Odors and scents can affect moods and work performance. Having a nice-smelling business, office or facility can be good for employee morale as well as customer retention and sales.
Air fresheners can enhance your workspace and create a pleasant-smelling environment. Many different types of air fresheners can remove odors, freshen the workspace and fit all budget ranges.
These are seven of the most common types of air fresheners for your facility:
Aerosol dispensers.
Plug-ins.
Fan-powered.
Air purifiers.
Time-operated.
Essential oils and diffusers.
Solids or gels.
1. Aerosol Dispensers
There are several different forms of aerosol dispensers, ranging from sprays to automatic dispensers. Aerosol sprays generally come in a can that you can manually spray. These are inexpensive and typically only cover a small area at a time.
Commercial aerosol air fresheners are often high-tech with LCD displays and a variety of settings to choose from, including spray strength (the amount of fragrance it releases at one time) and frequency of spray. You can typically set it to spray during certain hours, at specific intervals and on regular days of the week. They can often be larger and cover more area as well.
2. Plug-Ins
Traditional plug-in air fresheners are small and plug into an outlet. They do not use much electricity and have a built-in warmer. When plugged in, the warming element heats and circulates the fragrance.
These air fresheners are often used in bathrooms and near sinks. They are inexpensive and can be plugged in and left for several weeks without needing to be replaced. Plug-in air fresheners can also cover a decent amount of area.
3. Fan-Powered
Fan-powered air fresheners often resemble fans and use cartridges instead of sprays or gels. They can be small and battery-powered or slightly bigger with a plug-in feature to cover more ground. These air fresheners use specific scent cartridges to deodorize the air, which will need to be replaced at least every few weeks to a month.
Fan-powered air fresheners can range in how high-tech and expensive they are based on their features. Some continuously release fragrance, whereas others can be programmed on a specific schedule.
4. Air Purifiers
Another method of dealing with odors in your facility is to use an air purifier. These devices do more than merely mask bad odors. They trap pollutants to eliminate them. Air purifiers can clean the air to remove harmful chemicals and allergens to improve bad odors.
They can range in size, type, price and technology. Some are big enough to tackle larger open areas, while others are designed for smaller spaces.
5. Time-Operated
Time-operated air fresheners dispense a mist in a time-controlled fashion. They often use specific cartridges that will need to be replaced as they run out.
These can also vary from small to large, inexpensive to more expensive and low-tech to high-tech. More advanced models can be set to deliver sprays of mist at specific intervals throughout the day or workweek. They often run on batteries and the more sophisticated models will alert you when the batteries are running low.
6. Essential Oils & Diffusers
Essential oils can offer aromatherapy to an area and be dispensed in various ways, including through a diffuser. These diffusers can be high-tech or low-tech and they usually use water and a filter to dispense oils.
Evaporative diffusers use a quiet fan to disperse the oils through a filter. However, not all of the components of the essential oils are released at the same time.
Ultrasonic diffusers are some of the more popular types of essential oil diffusers that quickly dispense oil particles through use of a metal plate. They are quiet and therefore good for office spaces; however, they also typically have a small water tank that will need to be replaced often.
There are a variety of types of essential oils that can be used in diffusers to achieve specific benefits using aromatherapy.
7. Solids or Gels
Traditional air fresheners often involve a solid or gel; you peel back the seal, either completely or a little at a time. They evaporate slowly over time, releasing aroma until they are gone.
These types of air fresheners are inexpensive, discrete and small. They can be placed in out-of-the-way locations to target small areas. You can still use mists or sprays with these air fresheners.
How Alsco Can Help Freshen Your Business
With Alsco, you can be guaranteed quality products and services that can help your business and facility stay fresh, clean and smelling its best. We offer a variety of facility services to suit your business needs and we take the headache out of the management process. Contact us to learn how we can help.
References
Air Purifiers Can Actually Clean the Air to Remove Harmful Chemicals and Allergens to Improve Bad Odors. (November 2002). Scientific American.
Six Benefits of an Air Purifier. (June 2022). Live Science.