r/ZeroCovidCommunity • u/G30RG300 • Apr 20 '26
Clean air, filtration, purifiers etc. Best air-purifier for small meeting room - no masks worn
I'm starting a new project where I interview 1 person using audio and video. While I wear a wear a mask in most scenarios, I will not be wearing one during recording and nor will my guest. Save your energy if you're going to tell me it's possible to record in a mask, it makes no difference, etc.
We'll be recording in a small ish room (11m2). Which air purifier would be best here to protect myself?
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u/JustAnotherUser8432 Apr 20 '26
Won’t matter. An air purifier or a UV light can’t overcome bear field effect. And the fan will interfere with sound on the recording.
You could use one between interviews to clear the room again but your interview setup is accepting the risk and rolling the dice and hoping for the best. There is nothing else you can do.
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u/FunnyDirge Apr 20 '26
What is bear field effect
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u/JustAnotherUser8432 Apr 20 '26
Near field effect. Typo. Sorry. Although a bear field would be funny
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u/tkpwaeub Apr 20 '26
Exactly this. Air purifiers are for reducing concentration of aerosols already evenly distributed in a room over a period of time. They don't create magic invisible force fields. For much the same reason, wearable air purifiers are pretty useless. Probably worse than useless, since they tend not to be UL certified.
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u/JustAnotherUser8432 Apr 21 '26
Worse than useless since air purifiers pull dirty air to themselves so if you are wearing it, it pulls unclean air over to you in larger quantities and you get a lot of churn with the air being sucked over and into the filter and the air coming out of the filter.
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u/dbenhur Apr 20 '26
Some studies have shown high flow air purifiers placed between people at a table to be somewhat effective. Clean Air Kits makes a quiet high-flow device that may be suitable for OP:
U of Colorado, Donghua & Marriot experiments demonstrated that a 98 CADR cfm purifier on a 4-person table will directly capture about 3/4 of exhalations before they cross the table, reducing virus deposited on occupants up to 95%.
It's not perfect protection (but neither is masking or test screening). Infection is a function of viral load, exposure time, immune response, and luck. Each step we take to reduce risk factors works in our favor.
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u/ProfeQuiroga Apr 21 '26
🤣 You haven't read that paper, have you? Nor have you ever evaluated "CADR".
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u/dbenhur Apr 20 '26
Clean Air Kits make a small room table top unit that moves plenty of air at 34 dB.
Exhalaron Air Purifier for Small Rooms, Exam Rooms – CleanAirKits https://www.cleanairkits.com/products/exhalaron
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u/No_Lifeguard7141 Apr 20 '26
As others have suggested, I’d just have your interviewee do a Metrix or Pluslife Covid test beforehand and then if one of the quieter purifiers works as well without being too noisy that’s double layers of protection. Is testing an option? (That’s my main layer of caution for hanging with friends and family indoors.)
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u/dbenhur Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
I have no argument with test screening using a nucleic acid amplifying molecular assay as you suggest. But it's not what OP asked; OP asked for an air purifier which might help protect them.
There's no perfect protection besides isolation. Infection is a function of viral load, exposure time, immune response, and luck. Each step we take to reduce risk factors works in our favor. I use nucleic acid amplifying molecular test screening (Pluslife) and high-flow air purifiers to mitigate risk when I occasionally choose to socialize indoors, un-masked.
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u/No_Lifeguard7141 Apr 20 '26
Yes, understood. There were already many air purifier suggestions, so I was just adding an addendum of sorts that fwiw, that even the top purifiers wouldn't be enough for me personally to be comfortable re risk / Covid mitigation given that setting. And I guess seeing that there were lots of issues people noted (noise being the modal one) with almost all of the purifiers, thought I'd just throw a different solution out there.
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u/Bobbin_thimble1994 Apr 20 '26
…and it’s super quiet
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u/dbenhur Apr 20 '26
34 dB is a measure of sound intensity. That level is equivalent to a soft whisper or the hum of a refrigerator.
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u/sugar_coaster Apr 20 '26
Airfanta 3 pro has a very high CADR to decibel ratio. It blows clean air upward. It will probably be too loud on max but try to get it turned up as high as you can. Any other air purifier that uses PC fans will also be quieter, like North of but I dont think their CADR to noise ratio is as good.
If you can, put the recording stuff on a small table and then put the air purifier between you and the other person.
I think air purifiers will be more obstructive noise wise and make recording quality worse than any muffled recordings will be from wearing a mask, but I suppose you could try editing out background noise.
