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DIY Box Fan Air Filter for COVID-19 and Wildfire Smoke
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DIY Box Fan Air Filter for COVID-19 and Wildfire Smoke
The Corsi-Rosenthal Box is a homemade air cleaning system that can reduce indoor exposure to airborne particles that contain the virus that causes COVID-19. It can also reduce the levels of other particles in the air, such as dust or wildfire smoke. These filters are being used in homes and schools, and can be an affordable temporary solution for a variety of agricultural settings, including office spaces and break rooms.* While they are not HEPA air cleaners, recent testing at UC Davis and elsewhere has shown that the box can be more effective than HEPA air cleaners. Get more news about home air filter,you can vist our website!
Materials
The Corsi-Rosenthal Box is made of a simple box fan, which should be oriented upward so that it is blowing air toward the ceiling. The fan is connected to a “box,” which is made of four MERV-13 filters and a cardboard base attached with duct tape.How long can the Corsi-Rosenthal Box be used?
The lifetime depends on how long it is used each day and how dusty the environment is where it is placed. A Corsi-Rosenthal Box used several hours per day will last longer than one running continuously.In many cases, a system operating on low for a portion of a day may last as long as 5 to 6 months. If operated on higher flows and longer durations in a dusty location, the system might only last a month or two.Eric Schildge is terrified to go back to school in a few weeks. An 8th grade English teacher in Newburyport, the fear of in-person learning during a pandemic is familiar to him. He was in the classroom all last year. He remembers being upbeat and positive around the students but secretly scared.
Schildge has channeled his fear into learning everything he can about clean air and ventilation for his classroom. He went back and forth on Twitter with renowned experts. When waiting to pick up his daughter from daycare, he’d pull up studies online.Reading tiny little words on the screen of my phone, trying to just squeeze in a few minutes that I had here and there to try to find out as much information as I could,” Schildge said.
He was looking for something simple and effective — something he could do himself.
It was that same goal that got Don Blair excited about a DIY air purifier, one that’s designed by a renowned air quality expert but can be built by a total amateur. Blair, a citizen scientist in the Boston area, has been spending his spare time pulling together the resources and pro tips teachers like Schildge need to build this homemade air purifier for their classrooms. (GBH News had experts vet Blair’s open-source designs, step-by-step guide and the tips on his website, and they gave it their blessing.)
“It looks like a janky box that has four sides made out of these standard air filters. And the top of the box is a 20-inch box fan,” said Blair, standing next to the mini-fridge-sized air purifier which is held together with colorful duct tape.
“It probably takes about 10 or 20 minutes really to just assemble these things and tape them up,” he said. “And if you do goof up, then no problem, it’ll take you 30 minutes.”