Affordable Air Purifier for About $38
This project allows you to purify the air in your home without spending an arm and a leg on expensive dedicated air purifiers that require costly and hard to find filter replacements.
You can add a 20" x 20" furnace filter to a 20" x 20" box fan and create an economical air cleaner/purifier.
20” Box Fan $20 (Walmart) + 20” Merv 8 Furnace Filter $7 (Walmart) + Box Fan Filter Grip $11 (Amazon) = $38 Total
We have one in our bedroom so we breathe purified air for 7 or 8 hours a day while we sleep. It reduces dusting and the house furnace filter doesn't have to be changed as often.
The product is called Box Fan Filter Grip and it holds the filter securely to the fan. It works best on a Box Fan that has the electric cord coming out of the bottom.
When selecting a filter, it is best to use a 1” x 20” x 20”. This will give the best results. Filters are manufactured with different levels of filtration. If you are wanting to filter out the most common allergens, purchase a filter with a MERV 8 rating or higher. If you only want to reduce dust in a workshop for instance a lower rating would work.
MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. This rating system was developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioner Engineers. MERV values vary from 1 to 16. The higher the MERV value the more efficient the filter will be in trapping airborne particles.
Filters like these are available online and at many different retailers. Walmart has them for about $7. I buy my filters online by the case with a quantity of 12. Buying this way I can get Merv 8 rated filters for under $6 each including shipping.
Place the filter on the back of the fan with the airflow arrow pointing to the back of the fan. Be sure to learn how to clean the box fan first.
Place one band on the left side and one on the right side approximately 4" from the side of the fan.
On the bottom side of the fan, the Box Fan Filter Grips should be next to the plastic feet of the fan.
Box Fan Filter Grip can be purchased online at Amazon.
Resources for this project:
Comments
Join the conversation
-
I found an air purifier which is super effective in killing corona virus, its name is rensair. for more details about it check, https://topbestairpurifiers.com/rensair-air-purifier-reviews/
-
I use the same idea except I utilize washable MERV 13 tier rated furnace air filters from Filti Technologies:
It's a bit more money but it's also the last air filter I will have to buy; however it's main purpose is to be able to effectively soap, clean, disinfect and sterilize it once a week; to remove any potential BA.4 and/ro BA.5 subvariant coronavirus sub micron particles from the air in both my home and workplace; this makes it very easy and effective to in fact do that very quickly and effectively.
Since I have one box fan both at home and at work I need to purchase four of the 20x20x1 washable air filters in order to be able to keep a clean one on hand to swap out every week while I soap, clean, disinfect and sterilize the washable furnace air filter before returning it to work next week thus completing the cycle.
The blue colored side is the air intake side while the white side with metal grid reinforcement is the exhaust side; spray soapy foaming solution on the blue colored side and let soak in for two minutes and then simply use a garden nozzle spray set on its rain shower setting to rinse the washable air filter by spraying water from the white side thru to the blue side(in opposite direction of air flow arrows); then simply let dry over a couple days and then simply return to service when needed.
This is very highly cost effective since one can not only clean and sterilize these fully washable MERV 13 air filters every week but they will last from five to ten years so long as one keeps them optimally clean by having a replacement washable air filter ready to put in place while the dirty washable air filter is being cleaned, sterilized and then dried to also be returned to service in a week's time.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?