Is there a place where I can get information about the MERV rating of certain HEPA filter products?
Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
171–180 of 355 posts
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#172Important tip: if you set up an air purifier in your home, make sure to plug all drafts around your house: windows, doors, etc. Even a DIY purifier with small airflow can make your indoor air excellent if given enough time to do so and no leaks to fight against. If you want to get some fresh air in your home, do not leave a window half-open all day long—instead, open all your windows at once to cycle the air as fast…
Very interesting! How does the Dylos 1100 Pro compare to, for example, the Nova SDS011 sensor? By my cursory review, the SDS011 is much cheaper and appears to offer a more native Raspberry Pi-compatibility experience. Is the Dylos more precise? Can it produce readings the SDS011 can't? Are the two sensors measuring fundamentally different things? Finally, if you had to do it all over again, would you choose a differe…
I bought the Dylos almost 5 years ago. At that time I don't think the SDS011 was available.
A cool feature of the Dylos is monitor mode. It wakes up every hour, spins the fans for 1 minute, and spits out a measurement. It's convenient for 24/7 monitoring because it reduces fan noise and dust accumulation. I don't know if the SDS011 offers something similar, or if you could somehow program that yourself, but that may be something to consider.
I'm very happy with the Dylos overall. In addition to being 5 years old, mine has been running in monitor mode for the past year and a half with no issues so far so I really can't complain about reliability. Issues are size, fan noise, antiquated UI, and also antiquated connectivity, although I personally enjoyed working with serial (threw me back to early Duke Nukem LANs before we moved to IPX). I wouldn't be surprised if there are superior alternatives today, at least regarding usability.
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#173Edit: plants do nothing to particle matter in air they can soak up co2, benzene, formaldehyde etc but do ample resesrch before placing plants in your bedroom. Typically snake plants are fine in bedroom as they don't give out CO2 at night. There is no need for an air purifier if you have ample light in your room. Just plant a few indoor plants Peace lily Rubber plant Snake plant Spider plant Aloe vera Money plant Orch…
Your advice is somewhat dangerous if people follow it expecting them to magically work. First, the NASA study is for VOCs, not pm2.5. Second, when I briefly looked into using plants to clear VOCs indoors, I found that the number of plants, lights, and air-circulation required is completely impractical. Plants are awesome, I love them, but they're not enough. I wish it wasn't so.
It would be stupid to expect plants to clean up PM 2.5 material. The best they can do is chemicals. Sure they aren't a perfect solution but then again, anecdotal evidence from my childhood says thatmore plants are better for our environment. Indoor/outdoors doesn't matter.
And yes it isn't a magical solution, we have to be careful while placing plants in our house.
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#174I 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 talking to a buddy that does construction work in a pretty wealthy area (Scottsdale, AZ). They are just finishing up a large luxury apartment. Apparently, the contractor let the drywall get soaked while sitting on palettes during monsoon season, and since the roofing wasn't done there were inches of standing water that resulted in black mold. They just drywalled right over it. In the US. In 2018. In a luxury co…
Wow. I am pretty sure they can not only get sued for this but it may be criminal offence.
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#175I use this same setup and it works great. Been doing it for years.
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#176Over the past two years as BC and WA have had terrible forest fires, this exact solution has become quite popular for people who are willing to DIY. the air quality in mid summer 2018 in Vancouver was really quite bad, exceeding Delhi or Beijing pm2.5 figures for weeks.
Was Seattle as bad PM2.5 wise?
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#177Important tip: if you set up an air purifier in your home, make sure to plug all drafts around your house: windows, doors, etc. Even a DIY purifier with small airflow can make your indoor air excellent if given enough time to do so and no leaks to fight against. If you want to get some fresh air in your home, do not leave a window half-open all day long—instead, open all your windows at once to cycle the air as fast…
Could you explain? I'm curious why it'd be better to have the air filter going rather than having good airflow from outside via open doors and windows? Are we trying to filter dust/ things produced in the house, or pollutants from things outside the house?
Yeah, sorry, just assumed that pollutants were coming from outside. I'm just so used to it after living several years in China and now being affected by California wildfires. If the outside air is better than inside, then yeah you probably should air out your home as much as possible unless it's unbearably hot or cold outside :)
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#178I do this and it works wonders if you have pets. Tips: - run this homemade air purifier when you are vacuuming, as that tends to agitate particulates a lot - get 2 filters, a cheap low grade and a premium, high-HEPA-rated filter. Stack them together and you can replace the cheap one frequently and the expensive one less frequently.
Does it go:
Fan --> Cheap Filter --> Expensive Filter
Fan --> Expensive Filter --> Cheap Filter
Cheap Filter --> Expensive Filter --> Fan
Expensive Filter --> Cheap Filter --> Fan
?
Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#179Important tip: if you set up an air purifier in your home, make sure to plug all drafts around your house: windows, doors, etc. Even a DIY purifier with small airflow can make your indoor air excellent if given enough time to do so and no leaks to fight against. If you want to get some fresh air in your home, do not leave a window half-open all day long—instead, open all your windows at once to cycle the air as fast…
Could you explain? I'm curious why it'd be better to have the air filter going rather than having good airflow from outside via open doors and windows? Are we trying to filter dust/ things produced in the house, or pollutants from things outside the house?
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Re: Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Woah, this is pretty scary. Thank you for sharing. How did you know it was mold that was in the air? Is there some sort of test kit that you can buy to test for this. Mold is pretty hard to detect because you can't really see it because it typically hides between the walls. Any advice appreciated.
I know there is mould in my house. We do three things to deal with it: 1. Air Filter (more for pollution but it helps with mould) 2. Dehumidifier which we leave on 24/7 basically for the mould. This is the big one. 3. Wash any mould with vinegar to change the PH after it is wiped off to prevent it from growing back. The mould is still there but the dry air stops it from growing and sporing which is what makes you sti…
Dehumidifiers are expensive in power consumption, I don't know which model is more effectively. I'm living in SEA, and get humidity level to 50% 24/7 in my studio equally to double my monthly electricity bill.