BUYING A HEPA FILTER FOR YOUR HOME 🧵

I've been asked about sizing a HEPA filter for your home. This is different than sizing one for public spaces with other people.

This does not provide fresh air. Ventilation is required for that. Here are some things to consider:

1/10
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?

Do you just want to improve the air quality in your house in general or do you want to have a gathering and use the HEPA filter to mitigate risk of COVID transmission? The clean air delivery rate (CADR) for these two goals is very different.

2/10
For basic air quality improvement, go here: ashrae.org/technical-reso…

Click on standard 62.2-2019. Top of page 8 has a table based on house size.

Consider poor air mixing between rooms. Ex - your bedroom door is closed. HEPA filter outside won't help.

3/10
MITIGATING COVID SPREAD

Note: this reduces risk, but not a guarantee against transmission.

Imagine COVID leaving someone's mouth like invisible second hand smoke.

The HEPA filter does the opposite, it sucks in that smoke and puts out clean air.

4/10
If a HEPA filter is in one room and you and someone else are in a different room, it won't do much good. You need to be breathing in the filtered air.

How much is necessary? I can't say with certainty, but old ASHRAE guidelines for smoking lounges are 60 CFM/person.

5/10
Old guidelines for smoking areas in casinos and restaurants were 30 CFM/person with a note "supplementary smoke-removal equipment may be required".

If you are relying on ventilation and filtration to mitigate spread, distancing is very important.

6/10

ashrae.org/File%20Library…
COVID isn't smoke. I don't know the necessary CADR, but this provides a basis for comparison.

BEDROOMS

Another thing to consider - if you want clean air while you sleep, then it's much better to have a HEPA filter in your bedroom. A smaller one will be sufficient.

7/10
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

I've discussed guidelines on finding the CADR. These are a minimum. Nothing wrong with more. The other considerations are cost and noise (avoid ionization). For your bedroom, you'd want it very quiet. Here's a comparison:

8/10

There is a middle of the road option between minimum residential ventilation and COVID mitigation. You can use the sizing advertised with the HEPA filter. That should give > 4ACH - good air quality.

Or you can calculate it yourself:



9/10
What do I do?

#corsirosenthalbox ! A large one for the main floor and mini CR boxes for the bedrooms. Run them all on low.

10/10

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More from @joeyfox85

Jan 17,
THE MINI #corsirosenthalbox

Here it is:

1/6 Image
Fan from here:
(the one displayed on the wayfair website was not the one shipped. It's seen on the amazon website.)

2/6

wayfair.ca/home-improveme…

amazon.com/Comfort-Zone-P…

H/T @Flying_Donny
Filters from here:

3/6

amazon.ca/FilterBuy-10x1…
Read 6 tweets
Jan 13,
MISUSING THE HIERARCHY OF CONTROLS

The hierarchy of controls is a system to reduce or eliminate exposure to hazards. It has been misused by people pushing an anti-mask agenda. They misunderstand how this works.

1/6 Image
Here's Martha Fulford misunderstanding it to push an anti-mask agenda.

2/6

Respirators (N95, KN95...) right now are the most effective tools to prevent infection. It's preferable to use the other methods, but the other methods don't work as well.

Here's how the different controls can be used to combat COVID (some is up for debate):

3/6
Read 6 tweets
Jan 10,
SCHOOL VENTILATION MYTHBUSTERS

MYTH: Mechanical Ventilation + MERV-13 renders other measures ineffective.

FACT: Various measures are cumulative (they add together).

This misinformation has been pushed by public health and school boards and it needs to be stopped.

1/7
If you have 3 ACH (air changes/hour) from air being supplied through mechanical ventilation/filtration and 2 ACH being supplied by stand-alone HEPA filters, you have a total of 5 ACH. (3+2=5)

5 ACH > 3 ACH

It's pretty easy to understand.

2/7
Those who have been pushing this misinformation didn't bother checking with engineers. They are stating blatantly incorrect facts about ventilation/filtration when they do not know what they are talking about.

3/7
Read 7 tweets
Jan 6,
CONVINCING SCHOOLS TO PUT IN A #corsirosenthalbox

CR Boxes are a cheap, quick and effective way to increase filtration. They are one of the best tools we have right now to protect kids from COVID. How to get them into classrooms?

1/13
First, call up the teacher, principal, superintendent, trustee and tell them about these. Recommending that the kids build them themselves in science class might help. You'll definitely get resistance though, here are some counter arguments:

2/13
ALREADY HAVE A HEPA FILTER

What HEPA filters they are using? Are they run on high (probably not)? What's the CADR? They aren't going to do anything meaningful. At least ask that they be run on high speed and if not, they need more filtration.



3/13
Read 13 tweets
Dec 30, 2021
WAYS TO KEEP YOU KID SAFE AT SCHOOL

Many are very worried about what's going to happen Monday. If you are sending your kid back to school, there are things that you can still do:

1. Ask the teacher to keep the windows open as much as possible.

1/5
2. If there is a HEPA filter in the classroom, ask the teacher to move it closer to the center of the room and run it as fast as possible (noise permitting).

3. Ask the teacher if they can check the ventilation themselves:

2/5
4. Get your kid a respirator. We get ours from Cangard because they have nice designs and my kids like them:
cangardcare.com/product-catego…

Here are other Canadian manufacturers:
cappem.ca/disposable-res…

3/5
Read 6 tweets
Dec 29, 2021
3 WAYS YOU CAN CHECK VENTILATION YOURSELF

Before checking, you need to find where the air is coming from. It's usually from a rectangular, circular or linear diffuser, or from a grill. Usually on the ceiling, but sometimes on a wall. Here are some examples.

1/7
The air returns through a grill as well. It can look like these.

2/7
1. LOOK AND LISTEN

I'm always looking up at the vents and listening when walking into a room. People think that's weird. Start doing that. You can usually hear the air moving. If you hear it turning on and off, you know it's not being run properly. It should always be on.

3/7
Read 7 tweets

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