Does Air Purifier Help With Construction Dust?
By: John Garcia | Date Posted: November 28, 2021
Table of Contents
Breathing in polluted air, especially on construction sites, leads to many health issues, including fatalities. Construction areas are an environmental hazard with concrete dust, fumes, and odors that most people ignore but shouldnāt.
This is because prolonged exposure to such polluted air can seriously affect your health, especially if you live or work in such a place. For that, it is crucial to get the construction dust out of the air from indoors. In that case, using an air purifier will help you keep construction dust away and improve the air quality of your house.
You may think about whether an air purifier can eliminate construction dust. Well, air purifiers are integrated with powerful filters to grab dust and pollutants in air bones as little as 0.3 micro or even less. Read continue this context to know more detailed information about air purifiers.
What Does Construction Dust Mean?
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Construction dust generally refers to dust that is found on a construction site. There are three common types of dust you will find in the construction area.
Silica Dust
Silica is mainly found in construction materials like concrete and mortar. During common task such as cutting, drilling, and grinding, a large amount of silica is produced.
Non-Silica Dust
Non-Silica dust means cement, dolomite, gypsum, marble, and limestone. These types of dust are also combined with silica when cutting materials like bricks.
Wood Dust
Wood dust is commonly found in two primary forms in construction areas. These are softwood and hardwood. This type of dust is widely produced in MDF and chipboard.
Does Air Purifier Help With the Construction of Dust?
Using an air purifier with HEPA filters is the most efficient way to eliminate construction dust during construction work and home renovations. According to airpurifiergeek reviews, air purifiers are designed to remove construction dust from the air circulating around.
Basically, an air purifier cleans the captured air and releases only fresh air in a certain area. This is because purifiers are equipped with one or multiple powerful filters such as HEPA, activated carbon filter, ionizer, and UV filter. HEPA is a certification of a filterās performance that can capture 99.97 percent of particles under 0.3 microns.
An air purifier collects the air from the room and passes through the powerful HEPA filter. When the air passes through the filters, it can easily trap harmful particles like pollen, dust mites, and other large particles. Then the purifier releases the fresh air into the room.
Construction Dust Health Risks and Effects
Dust is a common scene in most houses and buildings. But, construction dust is more harmful and dangerous if compared. As we said earlier, you will find three common types of construction dust on the construction area and renovation works.
Also, the air might contain debris of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from paints and adhesives, airborne fibers, and formaldehyde. Most of the harmful particles produced in the construction area arenāt visible to the naked eye. This is because these particles size around 0.1 to 0.3 microns in diameter. For that, these pollutants are easy to digest and construct in the lungs.
Construction Dust Health Risks
As a result, people suffer allergic reactions to short-term respiratory conditions. If anyone, prolonged exposure to such conditions can sequentially cause permanent damage to lungs and airways. Below are the most dust-related diseases:
- Lung cancer
- Silicosis
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Asthma
Research has shown that around 500 current or former construction workers die every year due to silica dust. Also, 4000 workersā deaths are connected to COPD through their work.
How Do Air Purifiers Work to Remove Construction Dust?
As we have said, air purifiers contain one or several filters and a fan that circulates air. When the fan rotates, air moves through the filter; it traps pollutants and harmful particles from the air. After that, the purifier releases the fresh air into the living space.
Basically, these filters are made of fiber, paper, and mess, and required to be cleaned and replaced regularly to work efficiently. You will find four types of different filters in an air purifier. Apart from the HEPA filter, you will get three more filters in a purifier that we have demonstrated below.
Activated Carbon Filter
Carbon filters capture molecules that contain odors inside your room. This filter also eliminates gaseous pollutants and chemicals that are familiar as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Along with removing odors, activated carbon filters absorb chemical vapors.
Ionizer
The ionizer of an air purifier uses an electrical charge to neutralize air pollutants. It works in two different ways. The first one is, it sends negatively charged ions into the air that meet the pollutants particles. This bond causes the pollutants to fall onto the floor or stick to the surroundings. The other is collecting particles through a set of charged metals while the air draws in the purifier.
UV Light Air Filters
UV light filter is the final layer of air purifiers that eliminate dangerous viruses, molds, or bacteria floating around the air. Strong UV light breaks the molecular bond attached to the air when the contaminated air passes through the UV filter. Typically, UV-C light has a specific wavelength that efficiently kills bacteria, viruses, mold, mildew, and fungi by breaking down their RNA or DNA structure. As a result, pollutants canāt perform their vital functions or reproduce.
How to Find Out the Best Air Purifier for Construction Dust?
Before purchasing an air purifier for construction dust, you should keep in mind some things that will help you get the best one. For your help, below, we have demonstrated how you can easily choose a perfect air purifier that will efficiently remove construction dust.
Filtration Style
When it comes to eliminating construction dust, you should opt for the best air purifier. This is because construction dust can easily harm your lungs. For that, make sure your chosen air purifier is equipped with HEPA filters as well as activated carbon filters, ionizers, and UV filtration.
Durability
Construction duty and home renovations are not lightweight tasks. These places require a tough purifier that can stand up to function. In that case, you have to pick out a tough air purifier or one made of metal.
CFM
CFM means cubic feet per minute that help measure a fanās capability to circulate the air around. The higher the CFM, the larger space the purifier can clean. Every 250 square feet of space needed, the average of 100 CFM.
Energy Consumption
Just like other electronic devices, air purifiers require electricity to function. As air purifiers need to run continuously to maintain air quality, you should consider the deviceās power consumption. Typically, the maximum number of air purifiers requires 5-200 watts of power. So, it is good to choose a purifier that has an energy star rating.
Conclusion
Construction sites are the real phenomenon of inevitable pollution that leads to various illnesses. This is because all the harmful chemicals that float around in construction areas inhale in the body, especially if you live or work in a place near one.
Using an air purifier could be the best solution to get rid of this pollution and improve indoor air quality. However, most people are wondering whether an air purifier helps with construction dust. Through this context, we have tried to provide adequate information about air purifiers and construction dust.
We hope you would have understood that air purifiers clean construction dust through their powerful filters. Typically, the HEPA filter of a purifier traps the contaminated air bones to maintain the air quality in your indoor air.
Thank you for reading!
