261–270 of 355 posts
http://particlecounting.tumblr.com/
The writer has tested a lot of combinations of fans and filters (Simple, HEPA, Activated Charcoal). It's astonishingly easy to build a combination that costs way less than a "professional" Air filter.
The writer has put his findings into a "social startup" that builts these simple, but very effective airfilters in some developing countries:
https://smartairfilters.com/cn/en/product-category/diy-air-p...
Is there a place where I can get information about the MERV rating of certain HEPA filter products?
I've been luring the Dyson hot and cool air purifiers, it's pretty silent from what I've heard, it also serves as both an electrical heater during the winter and a cooler during the summer. The price tag is the reason I've never bought one...
Screw Dyson. Get a Winix HR1000. You can find them cheap ($200 or so) on eBay every so often. I picked up two a couple years ago and am very happy with them. You only need to replace the filters once a year. They've made a HUGE difference with my allergies. They automatically adjust airflow based on built-in air quality sensors. They are completely silent, aside from the "turbo" mode (~300CFM lol), but if you like wh…
Only criticism is that the U300 does not have wifi connection - only IR control... I am hacking up a esp8266 + some IR LEDs and photoresistors to monitor and control it via MQTT though which is fun. The "wifi connected" units seem to add several hundred GBP to the price for the same filtering performance.
We're not sure if we're noticing any actual improvements in air quality, or just imagining it...! :-) The placebo effect is quite good if nothing else. Noses feel less congested, and the air in the room feels less stuffy in the morning.
1 - https://winixeurope.eu/air_purifiers/winix-u300/ No personal connection to these guys, just a satisfied customer (so far after a few months)
Can those filter be washed? People living near car congested areas would benefit from them the most but should also swap them more often.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The UK and most of Northern Europe has rather high humidity in the winter." Indoors? No, not at all. In the winter the temperature in my house/office is 21-22C and 17 at the lowest at night, and I have to run a humidifier 24/7 to keep the humidity over 30% (otherwise the wooding floors shrink too much).
(anecdata but...) Currently in the bedroom (thanks Netatmo) it's 17.8° and 69% humidity (with one of the three windows open about 0.5"). That compares to 14.0° and 78% on the balcony. Looking at the graphs, 50% is the lowest indoor humidity over the last month.
Still - mold in houses is not a problem in houses in Western/Northern Europe, except for the most pathological cases (for example, mold scores you iirc 2 points in Belgium on the 'uninhabitable property' test, where 9 gets your building declared unfit for living in. Having small holes in the roof or small cracks in the walls (still structural defects) gets you 3. That's how unusual mold is around here. OTOH when I lived in New Zealand, mold was met with 'eh, there's bleach in isle 5 at Countdown, just wipe it down.'. I was like 'wut?'.
So I did this with a cheap $15 box fan and a MERV 13 filter. It performs very poorly, the filter impedes the airflow too much and the fan actually will intake most of the airflow from the front corners of the output side because it's less resistance. Axial flow fans only operate efficiently at low static pressures. This is why your home forced air system uses a centrifugal blower, which is more efficient at high stat…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
(anecdata but...) Currently in the bedroom (thanks Netatmo) it's 17.8° and 69% humidity (with one of the three windows open about 0.5"). That compares to 14.0° and 78% on the balcony. Looking at the graphs, 50% is the lowest indoor humidity over the last month.
Yes, bedrooms have the windows open more often, and usually less/no heating. How many hours a day do you have the windows open? Is there a heating source on or nearby? If you close the window, you'll see RH drop quite fast (in most houses). I'm going to try this same experiment tomorrow, I'm quite interested to know. Still - mold in houses is not a problem in houses in Western/Northern Europe, except for the most pat…
Alas, it does not, but that's possibly because other windows are open around the place and there's relatively good airflow.
> I'm going to try this same experiment tomorrow, I'm quite interested to know.
I'll see how it goes tomorrow with the window closed and various doors closed to minimise the effect of the other windows.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow. I am pretty sure they can not only get sued for this but it may be criminal offence.
I'd imagine that's true on both counts, but with these things it's notoriously difficult to prove. You'd have to prove that the contractor knew about the damage, didn't do anything to mitigate it and then knowingly attempted to hide it. All of that is pretty tricky to pull off, given that a home damaged in this way might not show signs of the damage for a good while. It's why bad actors (such as the ones described ab…
There are a few things you need to know for your own safety if you do DIY and want to reduce costs: Fan and filter are the heart of the unit. This is where you put the money even if you want to do a temporary solution. The housing can be cheap, but please be smart and never leave a DIY unit alone since electricity is involved, they are not safe. Once you’ve bought all this equipment, you’ll soon realize you have put out a cost of a reasonably good air purifier.
