 1,000 CFM will only deliver about 600 CFM when the filters are half-way loaded. When sizing media based smoke removal systems, it is best to oversizethem by about 30-40% to make sure that they will still be effective once the smoke filters start to become dirty. Electrostatic smokeeaters do not restrict airflow when they become dirty, but if you add carbon post filters, you should oversize the units by about 10-15% to account for the airflow restriction caused by the extra carbon.

Obstructions

Calculating airchanges per hour is a good indicator of the size of the smoke removal system you will need, or the number of smoke eaters you will need to effectively remove second hand smoke, but it is not the only thing to consider. Remember that a smoke eater relies on airflow and cannot work around corners, through walls or through doorways or archways. In our above example we used a 2500 square foot room and we decided that 4smoke eaters would provide good coverage. If this 2500 square foot areais broken up into several smaller rooms or separated areas, four 1200CFM smoke eaters would not be the best choice. If we are dealing withseveral smaller rooms, it would be best to size each room and choose asmoke eater for each room that can achieve your target air changes perhour.

Number of people/smokers

When designing or sizing a smoke removal system another factor to consider is the maximum number of people and the number of smokers in the area you are expecting. A large smoke eater (1250 CFM) is suitable for about 30 people, with 10 of them being smokers. In our above example where we have calculated air changes per hour in a large room, the four units would be effective if we were expecting a maximum of about 100 peoplewith about 50 of them being smokers. If you expect more people, or more smokers, you should allow for more smoke eaters, more air changes per hour and therefore more CFM and more units.

The above examples and tips should help you determine how many smoke eaters you will need to effectively remove second hand smoke. There are other factors to consider, but if you follow the examples above, you should have an effective smoke removal system.

One of our most popular residential product lines, Airpura has undergone a few recent changes. A new Swiss built motor will now be used in place of the German motor we have previously used. The new motor features the same high output CFM rating but runs much quieter. Some customers had reported a buzzing sound while operating the unit on lower speed settings, we have replaced these units with new units featuring the Swiss motor and all shipments starting at the beginning of this week and all future units will sport the new Swiss motor.

While the cost of this motor is markedly higher that it’s predecessor, we are expecting to hold the current pricing through 2006. The new motor is so quiet we’ve been hearing feedback from customers claiming that the only sound you hear is the air moving through the machine. We will be re-testing the units very soon and posting new decibel levels, but our current observations conclude that this is one of the quietest air cleaners on the market for CFM vs. sound levels.

All Airpura air purifiers will feature this new Swiss motor as will our BPA Smoke Muncher XL and BPA Smoke Muncher XL Deluxe line of residential smoke eaters.