Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

dyno-might.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 149 posts

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#71

Post by thomas »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #14

I wish there were multiple reps of each experiment, especially with how noisy the results were and the difficulties of reproducing smoke Regardless, this project actually makes me feel better about buying my fancy air filter Instead of buying 2 filters (both HEPA), a fan, and a poorly calibrated air quality sensor for $150 like the author, I bought an air purifier that contains 2 filters (1 HEPA, 1 activated charcoal…

Yeah, same thought. Something like the Coway air filter ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxiDrEnjYEo ) regularly sells for under $200, and it is going to be much quieter than this option. It also has been tested fairly extensively from what I've seen, it's EnergyStar approved, etc, and it has a built in sensor. It doesn't look too bad either.

But I understand the point, especially in times when you can't find a purifier.

Also, good video on all this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5APw_SLUU

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#72

Post by oarsinsync »

xwdv wrote: post #46
bigiain wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of contacting them, I will spend a little time investigating whether there's someone else I can buy from, who doesn't consider being "forced to leave money on the table" makes this a reasonable way t treat potential customers, and will choose to spend money at a less customer hostile business - or possibly do without the product. Contacting some random "enterprise sales" team? Not gonna happen.

What if they put an upfront price of $100 dollars but cheaper prices available if you contact them?

Increasing friction is increasing friction. The GP wants to reduce friction, and your proposal likely doesn’t do that for the majority of potential customers.

That said, too many people (myself included) are so used to being courted as a customer (or really, user to try and upsell to or datamine from) that we’ve forgotten that not everyone wants our business and custom.

Splashing some cold water on your face and reminding yourself that you’re not the centre of the universe from time to time isn’t a bad habit to reduce behaving like entitled children. I still struggle with this, but baby steps... (pun not intended)

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#73

Post by batter »

Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #63

The only downside of the DIY route is the noise. Most box fans that I've seen are very noisy relative to "real" air cleaners/purifiers. I've used a box fan plus furnace filter for years to deal with cat litter dust. Since the particles I want to filter are quite large, I can get away with using a fairly cheap furnace filter. The nice thing about this is that it's really easy to scale it to your requirements. To deal…

I'm using Vornado fan with 2 16x20x1 merv 11 filters from lowes (2 to make triangle). And in lowest speed it's very quiet. I have commercial air cleaner and my diy is way cheaper to run and as quiet. https://tombuildsstuff.blogspot.com/2013/06/better-box-fan-a... - like this.

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#74

Post by myself248 »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #41
chopin wrote: post #19

What I am wondering about: I worked with and designed clean room equipment in the nineties. I remember that HEPA requires a considerable pressure difference which cannot be delivered by an axial fan. You'd need a radial one which can deliver a considerable differential pressure, at cost of throughput (where the axial fan shine). If you strap a HEPA to an axial fan and seal it, the fan runs effectively "empty", i.e. i…

> In a normal room you can see the laser beam in dark. Dear god, do you live next to a coal plant? I would argue that in a normal room one should NOT be able to see the laser beam!

Latch the laser beam on, aim it across the room, and go thump your hand on the couch cushions a few times.

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#75

Post by peteretep »

totalZero wrote: post #17

This is nutty. I love it. The limitation for me would simply be the appearance factor; I want my filter to blend in quietly, not to draw attention. I think appearance and noise are part of why people pay so much for fancy purifiers. Also, I imagine a centrifugal fan would draw less electricity per CFM under load (air resistance through the filter).

https://smartairfilters.com/en/sqair/

It’s a fan + a HEPA filter and it’s kinda pretty

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#77

Post by culopatin »

ethanwillis wrote: post #4
artvark11 wrote: post #3

Are diy filters effective at removing smells or only removing the measurable particles?

Not sure, but I know my commercial air filter has an optional activated charcoal filter screen in order to do smell removal. I also know that one trick to remove the smoke smell from a used car is to use an ozone generator in the car.

The problem with ozone generators in cars is that they often react with some plastics and do more harm than good. Unfortunately they are the only way of getting in the nooks and crannies and inside the ac vents to clean mold and that kind of stuff.

I’ve had steering wheels turn to gel using ozone and they smell funkier than what was in there.

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#79

Post by IgorPartola »

ahaucnx wrote: post #21

We have open source, open hardware build instructions for a very reliable Air quality sensor that can be used to measure PM2.5 and also CO2. https://www.airgradient.com/diy/ We have tested it extensively and it is very accurate for the fraction of the costs of commercial sensors. You can build it for less than USD 20 and send the data to our cloud server or any other backend. We also measure CO2 because if you have p…

FYI the particle sensor link to AliExpress from that page is broken.

Re: Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble

#80

Post by input_sh »

platz wrote: post #65
shared_frog wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your DIY instructions, but I really dislike how your website goes through the effort of hiding what you actually sell and also how much it costs. I don't want to "contact you" to get that information. We've been long enough in the 21st century that it has become an adult, and still I keep running into this archaic nonsense. For example, you mention your "sensor package" in the FAQ and that's it. Your DIY…

Usually this means the company does not sell to consumers and is b2b only, similar to how you just can't buy something anonymously online from a wholesale distributor.

Usually, but you have three buttons on the first screen of their homepage: for schools, for offices, for homes. I don't think they're only b2b.
Post reply on HN