Build a Do-It-Yourself Air Purifier for About $40
Build a Do-It-Yourself Air Purifier for About $40 on HackerTube: recommended by 5 Hacker News commenters across 4 separate months, 2012–2022.
A University of Michigan Medicine demonstration of building a cheap DIY air purifier from a box fan and a HEPA or high-MERV filter using hardware-store parts. It explains why this helps against dust, smoke and viruses and ties it to local air quality readings.
What HN commenters said
11 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
polyfractalJan 2012Strongly recommends
If you are worried about particulate, you can build one of these: ▶ this video I built one for my room because my previous tenants had cats, which I'm allergic to. Even after steamcleaning our apartment I was chronically congested. Built one of those purifiers and a few days later most of my symptoms are gone. It's been about a month now and the filter is noticeably soiled.
in “Ask HN: Does anyone use something to monitor air quality in their workspace?” · View on HN
thomasDec 2020Recommends
Yeah, same thought. Something like the Coway air filter ( [link] ) regularly sells for under $200, and it is going to be much quieter than this option. It also has been tested fairly extensively from what I've seen, it's EnergyStar approved, etc, and it has a built in sensor. It doesn't look too bad either. But I understand the point, especially in times when you can't find a purifier. Also, good video on all this: ▶ this video
in “Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier that takes 30s to assemble” · View on HN
shardSep 2020Recommends
If this is because of high PM2.5 concentration (due to wildfires or otherwise), I suggest building a DIY air filter, such as the one in the video here: ▶ this video When the Air Quality Index shot up to ~150 in my area (you want to keep it below 100, preferably below 50), I went to Home Depot and bought box fans and furnace filters and built my own. You can check the air quality in your area on this site: [link]
in “At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home” · View on HN
Qub3dSep 2020Recommends
The University of Michigan made an instructional video showing how you can easily make an air purifier out of a box fan and a HEPA-rated furnace filter for $25: ▶ this video It won't be as good as a purpose-built machine, but it will be far better than nothing at all. TheWirecutter found it reduced particulate matter in a room by 87%, if you do it right. They also make clear important caveats about this method -- in short, this works in a pinch, but probably should not be used in place of a purpose-built filter if you want one for year-round use. [link]
in “Smoke has caused temperature forecasts to go crazy” · View on HN
dublinbenJan 2020Recommends
Here's a video from the University of Michigan showing just how effective these cheap DIY air filters can be: ▶ this video
in “A small DIY air purifier” · View on HN
fadyJun 2022Cites it
Reminds me of this video that came from University of Michigan during one of California's fire season when many fires were ablaze and air quality was terrible: ▶ this video
in “Ceiling Air Purifier” · View on HN
Show 5 more comments
bryceaccSep 2021Cites it
▶ this video you just put a fan filter on the back, you can increase the amount of filters to not hurt the fan motor as much by making a triangle config or fan on top of 4 filters in a cube. fans are for air throughput not static pressure so real air purifiers have squirrel cage blowers
in “Monitoring my home's air quality with AirGradient's DIY sensor” · View on HN
meesterdudeOct 2018Cites it
I know a certain framework creator that will be all over this - and has been vocal on twitter about it. I went looking, this seems like a pretty good air quality monitor: [link] (~$400) There are cheaper ones too; but do your research, as accuracy (and ideas about what constitutes accurate) can vary from manuf. to manuf. [link] also apparently, a box fan + filter ain't so bad. ▶ this video
in “Air pollution linked to “huge” reduction in intelligence” · View on HN
vymagueMar 2018Cites it
But I thought it has been shown putting simple furnace filter on a fan is good enough. ▶ this video Are you talking about other filters to filter the larger particles, and carbon filters? Because aliexpress sell them too.
in “Cleaning sprays have an impact on lung health comparable to cigarettes” · View on HN
chewzJan 2020Critical
This seems like useless toy. You should be aiming for something larger that would work for an apartment. [1] ▶ this video [2] [link] There is thousand vidoes on Youtube on how to DYI one.
in “A small DIY air purifier” · View on HN
apoNov 2018Critical
Nifty idea, but I'm not sure I agree with the technique used to prove effectiveness: ▶ this video The narrator puts a particle counter in front of the fan and notes the 90% reduction. So far so good. The problem is extrapolating this result to the entire room. Yes, maybe you'd get close to 90% if the device were allowed to run a few days. On the other hand, it could leave the situation worse (by blowing existing particulates around) or unimproved (by failing to filter room air efficiently enough. Either way, I'd like to see see a controlled study. Two identical rooms with identical usage. One gets a homemade filter. The other gets just a fan of the same make and model, maybe with a dummy filter to baffle airflow. What's the average particle count in both rooms after, say one week?
in “Build a do-it-yourself home air purifier for about $25” · View on HN