In my last post about smoke, I spoke about a few things NOT to buy for smoke. Now we can get to the good stuff.

A residential smoke removal system should be:

Powerful - It should have sufficient airflow to clean the air quickly. Speed matters. If it takes too long, the smoke has more time to drift throughout the rest of the home.

Quiet - Obviously you don't want something that sounds like a freight train running through your living room.

Capable - Meaning, it needs to have the right air cleaning process to remove the pollutants caused by smoke. That would be the particles themselves - or the clouds of smoke you can see. Then you need something capable of removing the thousands of chemical fumes, gases and odors from the tobacco.

Look nice - Some of the equipment available is just downright ugly or looks like it belongs in some industrial warehouse. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want some of the equipment available sitting in my living room.

In a previous article, I talked about two very capable machines, the Aller Air and the IQ Air Multigas. They have the right combination of filtration for the particles and carbon for the gases, fumes and odors. But due to initial cost, noise levels, high or unknown filter costs and airflow, they don't fit into my criteria for a recommended system.

So what DO I recommend?
A customer once asked me about the Dynamic Air Cleaner line and through a little research I found this gem of a console unit. Dynamic Air Cleaners are huge in the whole house market sold through heating and air conditioning contractors, but they are definitely not a household name when it comes to free standing air cleaners. Therefore, the console is not well marketed. However it is an extremely capable machine for smoke. You see, this console is made by the same company who's systems are used in dozens of casino's nationwide for smoke removal. The technology is proven to work.

Now take that same patented filtration process and put it into a hand made real wooden cabinet, combine it with a high quality powerful and quiet fan and you've got the best product I've sold for home smoke removal. Cigar afficionado even gave it a great review a couple years back. Take a look:

Why is it so good? Well, it's quiet, powerful and it works. Plain and simple. Is it cheap? Nope, not hardly. Price is $897 which includes free shipping and four filters to start. Moderate to heavy smokers will change the filter every month at a cost of $20 a piece. So, you're pretty much talking about $900 and then $20 bucks a month. Is clean air and the health of your family worth it? That's up to you to decide. But when you consider a two pack a day smoker is spending $240 - $300 a month on cigarettes to pollute their home and put themselves and their family at risk, I'd say $900 once and $20 bucks a month is a small price to pay.

Check out the Dynamic Air Cleaner CT500 Console and decide for yourself.

Dan Buglio - The Air Quality Guy