A Combined HEPA Filter Air Purifier For Your Computer
I thought of this many years ago when we were buying a bunch of computers for work. It was a time when everyone was concerned about air quality and indoor air quality. Since we had so many computers running in the office, I thought that adding a HEPA filter to each one would be great idea. I reasoned that since all the office computers had a fan on them, and they were constantly on, if they had a HEPA filter on the fan, these computers would actually be working as little air purifiers all the time. This makes sense from so many aspects, but let’s look at the pros and cons.
Pros.
These are easy. The pros would be
- cleaner air in the working environment.
- cleaner air going into the computer, which would prolong the life of the computer components inside.
- less maintenance on the computer, no need to open it up to clean the inside.
- less sick days used for workers due to a cleaner environment to work in.
Okay, some of the cons to such a device.
- extra cost for the systems themselves, so more cost up front.
- more power use, due to the increased resistance of the fans. This is sort of technical, but by putting a HEPA filter in place the fan would have to work harder to move the same amount of air
- may actually increase the noise of the fans, due to the extra restiction of the HEPA filter.
- HEPA filters would have to be replaced periodically.
So we do have both pros and cons to implementing this idea. There are also some pluses that may be hard to quantify. I think the people working in the office may actually feel better knowing that the air is getting filtered all the time. I know in my current office there is a problem with mold. At least there is a perception that we have a mold problem. Some people get sick and blame it on the poor air quality of the office. If we had little air purifiers running all the time, at each persons’ desk, we may have less complaints about the air quality.
This idea should be investigated further with some serious development. If you want to pursue it, be my guest. If you make a million bucks on it, give me 10%. Thanks.
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Blueair 501 Air Purifier Review
The Blueair 501, is one of the best Blue Air Purifiers they manufacture, This model has been rated very high in Consumer Reports magazine, even as high as #6! This model combines a HEPA air filter and an electrostatic air cleaner into one great Blue Air system.
This is the reason that Blueair purifiers are always found in the most popular asthma shops on the internet. You can find these in many malls around the country as well. The Blueair purifiers just look good and work good.
The Blueair 501 model is very popular and ranks well in many internet sites, such as epinions.com and Amazon.com.
Some of the most important features of this model is the strong performance it puts on when given some dirty air to clean.
Blueair-501 Air Cleaners Technical Specifications
Cleaning Capacity
(According to AHAM) Room size of 500 square feet
Clean Air Delivery Rate
(AHAM 1/00) Smoke: 380 CADR
Dust: 390 CADR
Pollen: 390 CADR
Air Flow Rate Speed 1: 88 CFM
Speed 2: 117 CFM
Speed 3: 247 CFM
Speed 4: 450 CFM
Noise Level Speed 1: 34.5 dB(A)
Speed 2: 37.1 dB(A)
Speed 3: 49.4 dB(A)
Speed 4: 70.5 dB(A)
Blueair Energy Consumption 15-95W,
depending upon speed
Warranty 10-year limited
Dimensions 20″w x 13″d x 26″h
Weight 35 lbs.
As you can see, this Blueair purifier does the job.
Blueair was founded in 1996 in Sweden and they quickly gained a reputation for high performance, for quality, and for a great looking design. After all, this has to sit out in your room where people will see it. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers named the 501, the best in its class for it’s amazing performance.
When you are buying an air purifier, two things come to mind. Does it work? and How loud is it? Well on both of these issues, Blue air Purifiers come out strong. In my experience, air purifiers don’t need to be set on high to get the job done. In fact, I usually leave mine on low all the time. If you set this unit on the #2 setting, you will have noise at the 37.1 dB(A) level. That is quiet! It will happily do the job at this level, 24 hours a day.
This unit does not produce Ozone. In fact, some third party tests have shown that ozone actually decreases when operating this unit. The reason is this unit uses electrostatic and HEPA filters to do the job. No need to generate ozone. ( if you aren’t aware, some “purifiers” generate ozone and the smell will make you think the air is clean. It smells like the air after a major thunderstorm. Lightning produces massive amounts of ozone.)
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