The air quality outside right now is absolutely terrible because of nearby forest fires. But I found a good solution that cleans the air inside. See this and this. Inspired by Rainbow air cleaning systems.
The only thing I had to buy was the pvc, elbows, and cap, so it was pretty cheap and came out to $16. The blanket around the shop vac is for sound insulation, which helps somewhat. There is a fan blowing air in from the other room at the floor and an air purifier in the back to blow air up and back. That air filter doesn't really do anything with the smoke, only using it for air circulation. I had to tape up some holes in the pipe because all the air was coming out in the beginning of the tube because that was the path of least resistance which made it not filter as well and caused the water to splash too much.
It's pretty simple, but works very well. The air quality in the house feels better than it normally is when there is no fires outside. And its only been running for about 1.5 hrs now. The only potential issue I foresee is the air becoming too humid, but a window air conditioner can easily be turned into a dehumidifier. I'll add some pictures of that if I set it up in the next few days.
A few points on safety: It's important to make sure that the blanket doesn't smother the fan cooling on the top of the shop vac or the suction air intake so I put a small end table over it to prevent this from happening. The blanket doesn't come closer than 4 inches to either of these and fresh air is being blown in. Also, since shop vacs aren't designed to be constantly running, I only have it running while I'm home and only as needed. If there's an issue, I'd be able to attend to it.
September 13, 2020 at 08:47PM
