Please Help w Cigarrete Smoke

[ridlejs]

Hey guys,
I specifically registered for this site to ask this one question. I can not take my apartment smelling like cigarrettes anymore. My neighbors are prolific smokers and it seeps into my apartment. But the weird thing is, this only happens when its hot or humid outside. It's 2:00 am here and I cant sleep because my eyes are burning its so bad. I usually open the windows which alleviates the problem to some degree, but its not helping tonight. (Raining outside). Does anyone have any solutions for this? I honestly can not live like this, but our family owns the apartment. So Im getting rent for basically half. So movings not really an option. I am open to spending money if it fixes the problem for good. Weve talked with our HVAC people and the only solution they provide is to buy an expensive uv light. They were around $1200 but Id be willing to buy one now if I know for certain it would work. Please someone give me some positive news!

[pmeunier]

You're not the first one with this problem; if you search, you'll find other threads about people in apartments getting smoke from neighbors. Do you run an exhaust fan when it's hot or humid? Essentially it's a question of air pressure. For you to be OK, your apartment needs to have a higher air pressure than theirs. So you can get a fan that forces fresh air into your apartment, or get them to run an exhaust fan (or both). For more information and suggestions, look up the previous threads.

[lynn comstock]

I agree with post 2. During the problem time, run your fan all the time and pressurize your appartment with outside air. This will raise your power bill. A small duct from the return to the outside will do it. Use 6" round with a damper. The damper allows you to experiment on amount of air required. Start with it fully open. A test setup with a small fan in a window could prove the concept.

Once you have proven that this works, add an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) to keep the cost down. The fan motor operating cost can be added later if desired.

[ridlejs]

Thanks for the replies. I have looked at other threads but didn know if my solution would be the same. Where would I get an exhaust fan? I'm not an hvac guy so I didn't know if I need them to install or I can do it myself.

[lynn comstock]

Exhausting air from your home is the opposite of what we recommend. You need to force air into your home. Do you have air conditioning? If so, the air conditioning fan can have a small duct connected to it for that purpose. You need a pro for that.

If you have no AC, a window box fan will work for a test cure, or as a permanent cure during the hot, humid weather. It would help if your UserCP information included your home city and state...climate matters.

[teddy bear]

I agree with post 2. During the problem time, run your fan all the time and pressurize your appartment with outside air. This will raise your power bill. A small duct from the return to the outside will do it. Use 6" round with a damper. The damper allows you to experiment on amount of air required. Start with it fully open. A test setup with a small fan in a window could prove the concept.

Once you have proven that this works, add an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) to keep the cost down. The fan motor operating cost can be added later if desired.

Avoid exhausting air from your apartment. Make-up air is the solution. A small whole house ventilating dehumidifier is ideal for green grass climates. This is filtered fresh make up air blended with inside air blown in the supply side of the a/c or just into the interior space.
ERVs are balanced flow and not pressurize the space. Pressurizing the interior stops smoke from entering the apartment. The dehu part is needed to maintain <50%RH during damp outside weather.
Look at the Santa Fe Compact or Ultra-Aire 70H. You could put the unit next to window with a duct to the outside. We do many.
For a test, get a small window fan from home depot blowing in 50 cfm of fresh air. If that stops the smoke odor, go for the ventilating dehu ASAP. Fresh air to purge the smoke, pressurize the apartment and the dehu to keep the %RH <50%RH.
Keep us posted.
Regards TB

[Some Dude]

An Air Oasis 3000 would easily handle your problem. You could always go up one more notch if desired to the 3000 Xtreme, but that's probably not necessary. Has anyone here already been using Air Oasis equipment to solve air quality problems for customers. Air Oasis has an incredibly high success rate with customer satisfaction, I'm wondering how many HVAC businesses here are even aware of how that can benefit your business by promoting a real service to the people you work for, to make a dramatic improvement in their indoor environment with the NASA-developed technology of Air Oasis. Please reply if you've been to Link Removed before, or have a personal experience with the technology. Also, post any questions about the equipment.

What a set up, stop wasteing our time.

This guy is all over the threads, same set up, check his posts

[lynn comstock]

SteeleAirOasis Post quoted in Post 7 must have been zapped as spam.

[ridlejs]

Thanks For the replies. To clarify I live in Austin Tx. So hot summers and relatively mild winters. Humidity is not as high as coastal regions but I think it is relatively high.

[gtgrad]

the uv light will not help, i repeat it will not help. From what you have described all of the smoke they are putting in the air is way too much for the uv light to handle. This is a tough question because i dont know the layout of your house, but maybe one problem may be that yall share the same attick and or crawlspace area. If so, that build a wall seperating them and seal that thing to the max. Seal your area, anything that is close to there side should be sealed. You could try disconnecting all of the ductwork to your area and sealing it up, then go buy window units. The uv light will take care of a little but it is not meant for a cigertte factory,so dont buy it unless you have reduced the problem id say 75 percent then add the uv light

[Chris_Worthington]

[ridlejs]

Ok, so I had an hvac guy come out this afternoon. He pretty much gave me three options. His first option was to install the AS Accuclean. He said that this would filter the air pretty sufficiently. He said the next option is to replace the ductwork. This is obviously more expensive, but may be needed because the ducts are probably saturated with smoke. After that, he said we could put the house into a positive pressure environment by installing what some mentioned here earlier. So what would you guys do? I would love to pay less and install the Accuclean but will it work?

[pmeunier]

balderdash. I'd give him the boot (pun intended).