Filtration

Air Filtration – Its Part In Mold Remediation

Mold is a fungus that grows fast, invading your walls, ceiling, and other materials quickly. Not only does it damage the surface, but it also compromises the air quality of the space, using it as a medium to spread out and multiply.

Getting rid of mold growth can sometimes require entire homes to be remediated. However, even in smaller infestations, refreshing the air and freeing it of the microbes that eventually grow into more mold is critical.

Heavy exposure to mold spores can cause annoying headaches and have adverse effects like childhood asthma.

Air filtration is required to remove the mold spores from the air during the mold remediation process. It ensures that the spores don't remain suspended in the air, ensuring that it does not grow back after remediation.

But what role do air scrubbers play in air filtration? And how do they work?

What Is an Air Scrubber?

As the name suggests, an air scrubber is a cleaning device that removes the microbes from the air inside your home and releases it outdoors.

Air scrubbers are functionally similar to air purifiers, but they are different in many distinct ways. Unlike a purifier, a scrubber can clean the air in two ways: dry scrubbing and wet scrubbing.

However, while air purifiers are typically reserved for home use, air scrubbers have commercial applications. They aren't generally used in personal settings to clean the air.

These commercial air cleaning devices not only remove the microbes suspended in the air, but they also get rid of chemicals, gases, and toxic substances from it too.

These toxic substances get suspended in the air from the water intrusions in the affected area.

Air scrubbers can clear the air across thousands of square feet in one go. It makes them an effective tool for mold remediation in infested homes and a cost-effective means of air filtration for companies to employ for a variety of projects.

An air scrubber using wet scrubbing pulls the air through a damp pad. The pad traps all the particles and contaminants found in the air.

On the other hand, an air scrubber using dry scrubbing sucks the air through a dry filter. While it traps the particles just fine, wet scrubbing is thought to be more effective than dry scrubbing.

How Does an Air Scrubber Work?

An air scrubber is a lot more complicated than an air purifier since it has multiple functions. Besides the wet and dry air scrubbing, the machines are capable of working in different ways in different environments.

The scrubber will remove air particles from the air. These might be mold spores, dust particles, or harmful pollutants from water intrusions and flooding, among other dangerous particles.

The machine acts as a smokestack, often employing limestone since the chemical base reacts and removes sulfur dioxide and other acidic pollutants from the air with ease.

In addition to limestone, many air scrubbers also use chemicals like activated alumina. The chemical neutralizes dangerous gases like Hydrogen Chloride from the air, among others.

When an air scrubber uses a wet filter, it cleans the air using a mixture of water and limestone. The mixture is sprayed onto the smokestack.

On the other hand, while air scrubbers using a dry filter also use limestone, no moisture is mixed with the chemical. However, other chemicals may be mixed with the limestone to make the dry scrubbing more effective.

Regardless of the method used, though, the air that the machine treats is first cleared of pollutants and microbes. These stick to the limestone, making the air clean, and the air is then removed from the area and released outdoors via exhaust ducts.

Do Air Scrubbers Remove Mold?

Air scrubbers are most commonly used to improve the indoor air quality in mold remediation jobs.

The filters and the chemicals, coupled with these machines' high power, free the air from spores and toxic chemicals.

Most air scrubbers mold use HEPA filters, designed specifically to trap mold spores and pollutants with a minimal degree of failure.

Mold removal companies prefer HEPA filter compatible air scrubbers because they are some of the only filters that can trap all the particles that water damage and mold growth produce.

The HEPA filter's thickness and durability are some of the primary reasons why air purifiers and HVAC systems also employ them. The best thing about the filters is undoubtedly the fact that they can filter mold from almost any compromised environment effectively.

The size of mold spores hovers around the 0.3 microns range, which means it comes under the category of fine particulate matter.

However, HEPA filters installed in an air scrubber can efficiently capture these minuscule microbes, whereas other similar filters cannot. The microbes would slip right past most other filters.

How Do You Use an Air Scrubber for Mold?

Merely running an air scrubber inside your home won't remove mold from your home.

There are many other things that need to be done in conjunction with using air scrubbers to remove mold spores from the affected area.

Stepping back and looking at the cause of mold growth is one of the best ways of determining what needs to be done.

The root cause of most mold infestations is the introduction of excess moisture in the area. It may be due to a leaking pipe, the lack of proper ventilation, or a flood.

It's vital to pinpoint the source of the excess moisture and stop it from introducing more moisture to the area.

After the cause of the mold has been handled, the remaining moisture in the space needs to be removed, along with all of the mold that may have formed.

Air filtration helps eradicate both – the excess moisture and the spores in the air that cause further mold growth.

To use air scrubbers, a containment area needs to be set up to ensure that the spores don't spread during mold removal.

Containing an area involves sealing it off from the area that remains unaffected from the mold. An air scrubber is then set up, which creates negative air pressure and removes the moisture from the air.

The scrubber also continually sucks away the spores in the air, cleansing the air of them and releasing the air outdoors.

After the air scrubber mold removal is properly set up, the mold is cleaned up, and the items in the space are restored to their original condition.