I saw this in a coffee shop and asked the lady what was with the fans. She said that due to Covid regulations, that was their air purifying system. After some laughs and research, some are saying that the set up of a box fax and good air filter will help remove germs from the air. I am not sure if it is BS but I do think it would be a great to do this when the wildfires are raging. Even with our windows closed, the house was smoky. How a MERV 13 Air Filter and a Box Fan Can Help Fight Covid-19 A MERV 13 filter and a box fan? It is definitely not a new idea. It has been floating around for years. However, in the era of Covid-19, it is time to take all of the tools out of the toolbox. This simple, inexpensive air cleaning device can remove substantial amounts of particles from the air and reduce exposure to airborne Covid19. Here is how to make it: Purchase a standard 20″ Box Fan. Mine cost $20 at a local home improvement store. Apply gasketing to the edges of the air intake part of the fan. Securely fasten a MERV 13 filter to the air intake side of the fan. The air flow arrow on the filter needs to be pointing to the fan. You can tape the filter to the fan. I used large rubber bands. Turn on. Total cost – less than $50. How a MERV 13 Air Filter and a Box Fan Can Help Fight Covid-19 | Tex-Air Filters
The real issue is the amount of air movement the fans make, sure, the filter's can catch the bad and eventually remove them, BUT, they will also stir up everything first which may actually increase the chances of spreading the virous! Not calling B.S. here, just pointing out the mechanics! If it were all I had, I would be looking to fortify that filter with lots of hand sanitizer every couple of hours to help capture and kill any bugs that might be floating about! JMHO
When I saw the set up originally I laughted and couldn't believe a business was stating that the fan & filture were a covid compliant air purifier. Some places on-line seem to think it would work for Covid. What I do think is that it may help with smoke. I don't have an air-conditioner so it could help.
Smoke would be my #1 use for that set up, probably would work pretty good! Everything around here still smells of ash, no matter how many times we change our filters and such,, it all still stinks!
It won't work on a box fan and you will need more than a number 13 filter to do anything with smoke. 1, a box fan can hardly pull any an air through a number 13 filter. 2, a number 13 filter won't catch viruses or smoke. I already tried it and am currently doing using a setup like that. The box fan works great for a dust filter, put the cheapest filter you can find, put it on the back of the fan and it will pass lots of air. It will catch lots of dust really quick. If you want something that will clear smoke you want a number 16 filter and need something capable of creating a much higher pressure differential than a box fan, something like an $70 to $130 high efficiency bathroom fan. The high efficiency ones are quiet. You can buy a cheap one but they're really noisy.
Been using that setup for years whenever I need good filtration for dust control in an enclosed space. Like cutting concrete in a basement or bath. Works very good for that. I just turn the fan on and let the filter suck in place. No fasteners needed. That is until you turn the fan off. Then I stick it in a trash bag.
Yeah, a squirrel cage blower is going to be necessary to pull air through a real filter...a box fan will just cavitate.
Yep. The squirrel cage blower is the better way to go. You can sometimes get used ones super cheap from AC companies. When someone replaces their air handler or the entire AC system, the used fans are usually just scrapped out. Putting the filter on the exhaust side is also the better deal, as oil pan 4 says. Filtering your air has a lot of benefits. It'll not only pull ordinary dirt dust out of the air, it'll get the dead skin cells, too. It'll also suck in flies and mosquitoes and desiccate them to death on the filter. People shed skin cells constantly, and in amazing numbers. Most of the crud on old AC filters is dead skin cells. It's not good for people to be snorting "corpse dust". A lot of bacteria live on dead skin cells. That's also why carpet is an abomination. It is utterly impossible to clean carpet. Just walking around on "clean" carpet puffs crud into the air for people to constantly inhale. (And people wonder where a lot of asthma comes from. And allergies.) Little kids, being shorter, inhale about ten times as much of it as adults.
Propeller type fans increase the amount of horsepower used as a cube of the static pressure, and since by design most of the static pressure is produced on the discharge side, putting a filter there is the fastest way to burn out the motor. A "squirrel cage" type fan would be the best in this application as the HP goes down in relation to the static pressure, and it simply moves less air as a result. There are fresh air ventilators on the market that bring in fresh filtered air and exhaust stale room air while putting the energy (heat or cool) back into the incoming air. Broan AE60 na Balanced Indoor Quality Unit - Air Exchanger, 160 - 185 CFM There are cheaper ones, just a quick example I found. I have one in my home and it's incredible to smell the rain in the house. Within a week we noticed our sinus problems had all but gone away and the slightly positive pressure it puts on the house has reduced the dust that used to be on everything. I clean the filter monthly and replace it and the heat exchange cube yearly. It has saved me some money as the 5" pleated filters in my HVAC system now get changed yearly instead of monthly, so the cost to me is only about $40 per year more having the ventilation system.
Have you tried any products that neutralize odors like this? Nature's Air Sponge Odor Absorber, Neutral, 0.5 lb Gel | OfficeSupply.com I haven't used this particular product. Our HVAC service department has been selling a similar product by a different manufacturer. I asked if these types of products actually work and was told the one we sell does. I'll ask which one we're selling if interested.
My design of filter can be made for well under $200 depending on how much fan noise you are willing to put up with and the filters are relatively cheap and available at most hardware stores.
