A COST-EFFECTIVE WAY TO GET SMOKE-FREE AIR (YES IT WORKS!!!)
My Story
I got my very own cigarette-smoking neighbor in the apartment under mine when I moved in to a new complex. Of course, the smoke comes right into my apartment. I checked, and it is impossible to stop the flow of smoke.
So like any normal 21st-century gal, I looked online for air-cleaning solutions.
I must have read about a dozen pages with advice like, "that's too bad, you're stuck with the smoke," or "you should have checked the apartment out more thoroughly before you signed a lease," or "ask your neighbor to quit smoking." All this sage wisdom got me nowhere nearer to clean air, however!
But I kept searching because .... well, we have particle accelerators and genetically modified corn in this world. There just had to be a way to get smoke out of the air.
Why people think it's hard to get smoke out of the air:
I found out that the tricky thing about smoke particles is that they are exactly the size that is hardest to filter out of air. They're so small it's hard to trap them physically, but so large it's hard to trap them electrostatically. You need a specialized air filter.
The solution I found:
In my searching, I saw a simple and brilliant idea. Some people have made air filtration devices out of furnace filters taped to cheap box fans. It's kind of ugly . . . but I'm not rich enough to be picky about the way I clean my air! With my limited budget and a whole living room and kitchen to keep smoke-free, this was the most attractive idea to me.
Then I found furnace filters designed to filter out smoke-size particles (0.1-3.0 microns in diameter). I decided to take a leap of faith and try out a cheap box fan from Walmart attached to a very, very good filter. I call it a leap of faith because the filter was upwards of $80, which would be a pretty painful expenditure for me if it didn't work.
But it did work. I turned it on for a few minutes in my 500-square-foot living area, and the smoke odor was gone. Completely, totally, 100% gone. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
My Budget: As low as possible....which turned out to be $110 for me at the time.
I'm a student, so anywhere I can save money, I will. But breathing at home is a necessity. I wound up spending about $110--money well spent considering I can now sit in my own living room without smoke stinging my eyes or making it hard to breath! And it was a heck of a lot cheaper than getting an industrial air cleaner, or multiple HEPA air filter machines, or even moving apartments.
How to make this smoke-be-gone contraption yourself:
If you want to try making one yourself, watch this how-to video from the University of Michigan: http://youtu.be/kH5APw_SLUU. (this link will open a new window.) The University of Michigan guy shows a MERV 13 filter removing about 90% of the particles from the air. A MERV 13 filter is about $10 online. (At Home Depot they don't have MERV-rated filters, so if I were replicating this U of M experiment I would spend the money on whatever their finest furnace filter was.)
The filter in the video is taking out 90% of particles that are 3 microns in size. But smoke particles are often smaller than that--as small as 0.1 micron in size--up to 30 times smaller! Plus, leaving 10% of the smoke in the air seemed like a lot. I guessed that MERV 13 wouldn't work on cigarette smoke.
So, I'll admit it: I didn't even try the cheaper MERV 13 like the one in the video. I went straight for the MERV 16, which filters out more of the really small particles. I would love to know if the cheaper MERV 13 would be as effective as the much-more-expensive MERV 16. But I was desperate, probably not thinking straight, and I wanted something that worked now.
~~ Materials ~~
Make sure you watch the University of Michigan video before you start on anything! The link is three paragraphs up.
1. A 20" x 20" MERV 16 air filter.** About $100. You may need to buy online to get one of these. They're about 5" thick and they are expensive. I paid $80 for mine on Amazon, but as I write I see it's increased to $100. Mine is a Lennox Healthy Climate MERV 16 filter with a charcoal coating (absorbs smelly gasses, but isn't meant to filter particles). I haven't tried any other brands. The important thing is that its MERV 16, and not a lower number.
Note that excessive heat, sun, humidity, and oils will shorter the life of your filter.
2. A 20" x 20" cheap-o furnace filter from the local store. About $10-$20. This is going to be a pre-filter that will protect your investment in the MERV 16 filter by keeping it from getting gunked-up prematurely.
3. A 20" x 20" box fan. About $20. You might already have one.
4. Clear packaging tape, which is strong strong and doesn't stretch. Don't use masking or duct tape unless you're really in a pinch.
~~ Directions ~~
1. Get your MERV 16 filter, cheap filter, box fan, and tape together.
2. Figure out which way your fan blows.
3. Figure out which direction the air should be flowing through the filters. There will be arrows or writing on the filters to show you which way the air should go.
4. Put the fan and the filters in the right order and facing the right way. The air goes through the cheap filter first, then through the MERV 16, then through the fan (different order than the U of M guy did). Like so:
Air In >>> Cheap filter >>> MERV 16 Filter >>> Fan >>> Air Out
Air In >>> Cheap filter >>> MERV 16 Filter >>> Fan >>> Air Out
5. Tape the fan and the filters together. Don't get tape all over the grille and filter media, and try to make a good seal between the fan and the filters.
6. Turn on the fan. It doesn't need to go at the highest speed. Mine moves the air really slowly over the filters and I leave it at the lowest speed because it's less noise.
8. Forget you have smoking neighbors. :-D
I hope this post is helpful for you! If you have any other suggestions or questions, leave them in the comments.
** MERV air filter ratings go from 1 to 20. A MERV 1 filters things like string and thumbtacks out of the air (used by cheap apartment managers to keep furnaces from being destroyed by large objects being sucked into the air intake). A MERV 20 filter takes out everything that is not a gas (used for electronics manufacturing or completely sterilizing air). A MERV 16 is about 95% effective for removing particles that are .1-.3 microns in size (like cigarette smoke.) It will not remove gasses like VOCs. In fact, vapors from things like acetone or gasoline will damage the filter. MERV 16, as far as I know, is highest number consumers can (or would need to) buy.
*** Rationale: Since we spent about $100 on our super-duper air-cleaning MERV 16 filters, we don't want to send filthy air through them and clog them up quickly. Therefore, we clean the air a little bit before sending it through the MERV 16 by sending it through the cheaper filter first (probably a MERV 8 or 9). This "pre-filter" will clean out the big particles like pollen, dust, mold, and dander. Then, our MERV 16 only has to take care of the really small particles, like cigarette smoke. This will lengthen the life of the filter and save us money.
6. Turn on the fan. It doesn't need to go at the highest speed. Mine moves the air really slowly over the filters and I leave it at the lowest speed because it's less noise.
8. Forget you have smoking neighbors. :-D
_________________________________
I hope this post is helpful for you! If you have any other suggestions or questions, leave them in the comments.
** MERV air filter ratings go from 1 to 20. A MERV 1 filters things like string and thumbtacks out of the air (used by cheap apartment managers to keep furnaces from being destroyed by large objects being sucked into the air intake). A MERV 20 filter takes out everything that is not a gas (used for electronics manufacturing or completely sterilizing air). A MERV 16 is about 95% effective for removing particles that are .1-.3 microns in size (like cigarette smoke.) It will not remove gasses like VOCs. In fact, vapors from things like acetone or gasoline will damage the filter. MERV 16, as far as I know, is highest number consumers can (or would need to) buy.
*** Rationale: Since we spent about $100 on our super-duper air-cleaning MERV 16 filters, we don't want to send filthy air through them and clog them up quickly. Therefore, we clean the air a little bit before sending it through the MERV 16 by sending it through the cheaper filter first (probably a MERV 8 or 9). This "pre-filter" will clean out the big particles like pollen, dust, mold, and dander. Then, our MERV 16 only has to take care of the really small particles, like cigarette smoke. This will lengthen the life of the filter and save us money.
