Matt Kelly explains why negative air machines and air scrubbers both work for mold remediation when vented outdoors, but air scrubbers are often used unvented, recirculating air and spreading spores instead of removing them. Always confirm your remediation paperwork specifies the scrubber will be vented to the window.
What's the difference between an air scrubber and a negative air machine? It's a common question and it's important because there's something tricky here with the air scrubber. The negative air machine and the air scrubber can both create negative pressure in your containment zone where your remediation is being done. But the air scrubber, if it's not used right, doesn't create negative pressure. And all these millions of spores, fragments and mycotoxins that get released into the air in the containment zone or where your remediators are opening up floors, walls, ceilings, whatever they're working on, can actually start penetrating through the walls, under the plastic, trying to find other ways in the house. So a negative air machine, it's what it sounds like. It's a fan, it's sucking air into itself. It's vented with a big 10 or 12 inch hose, goes to the window and is sealed off there so that everything in that space as it gets aerosolized as it goes into the air, as areas of moldy material are being removed and moved around and it goes into the air, this machine sucks it in, shoots it out the window, and that's what keeps your space clean. The plastic containment, you'll see, will actually suck into the poles, to the support poles, because it's under at least 5 pa of negative pressure. So the negative air machine, it's really hard to screw it up. It's going, it's going to be vented to the window and that keeps everything moving out. Now, an air scrubber, which is what most people talk about, it can be used without venting it to the window. It can work the exact same way as a negative air machine. It's sucking air in, it's going through a filter, and you have the plastic sleeve that goes to the window. But here's the problem. Some remediation companies don't actually vent it to the window. They say the HEPA filter in the middle of this fan is enough to catch whatever's in the air and they just let it blow right in the space they're working in, which keeps swirling and twirling all the, all the mold spores, fragments and mycotoxins and can even pressurize in certain areas to force it out around the plastic or to force it under baseboard, or to create a problem and get it out of that space. And it happens. I have, I've talked to multiple people where remediators were using a air scrubber but not venting to the window, and it makes no sense. To me, but they say it's fine and it's not fine because I have people who are fine on their main floor. Not okay. In the basement. They remediated in the basement they ran air scrubbers but they didn't vent them to the window. So they're just blowing with force all of this contaminated air or in their space to try and it gets out. And now they redo their ERMI on the main floor and they're reacting there and their ermi's worse because they made the space worse. So a negative air machine is always creating negative pressure and is vented to the window. An air scrubber, if used properly, creates negative pressure and should be vented to the window. So they're very similar work the same way again. The problem is when they're just running an air scrubber without venting it to the window, it's pressurizing, blowing everything like crazy. And you contaminate the house usually because it's not going out the window. So whenever you get a your paperwork from your remediation company and they say they're going to use 1, 2, 3, 10, whatever air scrubbers, make sure that it says that they're going to be vented to the window. If it doesn't, make sure you ask them to update that and include it because you don't want someone just using it as an air filter. Because hey, we all know by now air filters do not catch all these mycotoxins. They're literally blowing them under pressure in your house. So that's not okay. That's the difference between negative air machine and air scrubber. Either one are fine, they just have to be used properly. Alright, I hope that helps.
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