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Air Purifiers as a Temporary Solution to Toxic Black Mold ProblemsAir purifiers can be an effective temporary solution to a toxic black mold problem in your home, until you can fix the problem. But which air purifier is the best one for this. I have researched the topic of air purifiers. Here is the lowdown on on air purifiers. HEPA filters: These filters are very effective in removing mold spores from the air as long as the filter says that it filters particles as small as .3 microns. Most mold spores are 1 micron or larger. So a filter that catches particles as small as .3 microns would catch all mold spores. Some HEPA filters are more efficient than others in that all the air that goes in the unit passes through the filter. Some less expensive units might not be as efficient. So HEPA filters are very effective in removing mold spores as long as it is a good unit that has a good seal that pushes all the air that goes through the unit through the HEPA filter. This is what separates the less expensive units from the more expensive units. You want to look for units that say that there is a good seal to make the HEPA filter more efficient. CFM . Another thing to look for in air purification units is called CFM which stands for cubic feet per minute. This tells how many cubic feet of air is purified per minute. The higher the number the more it changes the air per minute. Good units will deliver anywhere from 250 to 560 CFMs. CARBON FILTERS. Carbon filters are very important for helping with a mold problem because the carbon will filter out the VOCs (ie mycotoxins) that the mold spores emmit very efficiently. The carbon filters need to have at least 11 lbs of loose activated carbon. Some units contain zeolite in addition to the carbon which is very effective at removing VOCs (mycotoxins) and chemicals from the air. This is very important for people with a mold problem because the VOC's (mycotoxins) are what is making people sick. By lessening the amount of mycotoxins you are breathing in, you will greatly be improving your condition. Mold remediation is still the best answer, but for those that are unable to remediate due to financial constraints, this may be the best temporary solution to ease symptoms of toxic mold exposure. Steel construction. This is another thing to look for in a quality unit because steel is sturdier and there is no plastic off gassing. The air purifiers I like the best are made by Austin Air, because they use all of the above technologies in their units and are reasonably priced.
AIR EXCHANGERS. These are completely different than the units explained above but can be effective in their own way. In fact, it may be advantageous to have both a HEPA/carbon filtration unit as well as an air exchanger in your home for the freshest and cleanest air. What an air exchanger unit does is bring in air from the outside and lets indoor air out. A good air exchanger should heat and filter the air coming in. One of the advantages to this type of unit is that you can create a positive pressure in your house by allowing more air in than out. Good units will allow you to adjust this to your specifications. So you may be wondering why positive pressure is good. Well, positive pressure keeps air from seeping into your house through the walls. Instead, with positive pressure, air is actually seeping out of your house through the walls. A lot of mold problems in houses are actually in the walls. If you have a mold problem in your walls, you can alleviate the problem by using one of these units to build up positive pressure in your house so the mold spores and mycotoxins seep out of the house instead of into your house. And you get the added bonus of getting fresh filtered air from the outside. I give this type of unit two thumbs up for anyone with a mold problem in their house. The air exchanger I like is called
What about other types of air purifiers? Here are some more types. OZONE: Ozone air purifiers work by generating ozone which then binds to particles in the air thus precipitating them out so they fall to the ground. Ozone air purifiers are sometimes described as cleaning the air like nature after a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms produce ozone and thus clean the air. Many people like the fresh clean scent an ozone generator produces. Ozone generating air purifiers are, however, controversial due to the irritating effects that ozone has on the lungs. Some people may notice the effects of the lung irritation as bronchospasm exhibited by coughing and sometimes shortness of breath or exacerbation of asthma. The EPA has established a limit of 80ppb (parts per billion) over an 8 hour period as the National Ambient Air Quality Standard. The Underwriters Laboratories sets their limit at 50 ppb. States are beginning to ban the sale of ozone generating air purifiers. California has already banned them. My opinion is that the harmful effect of the ozone out weighs the benefits of it's air cleaning ability. PHOTOCATALYSIS UNITS;This is very new technology that was developed by NASA for the space program.This technology uses ultraviolet light and titanium dioxide to create hydroxyl ions (OH-) that bind to particles in the air and then neutralizes them. Chemicals and VOC's can be neutralized to carbon dioxide and water. These units are often described as simulating nature's own system of air purification using ultraviolet light from the sun. The hydroxyl radicals are said to be an important cleansing agent in the earth's atmosphere. These hydroxyl radicals last only a few seconds before reacting with particles in the air. Some people report feeling better with these units supposedly because they are cleaning the air. Some reports state that one should not sit too close to these units because the hydroxyl ions can cause slight burning in the eyes. This may be a good air purifier, but I am uncertain about the effects of a lot of hydroxyl ions in the air. And what kind of products are these hydroxyl ions forming with different chemicals in the air. The other thing I wonder about is if these hydroxyl ions only last a few seconds in the air how can they clean the air in your whole house especially without a fan (which many of them do not have a fan)? Also, many of the photocatalysis units also produce small amounts of ozone. ELECTROSTATIC FILTERS:These are the filters like the Sharper Image units that use electrically charged plates to move the air ever so slightly. The negative ions generated bind with particles in the air. Electrostatic filters do remove particles from the air as evidenced by the black dirt on the metal plates. I know because I own 2 electrostatic air purifiers. . But the air flow is so incredibly low that it is by no means an efficient air cleaner. This type of air purifier does produce a small amount of ozone as you can usually smell that ozone smell when they are on. SUMMARY: I think the best filters for anyone with a mold problem in their house are the high quality true HEPA filters with the charcoal filters and the air exchangers as described above.
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