Shop Air Filters: How to Determine if You Need HEPA or Not

Particles, fibers and dust are a common everyday occurrence in workshops. And to keep working conditions safe, most business owners or shop managers will purchase a shop air filtration system of some kind. Often, however, the purchase is for a machine that isn’t exactly what they need, not suited to the size and volume of particles they are dealing with, or the properly sized to the space of the room–all of which increase costs unnecessarily and can leave a shop wide open for lawsuits from poor air quality injury. Truth is, you don’t always need a commercial HEPA purifier, but sometimes you do. Here’s how to determine what you need, save money and do a better job of keeping the air in your workshop cleaner and everyone safer:

 

First, determine all of the types of particles that are or could be present based on the operation of the shop, various materials being used, etc–make a list. Next, determine what sizes of the particles you’re dealing with: if it’s mainly large wood or other particles larger than 5-10 microns, chances are you don’t need HEPA; in fact you can save a lot by purchasing a dust collector that has a cleanable particle filter or bag filter rated for this size (which you can also clean). For reference, 5 microns is about like super fine ground coffee. A grain of beach sand can be as big as 100 microns. If you have dust or fibers that are super fine like baby powder, that’s about 1-5 microns–still don’t necessarily need HEPA, probably good with MERV-12 or so. If you have smoke, that’s a lot of airborne particles at about 7 microns, and sometimes a few under 1 micron, which is why you then would probably need a portable shop air filter with HEPA–because HEPA or MERV-16-17 grabs over 99% of those submicron particles as small as 0.3 microns.

 

If you have people coughing or sneezing but can’t see the dust on surfaces really or anything in the air, definitely need HEPA as those particle that are too small to see require HEPA to remove them. Finally, when selecting the right shop air filter, be certain to size the purifier to the square footage of the room and give yourself at least 4 clean air changes per hour for proper dust control. To calculate, simple multiply square footage by the ceiling height and divide by the CFM of the air cleaner. This will tell you how many minutes it takes to completely clean all of the air in the space at that CFM. If it takes 45 minutes to get 1 complete air change, you probably need 3 of the same air cleaner to get 4 clean air changes per hour, or a larger CFM unit.

 

At our online store we offer a wide range of top-rated industrial shop air filters to fit every job size, with the best discount prices and free shipping due to our extremely low overhead as an online store. Call our experts today with your questions at 800-701-2513. We are here to help!

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Solvent Fume Extractors: What You Need to Know Before Buying

Industrial solvent fume extractors are a big help in terms of eliminating harmful airborne solvent chemicals from the work environment--but only if you take certain steps to make certain that you're getting the right unit. All too often, the purchasing coordinator at a manufacturing facility or similar operation will order a 'fume extractor' online without looking over the important details. The result is that some of the chemical fumes might be removed, but some not very well, and the unit simply circulates what the filter can't absorb. This is a REAL problem, and potentially deadly, if the chemicals in the solvent are ultra-hazardous. And if you've got explosive or flammable fumes and didn't buy an explosion proof unit, you could be in big trouble.

 

The way to avoid this problem is to follow an easy 4 step process before buying a chemical fume air purifier: 1) determine if you're going to need to remove fumes at the source, in the ambient air in the room or via an HVAC system, or what combination of those you need, 2) determine all of the chemicals present (and any particles) and make sure that whoever you're buying the unit from checks with their technical team to make sure that the media in the filter will adequately remove all pollutants of concern--send MSDS sheets for each pollutant, 3) determine how much space (square footage) and ensure that the unit can provide a minimum of 4 air changes per hour for space involved, and 4) determine whether you have flammable or explosive pollutants--this will determine whether you need an explosion proof motor, explosion proof XP wiring, shielded components, etc. If you follow those four steps, you'll get the right unit and keep everyone safe and continue to enjoy the privilege of being in business.

 

At our online store, we offer top-rated industrial carbon air cleaners, dust collectors and almost any other type of system needed to purify the air in commercial work spaces. And since we are online store with far less overhead than traditional brick and mortar retail stores, our operating costs are much lower so we happily pass those savings on to you in the form of the lowest possible discount prices with free shipping. And if you have questions or need help with the four steps above, our industrial air filtration experts are standing by to help. Just give us a call toll-free at 1-800-70-2513!

