Thanks v. much for the interesting suggestion. Do these filters also help with smell (ugh) or just the health aspect? Many thanks.

Hi Flowerkitty--I know this is an old post but I came across it when doing a Google search for an air filter system that could filter cigarette smoke. It sounds to me that the system you propose involves a fan, presumably in front of a window, etc.? If this is the case, what about winter when we have to shut out the cold three months of the year? I went to that link you gave and inquired about those Austin systems from IAQ.

I am a non-smoker who lives in a small house with my mother who is a "very heavy" smoker (c. 5 packs/day) and my father who is a non-smoker as well. As you can imagine, there is a tremendous amount of polluted air caused by second hand cigarette smoke.

Basically, we need something that is designed for continuous use in their bedroom (and given that the windows can not be opened in winter). I know there probably isn't a "filterless" system that would work (if so, please let me know that too). We need something that is designed to pretty much "suck" the cigarette smoke out of the air. What is your suggestion? Thanks, Ron

Ronsweet, the instructions clearly say to use the fan and filter to clean the air in your home, not to clean the outside air comking in, (although that could be done too with the set up).

Just build one of these set-ups, and put it in the BR, and plug it in. Easy. Remember to change the filer as needed.

I tried this and you are not exaggerating when you say how dirty this filter gets quickly. Four cigarettes and the filter is grey.
But you no longer have to duct tape a filter to a fan. Lasko makes a 20" fan that will accomodate this 3M or any other major brand filter. The fan (Lasko Model 3900) is designed to handle the load a filter puts on a fan motor. Duct taping a filter to a low load fan will eventually burn out the motor, as Lasko told me anyway. Link to the Lasko fan provided if you care to check it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasko Fan with Filter Frame

My suggestion is not to allow smoking in your apartment. That is the step that I have taken. I have placed buckets of sand on the patio and in front. This is the only way to keep the smell of smoke out of your house.

I like the fan idea just to try and keep the air clean. I thing I will try this just to see what else might be floating around in the air that I breath.

Thanks for the hint

This is a great tip! I actually just built this setup yesterday and spent under $20 getting the supplies from Lowe's. I watched a video on YouTube about how to build this and it was as easy as it sounds!!! I had an old box fan in my home which I was using to just blow the cigarette smoke away so it didn't linger in the air, but that was just moving the smoke around. I bought the 3M Filtrete 1000, 20"x20"x1", and I also bought a long piece of vinyl J-channel siding, to use as brackets to slide the filter in on the back of the fan. I secured the J-Channel with 2 zip ties to hold each piece. I just had to cut two 20" pieces of J-channel to fit on each side. You can really just secure the filter with duct tape if you want, plus it's easier, if you aren't familiar with vinyl siding. Although, I personally wasn't familiar with what J-channel was but I just went to Lowe's and found it in the roofing/lumber section for under $5 for a 12 foot piece. I will try to include the link to the YouTube video I watched. So, since yesterday, it has significantly reduced the amount of smoke in the air!!! Actually, we bought a Winnix 5500-2 air purifier about a month ago, which has been working great to filter out the smoke and dust, but the filter is already brownish/black!!! So, I figured I could build this Fan/Filter setup to remove the majority of smoke and dust and then our expensive Winnix air purifier will last longer. The replacement filters for that are like $25 a piece, and the 3M Filtrete 1085 is only $11. Plus now the air is even more filtered. Although, I hate that we smoke in our house at all. Once it warms up a little bit in the spring we're gonna only smoke outside, but here in Upstate New York, it's too cold for my wife to go outside to smoke! Lol! Here is the link if anyone wants to see how I built it-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vJk5BM8xUo