People have been building these things for years in the Bay Area now with 1 filter (strapped to the back) or 2 (making a triangular prism), to deal with the smoke from the fires. Surprised that isn't mentioned in the article. I first learned about them in 2017 but I'm sure people were doing it prior.
Here’s an article from one of the namesakes (the origin story is somewhere on the site): https://www.texairfilters.com/testing-the-efficiency-of-merv...
Does anyone know why box fans are so hard to get hold of in Europe? In Germany they seem very rare and expensive.
Do these things make a noticeable difference? I have never been in a heavily polluted atmosphere, then scrubbed by an air purifier.
I’ve always assumed consumer air purifier units are a marketing fad. Your air is not only accelerated but also cleaner. Is that not right?
Clearly very different for large-scale / industrial uses etc.
this is actually a major disruptor if you look at prices of air purifiers... sure it's no IQAir where it outputs absolutely pristine air, but due to it's throughput when recycling air in an indoor setting this absolutely thrashes everything on the market
So they got named in 2020? I've been building these for years. Edit: Also, they're not as practical as one might think, because they take up a lot of space. I run mine in my basement, but we use single smaller Fellowes and Rabbit Air filters upstairs.
UV light fixtures "Upper room UVGI (Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation)" also seems to be a promising air-cleaning technique, with possibly fewer moving parts and less power draw than this.
https://twitter.com/RealSexyCyborg/status/152709990924505088...
I've been using a box fan with a furnace filter strapped to the back for years to deal with cat litter dust. My vet recommended using air cleaners to help an asthmatic cat, this setup made a significant and immediate improvement.
My fan is quite loud, so I've got a motion sensor to only turn it on after the cat has used the box.
Never heard of Corsi or Rosenthal from the Bay Area, but I’ve seen many similar DIY air cleaners on YouTube over the years.
Here’s a recent example of Matthias Wandel testing different air cleaners including his home made one:
Could someone explain why air is "pulled" through the filters (blown out of the box) instead of "pushed" (blown into the box)?
Does it increase airflow, or filtering, or what?
I built one of these back during the january omicron wave (us). Mostly out of 'why not' boredom because I already had a box fan, a roll of duct tape, and a near infinite supply of cardboard from amazon, just had to buy four filters from home depot.
Six months later I have to replace the filters because they are a thick dusty grey. Went from looking like white paper with blue flecks in it to looking like grey jersey/t-shirt fabric. If even a tenth of what it caught was otherwise destined for my lungs then this was a big win.