Air Scrubber vs Negative Air Machine
The difference between the two is often confused. This is because most air scrubbers can be used as a negative air machine as well - as seen in the picture.
Some people may also debate whether it is worth using an air scrubber when negative air is all that is needed to restore the environment.
What is an Air Scrubber?
A Hepa air scrubber is used to filter out gases, particles or chemicals out of a particular area. It is generally used to improve indoor air quality by trapping airborne particles. There is also a carbon filter attachment that can be put on the end of the Hepa air scrubber which can be used to trap odours.
What is a negative air machine?
A negative air machine works the same way as a Hepa air scrubber. In fact, they are often the same machine. The only difference in the operation of the machine is that the exhausted air is ducted outside the room rather than inside the room. This keeps the room under constant negative pressure.
What is the advantage of a negative air machine?
Why would we filter the clean air from the HEPA air scrubber outside the room? The advantage of this is we are creating negative pressure inside the contained area. This means that there is a lower chance of contaminated air escaping the room. Instead, the negative air created inside the room will not allow air to leak outside the room.
An example of when you might use negative air is in mould remediation. The actions used to remove mould disrupts the surfaces and mould spores can become airborne and spread throughout the property. This is not a good situation as mould spores landing on surfaces can promote cross-contamination and the mould problem could get worse.
Creating containment around the area which is remediated mitigates this risk. To help reduce the risk of further contamination, a negative air machine can be used to create negative air pressure in the room which can reduce the risk of contaminated air escaping through small holes and cracks in the containment barrier and other recesses and cracks in the walls and room.
Interested in Hiring?
We provide air scrubber rental and negative air machine rental in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne area for a range of different applications. We can supply containment barriers, ducting, Hepa vacuums and air scrubbers for hire.
