Youtube - Michigan University Medicine - Build yourself an air purifier for $25
You can do it cheaper if you find a 20" box fan (standard size) at a garage sale or thrifting. The filters are the most expensive part, and you can make them last longer by vacuuming them. If you want to do a near identical one to the commercial, it's more expensive, and I've got a parts list.
Example commercial air purifier:XPower 500 CFM Professional 3-Stage HEPA Mini Air Scrubber Purifier (what Home Depot rents out)
The outer filter is the first in the airflow direction (so the fan is blowing at this filter first) Key words are bolded. Brands are just examples and I don't have any personal experience with them.
Outer filter (washable)
- 20X20X1 LIFETIME WASHABLE ELECTROSTATIC FILTER (Cheapest I found was $20 at Lowes)
Middle filter (Vaccuum-able)
- FilterBuy 20x20x1 MERV 13 Pleated AC Furnace Air Filter, (Pack of 4 Filters), 20x20x1 – Platinum ($40, $10 each)
Inner filter (Expiring)
- FilterBuy Allergen Odor Eliminator 20x20x1 MERV 8 Pleated AC Furnace Air Filter with Activated Carbon - Pack of 4-20x20x1 ($43, about $11 each)
- Filtrete 20x20x1 MPR 1200, Allergen Defense Odor Reduction AC Furnace Air Filter, 2-Pack ($25, about $12.50 each)
The "4 stage" version just doubles up the outer filter.
You can also compromise on the outer filter and use those cheapo "glass filters" that you can stick a pencil through. It'd help catch things like hair and dust-bunnies, but not much else. They are at the dollar stores, though.
You can't clean activated carbon to "renew" it. It gets saturated over time. If you buy anything with activated carbon, keep it in a sealed plastic bag with as much air sucked out of it as you can (I just use my mouth while keeping a tiny part of the bag open). This includes things like organic gas mask filters.
If anybody knows of a way to DIY an activated carbon filter, I'd love to hear about it!
February 05, 2019 at 10:51AM
