Help on air scrubber installation
Hello, I purchased an air scrubber as the one shown here
https://library.coburns.com/specs/ACTIVTEK_9960009.PDF
The installation per se is rather easy, but complicated by the extremely compact size of the system in my apartment. The info in the pdf says to mount the air scrubber past the air handler.
![642306]()
My whole system is contained in a small space behind a hatch door on the ceiling, as shown in the first photo (green lines and arrows indicate airflow) and there is no space to insert the air scrubber in there.
![642308]()
I see two possible places for the scrubber. The first is to insert it vertically, on the side of the hatch door (position A). Possibly even inside the closet (position B), if there is some room before the duct bifurcates.
![642309]()
My concern would be if placing the scrubber so close to the AC coils would create problems due to the heat emitted by the UVC lamp that is in in the scrubber.
The other option is to insert the scrubber horizontally in the wall, past the return filter and before the air handler, somewhere along the path shown in the third photo.
![642310]()
The fourth photo is taken inside the return vent looking upwards and shows the vertical path of the air up from the return vent before turning right to go to the air handler. Behind the back wall there is a storage room where I can easily make a hole in the dywall and install the air scrubber in a more concealed way (it would protrude inside the air path in position C).
![642311]()
However, in this case the air scrubber would be placed before the air handler and not after, how it is recommended in the manual.
I would appreciate if anyone more knowledgeable than me could point out if this is a problem, and more in general recommend the best location to install the air scrubber.
Thank you very much for any suggestion or recommendation you are able to give me.
https://library.coburns.com/specs/ACTIVTEK_9960009.PDF
The installation per se is rather easy, but complicated by the extremely compact size of the system in my apartment. The info in the pdf says to mount the air scrubber past the air handler.
My whole system is contained in a small space behind a hatch door on the ceiling, as shown in the first photo (green lines and arrows indicate airflow) and there is no space to insert the air scrubber in there.
I see two possible places for the scrubber. The first is to insert it vertically, on the side of the hatch door (position A). Possibly even inside the closet (position B), if there is some room before the duct bifurcates.
My concern would be if placing the scrubber so close to the AC coils would create problems due to the heat emitted by the UVC lamp that is in in the scrubber.
The other option is to insert the scrubber horizontally in the wall, past the return filter and before the air handler, somewhere along the path shown in the third photo.
The fourth photo is taken inside the return vent looking upwards and shows the vertical path of the air up from the return vent before turning right to go to the air handler. Behind the back wall there is a storage room where I can easily make a hole in the dywall and install the air scrubber in a more concealed way (it would protrude inside the air path in position C).
However, in this case the air scrubber would be placed before the air handler and not after, how it is recommended in the manual.
I would appreciate if anyone more knowledgeable than me could point out if this is a problem, and more in general recommend the best location to install the air scrubber.
Thank you very much for any suggestion or recommendation you are able to give me.
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If you own the apartment you can do whatever you want to your own unit. I would check with the management company anyway to be safe.
Ideally you want it after the air handler so the air filter catches the dust. Otherwise your bulb may get coated with dust and burn out quickly and be in-effective. I doubt it gives off enough heat to affect a AC unit so I would not worry about that.
Ideally you want it after the air handler so the air filter catches the dust. Otherwise your bulb may get coated with dust and burn out quickly and be in-effective. I doubt it gives off enough heat to affect a AC unit so I would not worry about that.
Thanks for your replies. I do own the apartment, so I can install it wherever I want. The main issue that I have in installing the air scrubber after the AC coils is that I don't know the exact path of the ducts. I would have to open a hole in the ceiling just to find the best location (I tried opening a small hole to look with a borescope, but the area appears to be all covered by insulation material). Another potential problem could be that the duct coming from the coil might not have a flat surface but a rounded one, as it appears to be in these photos that I took of the small portion of the duct that is visibe inside the hatch door in the ceiling.
![642983]()
Figure 1: Portion of the duct coming out of the AC coil that is visible inside the hatch door. Coil is on the left. I was thinking of inserting the air scrubber from the ceiling inside the closet, which is behind the wall visible in the pic background, but I don't know if there is enough space there before the duct makes a T, and I am worried that the duct might have circular section instead of rectangular
![642984]()
Figure 2: Another view of the portion of duct inside the hatch door with the indication of two other possibilities to insert the air scrubber: from the bottom (i.e., through the corridor ceiling, right before before the closet door) or from the right. In both cases it looks somewhat hard to get a great sealing after the insertion.
Can AC ducts have a cylindrical shape or do they always have flat faces? I would not want to open the ceiling, cut through the isolation material just to find out a rounded duct which will make sealing the air scrubber hole a large headache (especially because it needs to be periodically taken out to replace the cartridge).
All these open questions make me think that the installation point before the air handler (point C in my original message) is less risky, but I would appreciate any suggestions on how to proceed with one of the installation points after the air handler that I described in this message.
Figure 1: Portion of the duct coming out of the AC coil that is visible inside the hatch door. Coil is on the left. I was thinking of inserting the air scrubber from the ceiling inside the closet, which is behind the wall visible in the pic background, but I don't know if there is enough space there before the duct makes a T, and I am worried that the duct might have circular section instead of rectangular
Figure 2: Another view of the portion of duct inside the hatch door with the indication of two other possibilities to insert the air scrubber: from the bottom (i.e., through the corridor ceiling, right before before the closet door) or from the right. In both cases it looks somewhat hard to get a great sealing after the insertion.
Can AC ducts have a cylindrical shape or do they always have flat faces? I would not want to open the ceiling, cut through the isolation material just to find out a rounded duct which will make sealing the air scrubber hole a large headache (especially because it needs to be periodically taken out to replace the cartridge).
All these open questions make me think that the installation point before the air handler (point C in my original message) is less risky, but I would appreciate any suggestions on how to proceed with one of the installation points after the air handler that I described in this message.
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