- You need to have a good amount of space between the filter and the fan to cut pressure drop – otherwise you will overload the fan, you get a high electrical bill and it becomes a fire hazard or it will break down = your money is not well spent. This is why you see some units on the market looking hollow – the space is there for a reason. - Fans. Look for a strong motor that can handle air resistance. Regular fans are not made for resistance and will break, stop (programmed) or even start a fire. Also look at the airflow rate and the safety regulations of it. The higher airflow rates the better. When it comes to fans, you get what you pay for. - If you use a weak fan and a thick filter you will only clean the air closest to the fan, not the actual room air = money not well spent unless you use the purifier right in front of your mouth/nose. - HEPA filters are actually not that great... There are newer filter types on the market that are less dense but still not as effective. HEPA can be too thick/dense for the fan to be able to pull air through, or the air doesn’t have high flow enough to clean more than just the air next to the purifier. You need to have circulation. Especially fans that are made to only move air without resistance, the motors are not adapted for this. If you have a strong fan you can use HEPA (Merv) since it can power through. Also, if the filters are too thick, air leakage will occur, motor will sound horrible, and the air will pass on the side instead of through the filter = noises, whistle sounds and less clean air. Yes, duct tape is good here if you build it yourself. - Put the filters in front of the fan (before fan) to spare the life of the fan – the dirt will not accumulate and destroy the fan over time. To get (collect) dirt in the filters is the goal. Some fans can handle dirt passing through and then you can have the filter after. However, if you just buy a regular air fan in a regular store, I don’t suggest having the filter after the fan (air flow direction). - If the filter gets super dirty quickly, you can vacuum or gently whip it outdoors to recover some lifetime. However, after some time (roughly 1 year in normal use) it will be clogged no matter what you do. There are no filters or technologies better than particle and carbon filters available today. The 6-months to a year lifespan is actually accurate in normal conditions. I’ve been doing these tests in China, India and Europe and US several times in different conditions (both lab standard and normal homes) and with different units/tech/brands etc and can confirm particle filters + ionization is the best tech available and the filters last 4 months-a year depending on local conditions. The filters are usually functional after a year as well, but with very low efficiency. - Pre-filters are great since they take on large particles like pollen or ashes before it hits the main filter. Just make sure it’s not too dense. - Fully made air purifiers are tested by 3d party institutions unbiased to payments or commercial, certified and heavy controlled before released on the market. You can check consumer reports, AHAM and California Air resource board (ARB) or Chinese GB-standard websites for different type of tests and results if you want to know which ones are really, really good. Some complain that they are in “lab environments” but it’s still really good products that does the job even in real life conditions. - If the unit you want is not in their lists of tested products, it’s a warning sign that the product is not good, or might not even qualify as an air purifier… It’s a surprising large number of big brands that make terrible products but are good in marketing or simply rely on their names. - Fully made air purifiers have fans developed specifically to match the filters resistance and won’t break down after a few months or start a fire if put under heavy resistance (clogged filters). The filters last longer since its optimized for air treatment in home environments. Usually other technologies are a part as well such as ionization or UV or similar. That’s why they are more expensive. They are super important in a development of air purifies. Some of them also have IP44 certified fans meaning they can work during humid conditions without breaking or causing short-circuit/burn outs or worse. - These DIY things work, but are usually not cheaper in the long run and are not as effective as the real purifiers. If you suffer from fires, smog, allergies etc I highly suggest getting a real purifier incl filtration+ionization since those things are very harmful, especially for children. If you just like to temporary fix something these DIY will work if you do it right.
I hope I could answer some of your questions.
I built my own air purifier in 2016, living in London, I was living in a basement and was having breathing problems due to mould. My landlady was gaslighting me at the time, so I built the air purifier. It worked for a while but mould spores cling to the paper filter and eventually grow into the filter material. I think Dyson uses glass fiber filter to stop this problem. My filter helped a lot, but eventually I had s…
> I was subletting so had no grounds for complaint How does that work? You may not be eligible for regular tenant protections, but you're still eligible for recourse through regular courts, no?