There are few manufacturers or businesses today without a commercial air purifier. Used in a home environment, air cleaners remove common dust and particulars from the air to provide a safe, cleaner environment for family living. For a manufacturer, an air purifier is often critical business equipment.
For businesses where customers gather to exercise, dine or hold meetings, the quality of the air is apparent when they enter the premises. You may visit your gym every morning for an hour of exercise but you don’t want to smell the sweat of customers who exercised last night before closing time.
The locker room smell is a familiar odor for many of us. It was the smell we were accustomed to in high school locker rooms and group showers and though recognizable, it’s not a smell we appreciate.
Imagine what the odors would be in a commercial fitness center without the assistance of a high quality commercial air purifier cycling the air through its massive filtration system.
Casinos can be fun for entertainment yet more tobacco smokers are encountered in gaming establishments than perhaps anywhere else the public might gather. Cigarette smoke leaves a nasty, lingering odor that can be difficult to remove. When you walk into a casino with the stylish chandeliers, the last thing you want is to breathe second hand smoke.
Without the aid of a commercial air purifier, the air in an average casino would be stale and smelly. Most casinos are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The buildup of odors consists of smokers, less than clean bodies and cooking aromas from the associated restaurants. Without a commercial air cleaner, a casino would smell like a dirty alleyway which is not conducive to repeat business.
While many businesses are focused on improving air quality to remove odors and replace smells with air that is clean smelling, some manufacturers need commercial air purifiers to stay in business.
Special Use Air Cleaners
Medical settings such as hospitals and clinics require a commercial air purifier to maintain clean rooms. Specifically, in medical facilities it is necessary to have total and complete filtration of room air to remove biological contaminants. Without this technology illness due to environmental pathogens (viruses and bacteria) can spread among patients and staff.
A commercial air purifier for medical environments will use a four-step process of filtration. By combining pre-filters, activated carbon filters, H13 HEPA filters and UVGI lamps that almost completely kill microbes, bacteria, fungi and viruses, these units provide a hgh level of safety in any medical environment.
An air purifier such as the IQAir VOC GCX is designed to clear fumes from the environment. VOCs (volatile organic compounds) can be problematic where paints and other chemical liquids are present. Control of chemical fumes is the goal for such an air cleaner. In a three step process, the air cleaner can improve air quality in a 1200 sq ft area.
Benzene, butane, carbon tetrachloride, chlorine, chloroform, dichloroethane, ethylene oxide, nitrobenzene, sulfuric acid, toluene and xylene are a partial list of chemicals that produce dangerous levels of VOCs. A three stage filter process can remove 99% of the VOCs and provide healthy air for workers in the area.
The cost of specialized commercial air purifiers is comparable to costs of any type of commercial grade equipment. The best models for removing dangerous VOCs from areas where paint, pesticides or other chemicals are used or produced will carry a price tag of about $2500.
The space used by many manufacturing plants is quite large so the commercial air purifiers are often purchased in multiple numbers. The common rule is one unit for each 1200-1500 square feet of manufacturing space. For a plant the size of a football field, 4-5 commercial air purifier units would be commonly used.
Two Basic Business Types
The need for an air purification system can easily be divided into two categories of businesses. The first is consumer based business locations.
The focus is on providing air that smells clean and an air clean that removes common particulates. These air cleaners are systems similar to those we may purchase for residential use but are larger and more powerful to cover a larger volume of air and floor space.
The second type of application is for use where safety is a concern. For a company that is manufacturing products that release VOCs or dangerous particulates, a clean air system must be reliable in operation and in efficiency. A substandard unit or units that are not designed for the high level of air cleaning necessary can expose workers and customers to dangerous toxic fumes.
For medical environments, air purifiers fall somewhere in between the two main categories above. Though the quality requirements for the treated air are extremely high in a medical setting, the filtration systems used are commonly available. The clean room environment is achieve by a combination of those accepted filters and by use of the highest quality filters available.
Summary
When choosing a commercial air purifier, the buyer does not adhere to brand names or hyped sales copy. Salesmen in this field are often highly educated on air quality and are qualified to advice business owners of options available for their particular needs. Experienced sales personnel will know the government regulations for air quality in plants and office buildings.
Most salesmen in this field represent a dozen or more manufacturers of air cleaning equipment. This allows them to recommend the best solution for almost any commercial need for air quality control.
