Fires and DIY Air Purifiers

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Out West here in California we have smoke. Lots of smoke. The fire that goes along with it is wicked and crews are working tirelessly to get some containment. Whatever they’re doing it’s working while up against the fickle winds coming up from the SW. Today there was some relief and they’re gaining on reaching their goal to create a line break to keep the fire from destroying more homes and to protect Lake Tahoe and its ski resorts.

Back on the ranch we have a project successfully in place. A DIY air purifier to help eliminate ugly particles floating around through the house. Thanks to my favorite folks at This Old House, they’ve given us a step by step (easy, we really like that) guide how to put it together. The image here is the result of what the final product looks like. And it works like a champ. With a few modifications in anchoring it at all four sides, it’s a done deal and now we can breathe.

Special thanks to all the firefighters battling our fires and hoping they continue to stay safe while snuffing out these flames.

This Old House DIY Air Purifier

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SueW, Lars220

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If you have “ugly particles floating around through the house”, then you also have particles that you can’t see floating through the house, and these very small particles are the ones that are really dangerous to your health. HEPA filters are the filters that will remove these small particles. By small I mean 2 to 5 microns, approximately.

I can’t tell from your picture whether the filters are HEPA filters or not (they don’t look like HEPA filters to me). Typical furnace filters will not do a good job filtering small particles. If you can make your device from HEPA filters you will be better off. Also try to seal the gaps between filters even if only with some kind of tape.

If you can prevent the particles from entering your house in the first place, so much the better. Keep windows and doors closed, seal off foundation vents if you have them, etc.

You may also want to consider N-95 facial masks. These are becoming more widely available and you can get them online and perhaps also at home improvement or hardware stores.

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Myst

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They are not HEPA filters but are MERV 13 rating (mentioned in This Old House video I included here in this post)  which is good to trap very small particles and smoke. The MERV 17 filters would have been best. But I can tell you we aren’t as bad off as my post sounds. All the windows have a good seal. Nothing is 100 percent and we do what is possible to eliminate the bad stuff. And yes, we do use N95 masks outside.

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