Box Fan Air Filter Hack

Build an affordable air purifier with a box fan and hepa filter.

Box fan air filter hack.

20 inch box fan. You should do the same if you try this hack. The hack is easy. Apply gasketing to the edges of the air intake part of the fan.

This graph from puget sound clean air agency shows the reduction of black carbon in a 14 x 14 room after turning on a homemade air filter. Air filters should be used in your bedroom or in the. 20 x 20 x 1 merv 13 or fpr 10 filter. We have tested the performance of these filter fans and they dramatically reduce fine particles and black carbon from the air.

And no box fan is engineered to withstand the extra workload of driving air through a dense filter so we can t claim this won t damage the fan s. You want the fan to pull in dirty air and push out clean air. Securely fasten a merv 13 filter to the air intake side of the fan. Supplies you need to make your own.

Fan 20 x 20 box fan any model and manufacturer filters depends on your needs and research findings. There will be a little arrow on the filter showing which way the air should flow. But a quick solution as posted by the university of michigan s medical center is to create your own filter using a box fan and a standard hepa filter both readily available in most hardware stores and. Experts recommend buying what s called a merv 13 or fpr 10 furnace filter and tape it to the back of a box fan.

20 x 20 box fan. Mike senese is the executive editor of make. The trick involves placing a filter in front of a box fan to catch any pollution and smoke particles circulating throughout the house according to a video posted by youtube user thriftstore hacker. Point that in the right direction and then tape onto the front of the box fan filter.

You can tape the filter to the fan. Building the box fan air purifier. Some have wondered whether we should tape it onto the back of the box fan filter. This article is based on the 3m merv 12 20 x 20 pleated filter and the web absorber cut to fit 20 x 25 filter.

These filters sell for about 15 at your local hardware store. 20 by 20 by 1 merv 13 furnace filter. Mine cost 20 at a local home improvement store. See the graph below that shows an example of the filter fan performance.

Start off by unpacking the fan and making sure that it works. Purchase a standard 20 box fan. The air flow arrow on the filter needs to be pointing to the fan.