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Industrial Carbon Filters: What You Need To Know Before Buying Them

Activated carbon air filters are used in a variety of industrial and commercial applications to effectively remove odors and hazardous airborne chemicals. This is accomplished by the carbon granules surface being charged and attracting, to varying degrees, the electrical charges on the chemical molecules bring removed. This process is called adsorption, which is more of a binding action than absorption. Not all chemicals or substances are able to be removed by an activated carbon filter, however. Not only are there different types of activation performed to make carbon have more attractive ability, there are some chemicals that don't 'stick' to carbon, at all--which allows them to blow right through an air cleaner and circulate, making them far more dangerous.

 

Industrial carbon filters have charcoal in them that is either heat activated, chemically activated or both. There is also non-activated, standard charcoal, which removes some pollutants but not nearly as well as activated.  There are also different types of carbon, such as that from burned coconut shells, bituminous coal and others. It's important to first find out what chemicals or odors need to be removed, then check the list for that activated carbon and see how well it removes the pollutant, generally on a scale of 1-4, with 4 being the best. The good news is that, if you are buying manufacturer made replacement industrial carbon filters, you're getting something that already fits your machine well, won't void the warranty and removes pollutants well.

 

Still, if you have more pollutants than what the air cleaner was originally bought for, you may want to check the list again to see how well it removes the new chemicals. And, if standard activated carbon doesn't score well, you can often get a special blend or custom-tuned carbon that will remove the pollutant well---you just need to ask the manufacturer specifically for that. Buying replacement carbon filters on time not only prevents liability caused by chemical-pollutant related illness, it saves you money by reducing wear and tear on the air cleaner and actually increases productivity. And, you can often buy bulk activated carbon instead of a whole new canister and save money there, too.

 

At our online store we offer a wide range of industrial activated carbon filters, carbon odor filters, bulk carbon and more for a variety of top-rated industrial and commercial air cleaners, smoke eaters--all at the best discount prices with free shipping and outstanding customer service. Call our industrial air filtration specialists toll-free today with your questions at 1-800-701-2513. We're here to help!

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Cold Mist Ultrasonic Humidifiers: Why They're Best for Toddlers, Pets & Warm Climates

There are a lot of portable ultrasonic humidifiers around, with various types, warm mist, cool mist, etc. They're typically used to alleviate sinus and respiratory, even skin conditions caused by dry indoor air. Getting the best results from your humidifier, however, depends heavily on selecting the right type for your needs, climate or indoor temperature and who will be in the area being humidified.

Warm mist units are usually better for colder climates and homes where no one is going to get burned by a warm mist coming out of the unit--such as no pets, no toddler or babies crawling around. Colder temperatures make it difficult for moisture to absorb into the air, and having a warm mist helps the moisture absorb into the ambient air better and faster.

Cool moisture humidifiers, however, are better for warmer climates as the mist actually helps reduce cooling costs and the moisture readily goes into the air due to the warm ambient temperature. They're great if you have pets, crawling babies or toddlers, too, as they can't get burned by a cool mist of moisture. These simple distinctions might not seem like a big deal, but they can really help you get your money's worth from your ultrasonic cold mist humidifier or warm mist humidifier, and minimize the chances of anyone getting hurt. You can also use these tips to help yourself get the best humidification results in various seasons using--in general, when it's warm, use a cool mist unit; when it's cold, use a warm mist unit and keep out of reach of pets or children.

At our online store, we offer a great selection of the best cool mist humidifiers for virtually any home, room or office, at the best discount prices with free shipping. How can we sell so low? We're an online store without the overhead of big box retail stores--and we are happy to pass those savings on to you!  Got questions? Call our indoor humidification experts toll-free at 1-800-701-2513. We're here to help!

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Aromatherapy Products: Why They’re Becoming More Popular Than Prescription Medications

Stress and anxiety are real problems for a lot of people in today’s society. And the main method of dealing with them has been to prescribe medications, which work well for a lot of people. The problem, however, is that many medications come with significant side effects that aren’t exactly a fair trade off—like less anxiety for issues such as circulatory system problems, immune system depression, and more. So naturally, people are looking more toward an old technology that really works, doesn’t put foreign man-made chemicals into the body, and often costs less—aromatherapy products.