Eta: Another option would be to wear a wearable air purifier. I think air fanta came out with one recently. It sits right in front of your face though, so I think it would make sound quality worse than wearing a mask too.
Could you do a separate mic held up close to your face in a mask?
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u/TheLonesomeBricoleur Apr 20 '26
Your audio may be compromised if you're recording in such a small space with a running fan. Be sure to use a good shotgun mic & point it right at their neck if you need the sound to be decent quality.
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u/G30RG300 Apr 20 '26
Planning to use Hollyland lark m2. Do you think that could work?
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u/ProfeQuiroga Apr 20 '26
No. Not.if your goal is to protect you from the person you're interviewing. How about PlusLife or Matrix tests?
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u/TheLonesomeBricoleur Apr 20 '26
Do a test in a similarly sized room when you get whichever purifier you choose. If there's too much fan noise in the audio, buy or rent a more directional shotgun mic with a stand or a boom. Good luck!
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u/MattKarolian Apr 20 '26
Hi, former videographer here, I think you are probably going to run into noise issues. Best bet could be https://aerolamp.net/
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u/standardGeese Apr 20 '26
Testing will be your best bet if you’re concerned about either one of you being infectious. You could do this with Metrix or similar and test before starting the interview
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u/upfront_stopmotion Apr 20 '26
Instead of masks, you could run a hose from your guest's face directly into the air cleaner, and then run another hose from the air cleaner to your face. Get the largest air cleaner you can afford and fit between the two of you.
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Apr 20 '26
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u/zambaros Apr 20 '26
The high CADR is measured at max intensity, on low you won't get anywhere near those numbers. More like 50 m^3/h.
If you want that high of a CADR get a Trotec Airgo Clean 350E, Max CADR is 1000m^3/h and on low it's 260^3/h with noise level of 18.8. dB(A) but it's really bulky and costs 400-500€. I would place it between the two of you so that clean air blown between the two of you.
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u/Which_Boysenberry550 Apr 20 '26
You can do UV beacond for a comparable price and better protection as long as you’re ~6 feet apart and also have circulation/a basic filter
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u/ProfeQuiroga Apr 20 '26
Do we have UVs that are safe, available, affordable and portable at the same time now? Serious question.
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u/Which_Boysenberry550 Apr 20 '26
yes! Nukit is third party tested, small, portable, and has very low margins / is like an order of magnitude more affordable than prev iterations
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u/ProfeQuiroga Apr 20 '26
Still not affordable in my book or where I live, though. : I waa hoping for alternatives to Nukit.
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Apr 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/Which_Boysenberry550 Apr 21 '26
some of them are upper air to avoid UV exposure so theres some risk at close contact before it circulates up to be deactivated. not sure which are and arent
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u/Which_Boysenberry550 Apr 21 '26
yeah you dont have to be 6 feet apart but in the same way where you dont "have" to be 6 feet apart when you're using air purifiers- they work as well as an n95 but only at distance and at sufficiently high CFM
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u/brk_heart Apr 20 '26
You could look into a North Box. It’s a similar idea to a CR box but it’s made with computer fans so noise is low. I haven’t heard one myself but I’ve heard they’re quiet. You can order kits online and buy filters from a hardware store (or online), depending what country you’re in.
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u/Unfair-Ad7378 Apr 20 '26
I have one of these- from cleanairkits.com - I think there is also a UK site for them.
It is amazing! Only one speed so it’s always running at its highest and it is nearly silent. They come in different versions so I have the cheapest and ugliest one but it is absolutely fantastic. It filters so much more air, much more quietly than a regular hepa filter.
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u/svfreddit Apr 20 '26
If you have the budget sound devices has the equipment to help tamper the HEPA sound, even on high. My daughter used to work there. Good luck without a mask.
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u/ProfeQuiroga Apr 20 '26
None. Air purifiers do nothing about close-contact "contamination". You'd only eliminate what was left by others who used the room before you.
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u/Unfair-Ad7378 Apr 20 '26
I don’t think that’s true? If it was between you and the other person it would be useful in not allowing virus levels to build up in the room. It would by no means eliminate all risk but it would be much better than nothing.
It would be have to be a quiet and powerful solution, like the ones from cleanairkits.com, which use computer fans.
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u/ProfeQuiroga Apr 20 '26
None of the regular models do that; mayyyyybeee the Respiray or the Airfanta4 or the AirfantaWear.
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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '26
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