from Hacker News

Big Ass Fan’s Clean Air System

by josephpmay on 11/8/20, 3:58 PM with 102 comments

• by deegles on 11/8/20, 11:36 PM

  Can someone please point me to actual studies validating the "ion" generation stuff? My dad insists that a wearable ion generator he bought works "because it's made by NASA" (it's not) but I can't find studies that validate the technology. Thanks in advance!

• by mdorazio on 11/9/20, 3:08 AM

  I genuinely don't understand how this is supposed to work in a real-world environment. Let's say someone near a fan is infected with Covid and sneezes. The airflow from the fan would then immediately push covid-containing particles around the space and closer to other people than if there were no airflow at all. Is it really possible that their magic "ion" particles would counteract this negative aspect? I'm extremely skeptical.

  It seems like a much better solution would be to point the fan outside and have actual air filtration systems at inlets to the space.

• by Tepix on 11/8/20, 10:06 PM

  A german Max Planck institute is working on a DIY system for schools that will get rid of 90% of aerosols. It costs less than 200€ to build out of easily available parts.

  German link: https://www.mpic.de/4770837/eine-lueftungsanlage-fuer-schule...

• by pstrateman on 11/8/20, 8:01 PM

  Is that a UV-C bulb just exposed to the site above the fan?

  That doesn't seem safe.

• by DenisM on 11/9/20, 4:29 AM

  Can someone explain how a garden-varity HEPA filter duct-taped to a boxed fan is not a complete solution to airborne COVID droplet air filtration?

  This device cleans up a medium size room from forest-fire smoke in 15 minutes and scrubs it squeaky-clean in a few hours (as measured with a laser particulate counter).

• by throwawaysea on 11/8/20, 7:24 PM

  Here is information on their Ion cleaning system, which interestingly is ozone free (unlike many typical home ionizing air filters). If just ion generation is enough to reduce viral load so effectively, then that is a big boost to reducing indoor transmission rates (effectively reducing R0), and would be comparatively cost effective next to HEPA filtering large spaces (think: a Costco warehouse).

  ———

  ION TECHNOLOGY

  MORE IONS, MORE DISINFECTION

  Clean Air System’s certified ozone-free ionizers generate tens of thousands of ions per second, safely eliminating airborne and surface pathogens and resulting in fresher, cleaner conditions. The ionizers’ precise integration allows for maximum ion production and delivery throughout your space.

  DISTRIBUTED BY AIRFLOW

  Our fans’ airflow amplifies not only the number of ions that are generated but also their effective coverage areas. Aside from disinfecting air and surfaces, our fans’ airflow improves occupant comfort, HVAC efficiency, and energy savings, providing real benefits for business owners.

  KILL VIRUSES WHERE PEOPLE BREATHE

  An ion’s lifetime is only about 30 seconds, so it’s essential that ions be delivered to the air your people breathe and the surfaces that they touch. Rather than concealing ionizers within ductwork, Big Ass Fans integrates ionizers into our fans to distribute ions directly to your people.

• by tyingq on 11/8/20, 7:18 PM

  Would "Ion Technology" mean electrostatic disinfection?

• by femto on 11/9/20, 7:32 AM

  I'll be interested to see the advertising associated with its Q4 2020 Australian release [1]. Anything sold in Australia that makes a claim relating to COVID-19 is counted as a Therapeutic Good and must be approved by Australia's TGA (which involves evidence base studies).

  [1] https://www.bigassfans.com/faq/can-i-order-big-ass-fans-clea...

  [2] https://www.tga.gov.au/media-release/warning-about-products-... when the release

• by sargun on 11/9/20, 12:34 AM

  I’m kind of surprised that the people who make those pods at offices haven’t gotten into this.

  Heat inactivation is shown to be effective at getting rid of sars-cov-2. Those little pod things could have a cleaning cycle where they heat up to 65C (~150F) for 15-30 minutes.

  Add a UV-C light during the cleanse cycle, and you’ve probably got most things. If I were a wework, I would be building these as a place for people to work out of home.

  The other thing you can do is put fans that suck air upwards, and then eject it outside, and replace the air inside with (clean) outside air.

  You could build larger units for places like restaurants, where they can fit 4-6 people.

  Part of me finds the idea of a “private dining pod” kind of nice — but real estate prices have never made it reasonable for restaurants to do.

• by hedora on 11/9/20, 3:42 PM

  Ion generators are known health hazards. If you create enough ions to purify the air, the ions themselves create unsafe amounts of ozone: https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/what-are-ionizers...

  Unconfined UV-C generators are skin cancer machines, and also damage paint, etc.

  I hope use of the UV-C thing is rapidly banned (if it hasn’t been already...)

  Per the EPA link, the ion generator is already illegal unless they’ve turned it down so far that it doesn’t work.

• by northisup on 11/8/20, 9:31 PM

  With all the technology we are making and retro-fitting into offices I'm curious what the long-term effects will be for health and productivity. Will mortality from flu be substantially lower next year?

• by danans on 11/8/20, 9:45 PM

  If this works, it seems like a short-term substitute for retrofitting buildings with proper fresh air ventilation systems.

• by maxerickson on 11/8/20, 11:57 PM

  Big ass prices.

• by trhway on 11/9/20, 5:31 AM

  nice gimmick. Take regular fan, attach ionizer and UV lamp and sell for $1K+ as virus killing solution during the time when gullible are running around scared of the virus.

• by qPM9l3XJrF on 11/9/20, 4:55 AM

  A HEPA filter should work pretty well too

• by perryizgr8 on 11/9/20, 6:17 AM

  How do you "kill" a virus??

• by UncleOxidant on 11/9/20, 3:19 AM

  How is this not an ad?

• by mplanchard on 11/8/20, 8:40 PM

  We’ve got a beautiful newish library in downtown Austin, and they use Big Ass Fans in a number of the outdoor spaces, balconies, patios, etc., including the enclosed balcony in the children’s wing, with the brand name clearly legible on the fans. While it’s not something that bothers me, I do always wonder whether and how often they get complaints from parents about the word “ass” being there for children to potentially read.

  The fans themselves seem to be well designed and beautiful in a stark kind of way.

• by qz2 on 11/8/20, 8:23 PM

  This smells of magic unicorn shit to me.

• by Devils-Avocado on 11/8/20, 11:24 PM

  Airborne transmission of COVID is sexy, requiring solutions like this, and individual impositions like wearing masks which are easy to police.

  But I think the more likely spread of COVID is from mundane surface transmissions. One of the 'mystery' COVID cases in New Zealand was eventually tracked to people touching the same elevator button about an hour apart, for example.

  Same here in Europe - everyone is wearing masks, but how many times is the apartment entrance handle touched by people each day?

• by ThinkingGuy on 11/8/20, 6:56 PM

  Relevant XKCD:

  https://xkcd.com/37/

• by aidenn0 on 11/9/20, 2:20 AM

  While there's an XKCD for every occasion, it's been a while since I got to use this one: https://xkcd.com/37/

• by forgotmypw17 on 11/8/20, 9:38 PM

  Does it also clean induatrial pollutants most people smear throughout their spaces?

• by Mengkudulangsat on 11/9/20, 2:59 AM

  Slightly off topic; I've been reading about putting dispersal disinfectants like Tea Tree Oil [1] into ventilation shafts so they spread around the building.

  Works similar to O3, but is safe around people. I'm wondering what sort of concentrations these dispersals need to be to actually make a difference.

  [1] https://www.pathology.uwa.edu.au/research/microbiology/tea-t...