The Importance of Negative Pressure Rooms
The proper control of airflow is important in several key industries in the world such as the medical, construction, hospitality and research industries. Being able to control where particles in the air may go can save lives, or at the very least prevent smells from overwhelming customers or workers in commercial or industrial buildings. Most of the industries mentioned have a use for a negative pressure room often, and positive pressure rooms to a lesser extent.
Air pressure is generally the main way to to control airflow; setting a room to be high pressure, or low pressure allows for the control of whether air can only enter the room, or only leave the room when the seal is broken. With either method vents and machines that produce the pressure effect are almost always filtered, so that leaks do not happen.
What Are Negative Pressure Rooms
Negative pressure rooms are rooms where the pressure inside the room is lower than the pressure outside the room. This pressure difference results in air not being able to leave the room when a door or window is temporarily opened, containing the air within the room to be only exhausted through properly filtered machines and ventilation systems.
A negative pressure room in many medical buildings will be designed to be that way from the construction of the site, with specialized vents built into the room to control the flow of air specifically to create negative pressure when needed. However, not every room has this capability, and if negative pressure is being deployed on a construction site, it’ll almost always need to be done with a portable machine. A portable negative air machine is a great investment for any medical facility, construction company, and many other industries.
Why Negative Pressure Rooms are Important
Negative pressure rooms are important for the purposes of creating isolated rooms that do not spread particles to adjoining rooms. Hospitals employ this most commonly, but it’s also done in professional kitchens, construction sites, and research facilities. Being able to keep pathogens, harmful particles, or smells from permeating nearby rooms is absolutely necessary for the wellbeing of workers and visitors to the sites.
How to Choose Between Negative Pressure, Normal, and Positive Pressure Room
Generally the need for a specialized negative pressure room comes with trying to keep particles from spreading out of a room. Positive pressure rooms on the other hand would be used in a hospital facility for an immunocompromised patient that can’t have outdoor air coming into the room.
The Role of Negative Pressure Rooms in the Medical Industry
Communicable diseases, particularly those that are airborne can spread quickly in any size of building, especially with people moving around constantly. Hospitals avoid spreading diseases throughout their building by using a negative pressure room whenever an infected patient has to be isolated from the general populace of the building. All surgical rooms are also negative pressure rooms, and often emergency rooms are as well. In times of pandemics though, they may run out of rooms specifically set up with negative pressure capabilities, and may need to deploy portable negative air machines to take up the slack, and convert normal rooms in emergencies.
The Role of Negative Pressure Rooms in the Construction Industry
Construction sites have a large amount of particulates floating around, particularly when building, or tearing down rooms, as materials need to be cut or broken. While construction companies try to do any work that kicks up dust outside, or off site, there sometimes comes a need for work to be done within a room, and negative air machines allow a company to set up a quick negative pressure room anywhere.
If a construction company is working on abatement, such as for asbestos, negative air machines also allow them to prevent the spread of asbestos particles to prevent harming other workers or building occupants, during the job, or after.
Choosing the Right Negative Pressure Machine for a Businesses Needs
Any business that needs the capability of quickly setting up a temporary or a long term negative pressure room, and doesn’t have the option built into rooms in their building, can benefit from a portable negative air machine. The right negative air machine will either allow hookup to existing ventilation systems, or work independently to ensure a proper room pressure seal, for an affordable cost. Having a machine on hand is always better than scrambling in an emergency to find one quickly, especially for the construction and medical industries.