I've used HEPA filters when I built an IV glove box a couple of years back. Don't recall the numbers, but I needed a fair bit of pressure from the air pump to get a decent flow rate. Somehow I don't think a fan will do it.
Smart Air
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Re: Smart Air
#12I am actually looking for a solution where the filtering is done through water rather then a HEPA filter, which needs replacing quite a lot in a environment as bad as Bejing.
Use aquarium air stones. The smaller the bubbles and higher the column of water the better.
Re: Smart Air
#13This is a very neat idea, though I suspect they'll ultimately want a more powerful fan.
Note that high quality air filters also have a carbon pre-filter that gets changed more often than the HEPA filter, and having one ought to make your HEPA filter last much longer, especially in somewhere like Bejing. They also play a part in controlling odors.
This is what I'm currently using and love it to death. Note that the customer photos with the "dirty" filters are actually the carbon pre-filter and not the HEPA
Re: Smart Air
#14I think that people in Beijing and other Asian or American countries should stand up more often and force their governments to install filters on each fabric's smoke pipe and charge those who don't comply with a big fine. You can then open a petition that votes for using the money generated from that fine to for deploying fuel-less car alternatives… Come on, tell me you're helpless and dependent on your government and that your voice is not worth anything, that you can't change your country.. If you agree sir, I'm sorry. Sorry that you're not standing up for your rights. But then dear citizen, have the courage and inhale the smog in all it's glory and purity.
The DIY Filter idea is great to have a transitional solution and I applaud the startup for this idea. But a government, a country, a company, or a stakeholder, none of them can make profit and money, when there are no trees to cut, no clean air to breathe, no healthy citizen to employ, no educated class to teach, no unpolluted earth for the seed and no will for change. Then you've created the perfect environment for a colony of sheep that follows a butcher who sells himself as a shepard.
Re: Smart Air
#15I never thought I'd be pulled in by a product that essentially bills itself as "Clean your air CHEAP with this one cool trick discovered by a college kid", but they've executed well.
What they're offering is just an easy way to buy a fan and HEPA filter ($27USD, or 166RMB, as the FAQ freely admits). Even so, their website makes me like instantly their business model, and because of their approach and willingness to run workshops, I immediately trust goods from them more than than I trust buying the parts directly from the manufacturer.
It will be interesting to see what they do with their new, loyal customer base. I imagine they could easily start a filter-replacement subscription service, where they send you as many new filters as you need for XXrmb/year. If you're needing more than is profitable, they could add a phone call into the process "to diagnose why your home is needing filters than it should". This is the kind of honor system that only works if your customers already like you. Assuming their product actually works, I think they will easily achieve that.
Re: Smart Air
#16The copy at the top seems a bit wordy to me.
How about this? http://i.imgur.com/whD4yWh.png
Re: Smart Air
#17Or strap a $1 central A/C filter to a $10 box fan.
Re: Smart Air
#18Nice! I had read something similar for a wood workshop here: http://woodgears.ca/dust/air_cleaner.html
Seems to be quite effective.
Also, if you're into woodworking, woodgears is probably one of the best, if not the best on the net.
Re: Smart Air
#19I think that people in Beijing and other Asian or American countries should stand up more often and force their governments to install filters on each fabric's smoke pipe and charge those who don't comply with a big fine. You can then open a petition that votes for using the money generated from that fine to for deploying fuel-less car alternatives… Come on, tell me you're helpless and dependent on your government an…
Obviously the solution is for Beijing to clean up its act; literally. But it will take them awhile, and we need to worry about this now. As a foreigner in Beijing, I actually have no political rights, though I'm proud of the American embassy for reporting crazy bad pollution in the first place and getting the Chinese government to admit that there was a huge problem more quickly.
Re: Smart Air
#20Are particles the whole story when it comes to air pollution, or do you have to worry about gases, too?
Also, what would be a good source for obtaining HEPA or carbon filters in Canada/USA?