 

Aromatherapy products usually consist of pure essential oils and some type of diffuser that causes the oil or fragrance to evaporate into the air with heat or ultrasonic sound waves. Some of the oils are only $5 and you can get the benefits from just a few drops, so there’s a big cost savings over drugs, provided that you do some research and find out which oils are best for what. Interestingly, pure essential oils have had plenty of research done on them and show in many cases that the compounds in the oils actually add oxygen to the blood and brain, as well as interacting with neural pathways that lower stress and anxiety naturally. Anxiety aromatherapy often includes oils like lavender, for example, which has been shown to lower inflammation and decrease the excitability of neurons (calming effect) after just a few minutes of inhalation.

 

So if you’re not getting the results you want, want to do something more natural, or just tired of taking pills, you might look into aromatherapy. At our online store, we offer a great selection of quality aromatherapy products at great discount prices with free shipping so that you can get the relief you need, for less. Call us toll-free today with your questions at 1-800-701-2513. We’re here to help!

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Indoor Air Pollutants: Why Getting the Right Air Scrubber Pays Huge Dividends

Regardless of whether it's a home or commercial work environment--poor indoor air quality can cost you big. Pollutants like dust, fiberglass fibers, fumes from copiers, formaldehyde from flooring etc, all build up inside any enclosed, insulated space and aren't even diluted unless you are one of the few that has a special air conditioner that actually does bring in fresh air from outside--most air conditioners don't. Your air conditioner is most likely constantly recirculating those pollutants, so you get a constant, health harming dose of mold spores, chemicals, dust mites and more. And no, the air conditioner filter doesn't help much.

 

Even the best AC filters only trap about 60% of the larger particles, none of the more dangerous submicron size particles, bacteria, mold spores or viruses, and virtually none of the chemicals. To effectively trap all of these types and sizes of pollutants, you'll need to use some kind of indoor air scrubber with filters designed to remove what's in your air.

 

Indoor air pollution control is actually much easier than you might think or have been told. Simply size the output of the unit to the size of the space where you want the air cleaned, make sure you have the appropriate filters to remove the pollutants present, install, turn it on and forget it until you need to replace filters or do maintenance. That's it. Do that, and you've effectively prevented a ton of health-harming pollutants from entering your body or your employees' bodies, reduced healthcare costs, increased productivity and sense of well-being, and reduced expenses paid for allergy treatments and other medications. Huge dividends just from not breathing bad air--yep, you're exactly right.

 

Whether you need an indoor air particle remover, installed filtration system or anything in between, at our online store we make it easy for you to select the right air purifier for your needs, the first time, and without overspending. We also have a team of indoor air quality specialists on hand to answer your questions--no job is too big or too small--we can handle it!  Call us with your questions toll-free at 1-800-701-2513. We're here to help!

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Buying Replacement Industrial Air Filters--What You Need to Know

Consistently effective air filtration in commercial and industrial situations is critical. This is because the types of pollutants released by various forms of manufacturing or production are much more hazardous than what is typically found in homes or residential areas, and can quickly cause health problems for workers and customers. The two most important things for maintaining that consistently effective air filtration are 1) selecting the appropriate commercial-grade air cleaners for your application and types of pollutants, and 2) buying new commercial air filters at scheduled intervals or a little before.

 

Buying replacement industrial air filters and cleaning any electrostatic plates on schedule is important because once the filters or plates fill up, they stop filtering the air as well, allowing pollutants to pass through, but now with a fan behind them--creating MORE circulation of hazardous chemicals or particles. This is especially true for carbon or other adsorptive media and electrostatic units.  Another key point to remember is that the manufacturer-recommended filter life is just a guide and could leave you and your business wide open for liability if you don't test the actual saturation rates and filter life as they're being used in your work space.

 

Determining your true filter life is easily done by testing the output air of the air cleaner about 2 weeks before the scheduled replacement date. If the output air shows pollutants, you know your filters are being used slightly faster than normal. If that's true, then back up another week or two earlier and check again. Do this until you find clean air still coming out of the air purifier. That's your true filter life.

 

At our online store, we offer a great selection of the best replacement industrial air filters and custom filters for any commercial air filtration system, with personal service, expert technical assistance and free shipping. Call us toll-free today at 1-800-701-2513. We're here to help!

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