Do-It-Yourself Air Cleaners for Reducing Wildfire Smoke Indoors
Citation:
Holder, A., Pertti Virtaranta, AND H. Halliday. Do-It-Yourself Air Cleaners for Reducing Wildfire Smoke Indoors. Wildland Fire Leadership Council, Atlanta, GA, March 05 - 06, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster provides an overview of EPA's research on DIY air cleaners and the use of HVAC filters for reducing wildfire smoke indoors.
Description:
The do-it-yourself (DIY) air cleaner consisting of a box fan and a furnace filter is a widely used low-cost alternative to commercial air cleaners because of its increased accessibility. We evaluated the clean air delivery rate (CADR) of different DIY air cleaner designs for reducing simulated wildfire smoke and identify operating parameters that may impact their performance and use. The simplest formulation of a DIY air cleaner (box fan with taped on minimum effectiveness reporting value – [MERV] 13 furnace filter) had a CADR of 111 ft3/min (CFM). Increasing the number of filters used, increasing the filter thickness, and increasing the filter MERV rating serve to increase the amount of clean air delivered. Using lower rated filters or filters loaded with smoke or dust decreased the CADR. Filtration is the most important method to reduce smoke exposure indoors, picking the right filter is critical to having effective filtration. A filter needs to be right-sized for the HVAC system and should have a high MERV rating to remove fine particles, but with a pressure drop low enough that the HVAC system can handle it. Charcoal filters are not effective for reducing smoke volatile organic compounds in smoke and may off-gas compounds.