Health

appalachiablue

(42,908 posts) Tue Dec 21, 2021, 02:37 PM Dec 2021

Coronavirus and Air Cleaners, Air Purifiers, HVAC Filters: EPA, Consumer Reports, RollingStone

Last edited Tue Dec 21, 2021, 04:28 PM - Edit history (2)

- *Nov. 2, 2020. 'Consumer Reports: Can air purifiers kill COVID-19 in your home?' With all of the talk about the virus & droplets in the air, you may have wondered whether air purifiers might help. So, Consumer Reports took a look at purifiers to see if they might really make a difference in your home.
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- EPA: 'Air Cleaners, HVAC Filters, and Coronavirus (COVID-19).'

- Air Cleaners: Portable air cleaners may be particularly helpful when additional ventilation with outdoor air is not possible without compromising indoor comfort (temperature or humidity), or when outdoor air pollution is high. - Caution: The use of air cleaners alone cannot ensure adequate indoor air quality, particularly where significant pollutant sources are present and ventilation is insufficient. Read EPA’s “Guide to air cleaners in the home" (PDF). When used properly, air cleaners and HVAC filters can help reduce airborne contaminants including viruses in a building or small space.

By itself, air cleaning or filtration is not enough to protect people from COVID-19. When used along with other best practices recommended by CDC and other public health agencies, including social distancing and mask wearing, filtration can be part of a plan to reduce the potential for airborne transmission of COVID-19 indoors. Air cleaners and HVAC filters are designed to filter pollutants or contaminants out of the air that passes thru them. Air cleaning and filtration can help reduce airborne contaminants, including particles containing viruses. Portable air cleaners (also known as air purifiers) may be particularly helpful when additional ventilation with outdoor air is not possible without compromising indoor comfort (temperature or humidity), or when outdoor air pollution is high.

In order for an air cleaner to be effective in removing viruses from the air, it must be able to remove small airborne particles (in the size range of 0.1-1 um). Manufacturers report this capability in several ways. In some cases, they may indicate particle removal efficiency for specific particle sizes (e.g. “removes 99.9% of particles as small as 0.3 um”). Many manufacturers use the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) rating system to rate air cleaner performance. Others indicate they use High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters.
In order to select an air cleaner that effectively filters viruses from the air, choose: 1) a unit that is the right size for the space you will be using it in (this is typically indicated by the manufacturer in square feet), 2) a unit that has a high CADR for smoke (vs. pollen or dust), is designated a HEPA unit, or specifically indicates that it filters particles in the 0.1-1 um size range...https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/air-cleaners-hvac-filters-and-coronavirus-covid-19
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- Consumer Reports: 'What You Need to Know About Air Purifiers and the Coronavirus.' One of these devices might help if someone at home is sick, but only if you use it correctly. *Updated May 5, 2020.

Running an air purifier at home can be a good idea anytime, to help filter out indoor allergens and pollutants like fumes from cooking and cleaning products. And that's especially true now, when so many people are stuck indoors 24/7 because of the coronavirus pandemic. But you may also be wondering if an air purifier can prevent COVID-19 by capturing virus particles that could be traveling in the air.

We spoke with air quality and virology experts, and asked CR's own experts to weigh in. The consensus is that while air purifiers probably don't offer much protection in most circumstances, they may be worthwhile in a few specific ones. If someone in your household is sick with COVID-19, running an air purifier in their quarantine room may help protect other family members or caregivers. The same goes for healthcare workers who are self-quarantining when they come home. - MORE ON AIR PURIFIERS AND THE CORONAVIRUS...
https://www.consumerreports.org/air-purifiers/what-to-know-about-air-purifiers-and-coronavirus-a1061668554/
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- RollingStone Recommends: 'The Best HEPA Air Purifiers for Smoke, Germs and Viruses.' Nov. 24, 2021. Here’s why people are stocking up on these high-powered purifiers for their coronavirus prevention kits,
https://www.rollingstone.com/product-recommendations/electronics/best-hepa-air-purifier-reviews-1086229/
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- Blueair Classic 605 Air Purifier. High rating from Consumer Reports. On sale recently, $300-500 off.

https://www.allergybuyersclub.com/blueair-classic-605-air-purifier.html

4 replies

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Highlight:

Coronavirus and Air Cleaners, Air Purifiers, HVAC Filters: EPA, Consumer Reports, RollingStone (Original Post) appalachiablue Dec 2021 OP

If these are too expensive, Dr. Ding recs building a Corsi box SheltieLover Dec 2021 #1

Tx, good to know. The EPA article part on 'DIY Air Cleaners': appalachiablue Dec 2021 #2

Trump's Christians say they have Trumpvirus killing technology. keithbvadu2 Dec 2021 #3

Luv it, sharks claim anything to keep donations comin' appalachiablue Dec 2021 #4

SheltieLover

(59,611 posts)

1. If these are too expensive, Dr. Ding recs building a Corsi box

Reply to appalachiablue (Original post)

Tue Dec 21, 2021, 02:46 PM

Dec 2021

A box fan, hepa filters & duct tape.

Dr. Ding's twitter:

https://mobile.twitter.com/DrEricDing?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

For those unfamiliar, he is a Harvard epidemiologist who I have found to be way ahead of public policy on covid since before it blew up in the States well over 1.5 years qgo.

If interested, there are loads of videos online about how to make one.

Dr. Ding advocates for all classrooms to have high quality filtration.

Be safe, All! 😷

appalachiablue

(42,908 posts)

2. Tx, good to know. The EPA article part on 'DIY Air Cleaners':

Reply to SheltieLover (Reply #1)

Tue Dec 21, 2021, 02:54 PM

Dec 2021

... - DIY Air Cleaners

Do-it-yourself (DIY) air cleaners are indoor air cleaners that can be assembled from box fans and square HVAC (or furnace) filters. They are sometimes used during wildfire events when air quality is poor and other filtration options are unavailable. There have been questions about whether DIY air filters can be effective in reducing virus particles in indoor environments. DIY air cleaners may provide some benefits for reducing concentrations of viruses and other indoor air pollutants, but research is limited and there are several important considerations explained below.

EPA does not recommend the routine use of DIY air cleaners as a permanent alternative to products of known performance (such as commercially available portable air cleaners). The performance of different DIY air cleaners will vary and cannot be reliably assessed without specialized instruments. Commercial devices have been tested for performance and can be chosen to match the size of a room.

EPA and Underwriter Laboratories evaluated the use of DIY air cleaners and the risk of fire. Fans that were built since 2012 and met UL standard 507 did not pose a fire hazard under the conditions tested in the study. (See Research on DIY Air Cleaners to Reduce Wildfire Smoke Indoors for more information.)

- Tips - If You Choose to Use a DIY Air Cleaner
Use government, state, tribal, university or other expert instructions for building the device. There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of DIY air cleaners. There are many possible DIY designs and variations of those designs, and few tests have been done to see how well they work. Some example designs are:
How to build a low-cost air filter (pdf) (University of Washington, School of Public Health)...