E-cigarettes and vapes are popular, along with numerous other cigarette types. Vapes, just like any other smoking product, also contain nicotine and aerosol particles.
These pollutants are toxic for us and should not be a part of our surrounding air. Does vaping affect air conditioners? How long does vape smoke stay in the air? We will show you the answer soon.
Does vaping affect air quality
Vaping involves sucking in the fluid from the vape that one can also call vape ‘flavor. This fluid turns into vapor as inhaled by the person and contains propylene glycol, toxic chemicals, and flavorings. The tiny water droplets exhaled out of the mouth of the smoker in the form of smoke.
The exhaled smoke circulates the room with nicotine and other intoxicants that affect the air quality. More consumption of vape means that more intoxicants have exhaled in the air. That affects the concentration of the surrounding, which is not suitable for inhaling.
Even though the vape smoke is tiny water droplets that are likely to evaporate after some time, this does not make any difference. The presence of toxins in the air highly affects its quality, which is not suitable for inhaling. We are not just sucking on a nicotine flavoring but also exhaling the air with nicotine concentration that is very unhealthy for the body.
How long does vape smoke stay in the air
The smoke exhaled from vaping is tiny water droplets in the form of vapor. That is because vape has an optimal fluid inside of it that we inhale. This smoke is different from what ordinary cigarettes produce.
The vape smoke does not remain in the air for longer like the smoke from cigarettes. The water vapors tend to evaporate faster as they are volatile. Volatile liquids tend to evaporate at room temperature quickly.
Usually, they can evaporate within seconds. However, if the person is vaping in an enclosed room, the vapors may take longer to disappear completely, especially in the absence of any insulation. That is because fast evaporation requires a larger surface area and a suitable temperature. These factors are found in large outdoor spaces rather than in an enclosed room.
As a result, the vape smoke may get trapped in an enclosed room and affect the air. Smoke is trapped in the room for longer intervals if the person smoked routinely. That is because rooms do not have many insulation sources that can pass the smoke air away from the room.
Does smoking damage air conditioner
Everyone is aware of the effects smoking has on our health but does vaping affect air condition? All the pollutants from cigarette smoke are highly cancerous and harmful.
It is also interesting to note that these pollutants also affect the quality of an air conditioner. Just like how our lung catches these tiny pollutants that damage alveoli walls in our body, AC filters can also see these pollutants. That, as a result, affects the filtering quality of an air conditioner.
A person may change the AC filter after a month, and he would’ve to vary it more often depending on the indoor air quality. Filters are essential for the AC system. Damage to the filter is damage to the system of the unit. Catching on the smoking pollutants acts as an obstacle for the filter to complete its job. You experience such a case if the filter is dirty for a long time.
Do air conditioners filter cigarette smoke
AC filters have the job to sieve the indoor air to make it more suitable and less pollutant.
Similarly, if there are smoke particles in the indoor air, the filter will fulfill its purpose and remove these pollutants from the air. But as mentioned earlier, filters often fail to remove the contaminants from surrounding air, and instead, these pollutants remain in the filer as residue.
An ordinary filter may not work efficiently for a smoker’s home. They should consider using more well-planned filters to filter cigarette smoke completely. The other filters are more systematic and can catch more pollutants than an ordinary AC filter might see.
Does vaping increase air conditioner bill
Vaping may not directly increase your bills, but it can cost you more money than you usually spend. Filtering indoor air is essential to improve its quality. If you have been routinely vaping in the AC room, the atmosphere of that room is likely to be toxic and polluted.
As mentioned earlier, ordinary AC filters cannot efficiently filter such air to make it less pollutant. Instead, you would have to buy a better filter or maybe a house plant or air purifier to get the job done.
The cost of these cleaners and filters is more than the cost of an ordinary AC filter. These filters may also increase the bills resulting in your AC unit.
They usually require more power energy than what a usual filter consumes, which increases the bills. However, if you refuse to install a new filter and believe that the current AC filter is enough for the job, it is still making you spend more. The filters must be changed or cleaned frequently to remove the stuck pollutants from the AC filters. Routine maintenance and change are an added cost to your budget.
Vape smoke is considered less pollutant than smoke from an ordinary tobacco cigarette. Therefore, the filter may optimize the vape smoke better than a cloud of cigarette smoke. Whatever the case, you must avoid smoking indoors or install a better filter as an alternative.
Is it better to vape with the ac on or off
Does ac remove smoke smell? The AC does have filters to sieve the surrounding indoor air, but these filters are not for vape smoke. Smoking with the AC on will affect the lifespan and performance rate of the AC filters. Smoking with the AC off, on the other hand, will increase the ratio of pollutants in the indoor air of an enclosed room that is highly toxic to inhale. Either way vaping around AC is not good.
Instead, you must vape outdoors in an open space where the vapors of the vape smoke then evaporate. Evaporation is much faster in such open spaces as compared to enclosed indoors. This way, the surrounding air for inhaling is also less affected and polluted.
So, to answer the question, you must avoid vaping around air condition units, whether it is on or off. That will help maintain the well-being of the AC filters as their job is not filtering vape smoke but the indoor air only.
Is vaping prohibited in aircon room
Yes, you should avoid vaping or smoking in aircon rooms.
An aircon room is a room that has an air conditioner installed. If you do not desire to affect your air condition system and its lifespan in any way, then you must prohibit smoking around it. This precaution is serious about abiding by, especially if you are a routine smoker.
What happens if we smoke in ac room
The filters of your air conditioner might have excess mold trapped on them because of the polluted indoor air of the aircon room. This mold is often hard to remove even after you seek professional help.
In such cases, you would have to get a new filter or get the entire system repaired. Excess mold because of smoke residues tends to cause damage to the whole HVAC Unit. That also affects the health of the person living in the aircon room because the filters may lose their efficiency of sieving the surrounding air because of excess residues stuck on them.
Smoke does not evaporate faster in an enclosed space, and ACs are not built to filter smoke air.
How to clean cigarette smoke from air conditioner
If you have noticed excess cigarette residue or smell coming out of an AC, then there are two ways to cope with it. You can replace the filter or clean it. In most cases, you must contact professional help for such maintenance, but you can clean the residues off of the filter yourself.
For a wall unit, you can easily clean the filter by taking of the grills. You can clean the unit’s filters by brushing the filter with soap water gently.
Do not forget to unplug the unit before you begin to clean the filter. Smoke pollutants are tiny particles that stick to the filter than can easily be removed with gentle brushing. Allow the filter to dry before you plug in the air conditioner again.
Similar steps can remove cigarette residue from a central AC as well. You can also use a baking soda solution to scrub off the residue from the filter.
Baking soda helps with eliminating the strong cigarette odor. White vinegar mixed with warm water is also a suitable solution to clean the filters. However, white Vinger is the option when excess mold is grown on the filter or even algae. Such situations arise when the filters are not cleaned or scrubbed for a long time. White Vinger can help kill the toxic pollutants of cigarette smoke.
Dr Joe Strachan is a Paediatric Intensive Care (CHiP) expert
