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Odor Eliminator vs. Odor Masker
Monday, July 15, 2024
air care
Odor Eliminator vs. Odor Masker
When your facility has an odor problem, your priority is to get rid of the odor as quickly and effectively as possible. But what is the quickest and most effective way to get rid of odors? Odor masking or odor elimination? What’s the difference anyway?
At State Chemical, we manufacture and distribute chemical solutions for various problems, including odors. We have experience working with both odor maskers and odor eliminators, and we know it can be hard to know what you really need when it comes to such a niche comparison.
So that you can make the best purchase for your facility’s needs, we will be comparing odor maskers and odor eliminators based on how they work, their limitations, and when they’re best used. After reading, you’ll know which kind of product is the best fit for your facility.
What is Odor Masking?
To start, it’s important to understand what odor masking is compared to odor elimination.
Odor maskers are products that use a fragrance to cover up a malodor. They don’t remove odors from the air but rather overwhelm the odor with a pleasant scent so you don’t notice them anymore.
When you think of an odor masker, you’ll probably think of a standard aerosol air freshener. There are exceptions, of course, but usually, when the term “air freshener” is used and no reference is made to odor elimination on the label, it’s referring to an odor masker—not an odor eliminator.
What is Odor Elimination?
Meanwhile, odor eliminators can work in several ways but will often do one of two things:
- Change the chemical composition of the malodor so that your nose no longer recognizes it as an odor
- Physically eliminate the malodor from the air
In either of these cases, odor eliminators neutralize the odor at the source. This means that even without a fragrance, odor eliminators will remove the foul smell from the air, making the environment feel cleaner.
Odor eliminators can also come in aerosol cans, ready-to-use cans and bottles, or fragrance systems, but they’re not usually marketed solely as air fresheners. Instead, their labels will generally also claim that they are “odor eliminators,” “odor neutralizers,” or “deodorizers.”
Odor Elimination is a Longer-Term, More Holistic Solution
When it gets down to it, odor elimination is regarded as a more effective solution because it gets to the root of the problem. Having a pleasant fragrance is a good way to build your brand and add to your facility’s aesthetic, but if your odors persist, it isn’t really solving the issue.
Odor eliminators will get rid of these foul smells so that you don’t notice them at all. And they last longer than odor-masking air fresheners, making them perfect for odors in many situations.
Odor Masking is More Effective for Outdoor, Industrial Spaces
This leads us to when each method is best used. For odor masking, any application is possible, but that doesn’t mean that any application is the best application.
The only time to use fragrance alone is when using an odor eliminator is not cost-effective. For example, in an industrial, outdoor facility, an odor masker is a much more cost-effective choice than an odor eliminator.
Why is this?
Well, in an outdoor setting, there’s so much free-flowing air that an odor eliminator won’t come into contact with enough malodor particles to fully eliminate the odor. You’d have to use a massive amount of product in order to see results, and this probably wouldn’t make sense financially.
Instead, using a powerful odor masker that also contains an odor eliminator would be a smarter financial move. This system would treat the specific environment more effectively, covering up foul odors rather than wasting product by only trying to eliminate them.
Odor Elimination is Safer for Allergies and Sensitivities
However, for most everyday applications, odor elimination is more effective and can get to the root of problems. Plus, if you have facility users with allergies or other sensitivities, odor eliminators can neutralize odors with little to no fragrance.
• This means that if some of your employees have asthma or migraines, for example, odor eliminators may not negatively affect them in the way that odor maskers will. You’ll just need to ensure that you aren’t buying an odor eliminator that’s also an odor masker. Look for labels that read, “fragrance-free,” “allergen-free,” or “no known allergens.”
Odor Masking and Odor Elimination are Best Used Together
All of these factors considered, the best solution to the question of “Odor masking or odor elimination?” is to use both.
When you buy an odor eliminator, it will usually already include a fragrance, but we recommend being sure that that’s the case.
Of course, it always comes down to personal preference. Maybe your facility isn’t plagued by many odors, so you only want to add a pleasant fragrance. Perhaps you only want to eliminate bad smells because of staff sensitivities to common fragrances.
However, whenever possible, the most comprehensive way to eliminate a fragrance and promote a fresh environment is to combine odor elimination and masking.
If you only mask, you’ll be using a shorter-term solution that may still lead to bad odors peeking through. And on the flip side, if you only eliminate odors, your facility will physically have no scent. It won’t smell clean, fresh, or comfortable—it won’t smell like anything.
In theory, this may sound nice, but it can just as easily be jarring. Additionally, it means that customers won’t associate your facility with a pleasant scent, and scent is one of the most powerful triggers of memory.
You can solve both of these problems by using both methods. The odor eliminator will remove the malodor from the air, and the odor masker will leave a pleasant scent behind. This will help clients perceive your facility as cleaner, fresher, more comfortable, or whatever vibe you hope to give off.
Learn About SE-500 as an Odor Neutralizer
When it comes down to it, your primary concern is ridding your facility of odors as quickly and effectively as possible. With odor elimination and/or odor masking, your facility can do exactly this. To learn more about how you can eliminate odors in your facility, consider how SE-500 neutralizes malodors.
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