Box Fan Air Filter

  

 

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency in Washington State has posted instructions for making a Do-It-Yourself Air Filter to remove particles from the air within your home.

These “filter fans” can filter out the small particles that are common in wildfire or wood smoke. Particle pollution can lead to a number of immediate and long-term health impacts such as trouble breathing, asthma attacks, and lung and heart disease. Particle pollution is especially dangerous for children, the elderly, and people with sensitive immune systems.

Testing found that:

It takes 15 minutes to clear 90% of particles out of a small room (12'x12'), 25 minutes for a medium size room (12'x18'), and 2 hours for a large room (20'x35').

It takes 15 minutes at high speed to remove 90% of particles from a small room, 20 minutes at medium speed, and 35 minutes at low speed.


A single filter is just as efficient as two filters stacked on top of each other. Using two filters in a triangle, so that the surface area is doubled, enables the filter fan to reach a 90% reduction nearly twice as fast! Furthermore, it can reach a lower level of particles over time than either a single filter or two stacked filters.

Filter Fan vs Air Purifier -- A 90% reduction in particles takes 35 minutes for a commercial air purifier and the filter fan on low speed. On medium speed the filter fan can reduce particles by 90% in 20 minutes and takes only 15 minutes on high speed.
 

Caution - While these DIY air filters are very effective at removing particles from the air, it must be noted that box fans generally are not designed to pull air through filters, and doing so may put a strain on the fan's motor and cause overheating.

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