Would a ceiling mounted air cleaner help with coronavirus?

[Roger Feeley]

A raised floor in a restaurant would be very hard to keep clean. One dinner with my 2 year old grandson and you can see why. They don't call him Hurricane Charlie for nothing. We see him as living proof that the earth is not flat. If it were, Charlie would have knocked everything off the edge.

However, imagine returns built into walls beneath the booths and such. The air comes from the ceiling (filtered of course) and proceeds in a general downward path to many returns along the walls, under raised booths or other imaginative places. I'm thinking of a restaurant around us where all the booths are raised a bit. I don't know why they did it but that raised floor under the booths would make a dandy plenum.

[Mike Soaper]

A raised floor in a restaurant would be very hard to keep clean. One dinner with my 2 year old grandson and you can see why.

Been there, when my 3 daughters were toddlers and we would go out to eat, sometimes I felt I had to leave a big tip or we would be banned from the place.

[Jerome Stanek]

I think it would help spread it by moving the air around

[Roger Feeley]

I think it would help spread it by moving the air around

Jerome, in my imagination, the air moves from many holes in the ceiling straight down to many holes near the floor. The objective would be that air would not move horizontally at all. It’s an interesting thought. Somehow, I suspect that it’s not possible.

[Jerome Stanek]

Jerome, in my imagination, the air moves from many holes in the ceiling straight down to many holes near the floor. The objective would be that air would not move horizontally at all. It’s an interesting thought. Somehow, I suspect that it’s not possible.

It is just like a screen if the air is moving fast the screen will act as a solid

[Frank Pratt]

It is just like a screen if the air is moving fast the screen will act as a solid

???? Not sure at all what point your making here.

[Frank Pratt]

I was in a very large theater where the the entire space under the sloped seating area was a huge return air plenum. Supply air came from diffusers at the ceiling level & flowed out through grills in the floor that were every few feet. Seems like a good design that would minimize viral spread.

[Wade Lippman]

In NYS they will not allow malls to open until they have MERV13 filters on the AC. So far none have complied. That's all I know.

[Roger Feeley]

My high school was built in 1928 and the auditorium seated 2409 people. There was a raised air inlet under about every 4th seat. So I imagine that the space beneath seats was probably a giant plenum. I was there in the ‘70s and the building wasn’t air conditioned. I don’t remember the auditorium being hot.

[Kev Williams]

Jerome, in my imagination, the air moves from many holes in the ceiling straight down to many holes near the floor. The objective would be that air would not move horizontally at all. It’s an interesting thought. Somehow, I suspect that it’s not possible.

Many stores/business have 'air curtains' instead of actual doors that you're probably familiar with, they force warm air straight down from overhead blowers into floor vents which are under a vacuum condition. The air door is an effective barrier between outside air and inside air, both of which get caught in the downward airflow rather than moving sideways into each others air space. Very effective as invisible insulation, but I can't imagine how to apply it to purifying the air..? People with the virus continually shed the virus, no boundaries

[John Stankus]

Jerome, in my imagination, the air moves from many holes in the ceiling straight down to many holes near the floor. The objective would be that air would not move horizontally at all. It’s an interesting thought. Somehow, I suspect that it’s not possible.

That is basically how the semiconductor fabs I used to work in were set up. The cleanrooms had a perforated grid floor, a very large space above with airhandlers and filters and a very large space below to collect the air below. I forget the actual specification but it was something like less than 0.1 particles per cubic meter or some such. The were pretty restrictive about photos, so I never got a picture of myself in a bunny suit (I looked like a giant marshmallow actually). The cleanroom was a great place to hide out in allergy season though. Pretty expensive setup to build for a retail situation.

John