So you’ve found yourself a city with bad air pollution – perhaps you’re in Beijing, Bangalore or Bangkok? Or try Delhi, Ulaanbaatar or Shanghai? You’ve heard of air pollution, but what is it, how does it affect our health and what guide should you follow to keep air pollution from cutting years off your life? […]
Category: Filters
Recent Filters Articles:
Do We Need Add-On Car Air Purifiers？
Soon after I started making DIYs, people emailed me asking if we could make an air purifier for their car. My initial reaction was, “Great idea!” On the highways, we’re surrounded by all of that awful pollution. Best to purify that air with a car air purifier. But as a methodical nerd, I wanted to do […]
Tesla’s “Bioweapon Defense Mode” Is as Effective As…A 2010 Mazda?
Tesla rolled out its “bioweapon defense mode” to lots of fanfare and media attention. Tesla went big: “Bioweapon Defense Mode is not a marketing statement, it is real. You can literally survive a military grade bio attack by sitting in your car.” Elon’s telling the truth, but not the whole truth. Tests I’ve done […]
Can I Clean or Wash HEPA Filters? – Supplemental Data
This post contains supplemental data for the post “Can I Clean or Wash HEPA filters?“. It includes detailed information about the testing method, and the original data, open-sourced for all to view. Click here to view the original article Open Data Particle Capture Tests For the particle capture tests, CK used a Met One GT-531 […]
Can You Clean or Wash HEPA Filters?
Can you wash a HEPA filter? If so, how should you wash or clean a HEPA filter? These questions keep cropping up, as they’re just about the only remaining problem for HEPA filters. HEPA filters are almost perfect: they are backed by tons of scientific tests; they’re pretty cheap; they use about as much energy as […]
Can Activated Carbon Remove Formaldehyde?
Can activated carbon remove formaldehyde? In earlier tests, Smart Air found that carbon can reduce VOCs from cigarette smoke. But formaldehyde is a particular concern for many people, so we put it to the test by ordering formaldehyde straight from the factory and testing it against carbon filters. Formaldehyde is a big deal in […]
Is a 30 RMB HEPA Reliable?
After I published directions for how to make your own purifier, people asked me: “Which HEPAs should I use? Is this one trustworthy?” That’s the type of question that makes a nerd like me happy because it means we need to get more data. So I ordered HEPAs from every manufacturer I could find, and I […]
Does Adding a Carbon Layer Reduce Particulate Effectiveness?
I recently published tests showing that carbon actually removes VOCs. But adding that carbon layer raises a question: adding carbon means the fan has to power through yet another layer of resistance. Does that make purifier less effective at removing particulates? Test Method To test this question, I ran 10 room tests with the Cannon and […]
Does Carbon Really Work?
Companies sell activated carbon filters to remove chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene, but does carbon really work? The Smart Air lab put real-world carbon filters to the test. Who Needs Carbon Filters Anyway? I wrote early on that my number one concern in China is particulate pollution. It’s on so many people’s minds that nowadays even […]
HEPA Lifespan: Longevity Test Day 200
One of the biggest questions when I started teaching people how to build DIY purifiers is “how long is the HEPA lifespan?” Rather than just give people a nice-sounding answer, I wanted to see what the data says, so Smart Air co-founder Gus has been dutifully turning on his Original DIY every day in his 12.3m2 […]
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