Making Clean Air Accessible with MN Tool Library

HEPA-grade air purifiers are an essential tool for reducing the spread of airborne illness. Many viruses are aerosols, which mean they travel through the air like smoke. Because aerosols are so tiny, you need the highest grade air filters that are designed to trap the smallest particles. Unfortunately high quality HEPA-grade air purifiers and filters are expensive and not accessible for many people.

Air purifiers are also an essential tool for protecting the health and safety of people while they tackle their home improvement projects. They can trap tiny particles like dust from woodworking or drywall, VOC's from painting, and mold/mildew spores released from construction demo.

I want to help ensure our community has clean air to breathe and stays healthy - especially when we're stuck inside and gathering during cold weather.  With this fundraiser I hope to raise enough money to add two Smart Air Blast Mini - MKII air purifiers (~$600 each) and replacement filters to the lending library's inventory. With your help, each Tool Library location (Saint Paul and Minneapolis) will have a Smart Air Blast Mini to lend out for community gatherings and special events. 

With the Smart Air Blast Mini - MKII, family get-togethers or group meetings can happen more safely, with a reduced risk of sharing airborne viruses. These high capacity air purifiers provide the CDC's recommended 5 air changes per hour for a 1,312 sq ft space (or 9,840 cubic feet if you are dealing with unusual ceiling heights!). They also have a maximum operating noise of 49 db, equivalent to a quiet office or a refrigerator. So they can protect us, pumping out 820 cubic feet of clean air a minute, while being unnoticed in the background. 

The second stage of our clean-air campaign is to add HEPA construction-grade air scrubbers to the inventory. We've settled on the ALORAIR PureAiro HEPA Max 870 Air Scrubbers (~$700 each) based on their durability, ability to daisy-chain for larger projects, and airflow capacity. The library has limited dust remediation and filtration items in inventory available for check-out and the addition of these worksite air scrubbers to the existing PPE available for members will help keep our community breathing easy.

All donations are made directly to the Tool Library and set aside specifically for this project. The MN Tool Library is a 501(c)3 non-profit; all donations are tax deductible. 

This project is inspired by Clean Air Club Chicago (https://cleanairclub.org/press). 

* Depending on how often the Smart Air Blast Minis are loaned out and community interest; we would also love to be able to add a few small/medium-capacity HEPA air purifiers to the inventory for personal home use. When our neighbors are sick these purifiers can help reduce transmission rates throughout the home and keep the rest of the household healthy.