White noise machines are widely used for sound masking, increasing
privacy in offices and helping people sleep. The classic
approach is a fan in a box, though in the past ten years people
have mostly switched over to electronic ones. But a fan is really a
great approach; you just need to put it to better use: have the fan
clean the air.
Instead of spinning a fan in free air to make noise, you can have it
pull air through a filter. A small purifier sounds a lot like a
classic noise machine, is only a bit larger and more expensive, and
removes smoke and infectious particles from the air. For example, here's
a $47 purifier with a 6.5" diameter, cleaning 34 cubic
feet of air per minute ("CADR") at 45dB. For most circumstances
where someone would use a white noise machine, this kind of small
purifier is all-around better.
Now, 34 CFM is not very much air cleaning. I usually run an AirFanta 3Pro
and it cleans ~6x more air for the same amount of noise, or ~12x more
air with much more noise (~56dB). On the other hand it's more
expensive ($165) and bulkier (12.6" square), and arguably uglier.
Still, even a 34 CFM purifier helps a lot with smoke. If you have a
10ft square room with an 8ft ceiling and a reasonably typical 0.5 air
changes per hour through leakage from outdoors, this small purifier
will cut particulate levels to 16% of the outdoor level. In AQI terms
(not linear) this is like going from AQI 200 to 72 or AQI 100 to 31.
White noise machines are widely used for sound masking, increasing privacy in offices and helping people sleep. The classic approach is a fan in a box, though in the past ten years people have mostly switched over to electronic ones. But a fan is really a great approach; you just need to put it to better use: have the fan clean the air.
Instead of spinning a fan in free air to make noise, you can have it pull air through a filter. A small purifier sounds a lot like a classic noise machine, is only a bit larger and more expensive, and removes smoke and infectious particles from the air. For example, here's a $47 purifier with a 6.5" diameter, cleaning 34 cubic feet of air per minute ("CADR") at 45dB. For most circumstances where someone would use a white noise machine, this kind of small purifier is all-around better.
Now, 34 CFM is not very much air cleaning. I usually run an AirFanta 3Pro and it cleans ~6x more air for the same amount of noise, or ~12x more air with much more noise (~56dB). On the other hand it's more expensive ($165) and bulkier (12.6" square), and arguably uglier.
Still, even a 34 CFM purifier helps a lot with smoke. If you have a 10ft square room with an 8ft ceiling and a reasonably typical 0.5 air changes per hour through leakage from outdoors, this small purifier will cut particulate levels to 16% of the outdoor level. In AQI terms (not linear) this is like going from AQI 200 to 72 or AQI 100 to 31.
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