October 24, 2024

Indoor air quality is getting a lot of attention as everyone looks for ways to stay healthy. Air scrubbers are one of the devices that are commonly considered in both residential and commercial settings. We’ll explore what an air scrubber is, its key features and benefits and the different types available.
What Is an Air Scrubber?
People often think of air scrubbers and air purifiers as the same device, but they are technically different. Learn the technology that makes up air scrubbers and the big differences between scrubbers and purifiers.
Air Scrubber Technology
Stand-alone air scrubbers are a packaged system that uses various technologies to treat a wide range of airborne contaminants. They start with a fan that circulates a lot of air, with the most common size circulating about 500 cubic feet per minute (CFM), creating substantial noise as it runs.
Air scrubbers also have multi-layered filtration, ionization, UV light and oxidizing molecules. The oxidizing molecules allow air scrubbers to not only clean the air but also help clean some surfaces throughout your home.
Difference Between Air Scrubbers and Other Air Purifiers
The major differences between an air purifier and an air scrubber are the scrubber’s ability to neutralize odors and break down contaminants on household surfaces. Also, stand-alone air scrubbers move enough air to handle large spaces, whereas standalone air purifiers are only sufficient for small rooms. Whole-house air purifiers purify all air moving through the system but stop at whatever is drawn in at the return vents.
Key Features of Air Scrubbers
Air scrubbers may vary based on the model and whether it stands alone or is installed in your HVAC system. Stand-alone models usually include filters, but all models have ionization, UV light and some sort of oxidizing molecule.
Filters
Stand-alone air scrubbers usually have three stages of filtration. The pre-filter usually removes large particulate matter like hair, dander, dust and pollen. This is often followed by a HEPA filter that removes small matter down to 0.3 microns — small enough to remove 99.7% of dust, dirt and dander. Finally, there is often an activated charcoal filter, which is part of what helps remove odors, gas contaminants and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Ionization
One of the major features of an air scrubber is that it not only treats the air moving through the filter. Rather, many air purifiers produce negatively charged ions, which means the molecules have gained one or more electrons. These extra electrons make the device act like a microscopic magnet in the air, attracting small contaminants that have not been filtered yet. As these contaminants stick to the ion, they become heavy enough to fall from the air. This allows the air scrubber to treat a vastly larger space than the filters could handle alone.
UV Light Technology
One of the challenges to any air quality treatment is dealing with contaminants that can affect your health such as bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. Even if they get caught in a HEPA filter, they are still active and can cause problems. To combat these kinds of contaminants, some air scrubbers are equipped with UV light treatment. As the air passes through this part of the system, the UV light damages the structure of the molecule.
Oxidizing Molecules
Oxidizing molecules are one of the major features that separate air scrubbers from other air purification devices. These molecules may be hydrogen peroxide or hydroxyl radicals, depending on whether you have a wet or dry scrubber. These molecules move throughout your house and break down contaminants on surfaces, allowing this device to work beyond just airborne contaminants.
Benefits of Air Scrubbers
Most air quality devices help remove particulate matter from the air. Air scrubbers also help control VOC concentration and neutralize odors.
Less Particulate Matter
Most indoor air quality devices reduce the amount of particulate matter in the air. Air scrubbers remove substantially more matter from the air because of the multiple stages of filters. The ionization also helps remove particulate matter more effectively as ionized air circulates away from the air scrubber and around your home. Because of how ionization works to draw contaminants out of the air, plan to vacuum and dust after running the device to fully remove those contaminants from your home.
VOC Control
VOCs are airborne contaminants that often originate within your home. You may have heard of products, such as paint, linens and even furniture, off-gassing. These gases often fall within the volatile organic compound (VOC) category and may include formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, acetone and methylene chloride, just to name a few. Air scrubbers help control these compounds by capturing them with the activated carbon filters and breaking them down with the oxidizing molecules.
Odor Neutralization
Odors are a major complaint in many homes, especially if you like to cook with potent ingredients or if you have active teenage children or pets that spend a lot of time outdoors. Most odors are gases given off by various bacteria that may not have a known source. Air scrubbers will remove the odiferous gas from the air while also breaking down the odor-causing molecules wherever they are in your home. You should still do the work to find the source and clean it to prevent repeat problems.
Different Air Scrubber Models
There are two categorical types of air scrubbers, portable room-sized models and whole-house models. While both will improve your air quality, they are equipped with different technology and are designed to perform different tasks.
Room-Sized Air Scrubbers
Room-sized air scrubbers are often used to deal with acute air contamination problems. Remediation companies will bring in air scrubbers as part of their remediation protocol for smoke and mold remediation. These units are often designed for industrial use, so they tend to be bulky and loud while running. But they are very effective for dealing with high contaminant concentrations.
Whole-House Air Scrubbers
Whole-house air scrubbers are installed as part of your HVAC system, and tend to be much smaller but also do not have all of the features of the stand-alone unit. Rather, they often use UV light and then produce the oxidizing molecules. The benefit to these is that they do not make nearly the noise that stand-alone units do, making them less invasive to your home environment. Conversely, they do not have the same filtration capacity for environments with high contaminant concentrations. However, whole-house air scrubbers are effective for most normal household contaminant control.
Property owners around St. Louis, MO have turned to Scott-Lee Heating Company for their commercial and residential HVAC needs for more than 40 years. Our award-winning team provides indoor air quality solutions, including air scrubbers, cleaners and filtration, humidity control and energy recovery ventilators along with heating and air conditioning installation, maintenance and repair.
Call Scott-Lee Heating Company to schedule a consultation with one of our indoor air quality experts and explore whether an air scrubber is right for your home.