Air purifier proposal

A Fellowes air filtration unit in operation on the wall of an office at Lakeside Academy (screen capture from my parent-teacher conference on Zoom, December 2)

At the Parish Meeting on November 28, we discussed the possibility of installing air filtration units in the sanctuary. The advantages of this plan would be principally the prevention of COVID transmission, but cleaner air would also have other advantages, especially for those with respiratory challenges. The disadvantages, of course, are the cost, and also the addition of more “technological” objects to the sanctuary. You can see one of the units in action in the picture above, for scale. There would be 10 of them, one installed above each window.

The specs for the units can be found at this link. Assuming we went with the less expensive option (the only difference is whether there is a real-time performance readout) the filters themselves would cost about $15,000. We have received one installation quote for $5400 and are exploring others. There would also be some ongoing costs for filter replacement.

Our current approach, of opening the windows two hours before worship starts and tracking air quality using a CO2 monitor, is clunky, uncomfortable, wasteful, and not terribly effective. As I explained at the parish meeting, the CO2 levels have only ever been a proxy for how much air is circulating and thus how likely the virus, if present, would be to linger and be breathed in. With the air filters, we would know for sure that actual particles and microorganisms were being removed from the air and that the air in the space was being refreshed 3-5 times per hour.

Your questions and comments are welcome; and please fill out this poll to indicate whether you would be more likely to return to church if the system were installed!

Thank you!