Air purifiers?

[teachermom2834]

I keep seeing these mentioned in regards to mitigating Covid risk. I haven’t looked into it but I am positive smart people here have. What would I be looking for if I wanted something to decrease risk ? (in addition to all the other measures always mentioned).

I would assume there are all kinds of useless products being marketed and I think I have just been assuming anything useful is difficult to get because of demand. Are there effective air purifiers readily available still? What am I even looking for? 
 

Thank you!

[SoCal_Bear]

If you want to a purifier that is effective against viruses, you need to look for ones with UV but you need to look carefully at the exposure time to UV and the intensity of the UV as well as how much air is processed by the purifier. I know...complicated.

 

 

[teachermom2834]

Yes, complicated. Which is why I haven’t paid attention before. I just haven’t had the brain space is suspected I needed. 

[SoCal_Bear]

this is reason why having natural ventilation is ideal. It only takes about 15 to 20 minutes for air to fully exchange.

[SoCal_Bear]

on the other hand, I think next year going into the fall, you will have a much better idea of good choices. The market is pretty good at weeding out the poor performers, all the early adopters will have tried all sorts of products and the reviews will be in of the best choices out there.

[AmandaVT]

I bought this one for school this year. My office is in the basement of the building with no windows. It's also very close to the gym. It doesn't smell very good in the best of times. Our custodian is checking the air quality in every room of the school monthly this year and my room is always the best. The first time he came in, he took multiple readings. The other rooms were reading in the 500+ range (for whatever it was checking) and mine was at 4. He was so surprised, he left and came back to double check. If nothing else, it is making my room smell clean and there's a notable difference between my room and the rest of the school. I picked the brand because it's the one my dentist is using and she spent a lot of time researching when they had to be shut down in the spring. 

[klmama]

On 12/13/2020 at 8:24 PM, AmandaVT said:

I bought this one for school this year. My office is in the basement of the building with no windows. It's also very close to the gym. It doesn't smell very good in the best of times. Our custodian is checking the air quality in every room of the school monthly this year and my room is always the best. The first time he came in, he took multiple readings. The other rooms were reading in the 500+ range (for whatever it was checking) and mine was at 4. He was so surprised, he left and came back to double check. If nothing else, it is making my room smell clean and there's a notable difference between my room and the rest of the school. I picked the brand because it's the one my dentist is using and she spent a lot of time researching when they had to be shut down in the spring. 

Impressive.  What size is your office?  How long do you run it each day?  

[Wheres Toto]

I have BlueAir purifiers in both my classrooms that we run on high while classes are in session.   I can hear it if I listen for it but it's not loud enough to disrupt normal talking or lecturing.   I read reviews over the summer looking for what would be the best ones for our needs.   I have ones that are rated for bigger rooms than we actually have them in because I wanted a thorough air exchange.  

[AmandaVT]

On 12/20/2020 at 11:39 PM, klmama said:

Impressive.  What size is your office?  How long do you run it each day?  

Not huge - maybe around 200 sq ft? I run it all day when I'm there. I keep it on medium when I'm with students and bump it up to high in between kids. 

[Spryte]

We have BlueAir filters, too.

We’ve had one for 12 years, the other not quite 6 years.  We buy the charcoal filters, to get the smallest particles.  We bought these for a child with environmental allergies and issues with VOCs, so no UV, but they’ve been excellent over the years.  Good investment.