Blast Carbon Filter

£78.00 Price excl. VAT: £65.00

In stock

HEPAs capture particulate pollution (things like PM2.5, PM10 and pollen). Carbon filters get VOCs. These are hazardous gases that normally pass right through a HEPA. As always, we’ve tested these filters, and all the data is available online. This is the replacement carbon filter for the Blast air purifier.  

Description

Blast activated carbon filter

Clean air in your office and hospitals

What is an activated carbon filter?

HEPA filters capture particles like small PM2.5 particles. Activated carbon or charcoal, on the other hand, captures odours and gases like volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs include harmful gases like formaldehyde and benzene, and can cause cancer, throat irritation, dizziness, and other not-fun side effects.


VOCs

Formaldehyde

Paint odour

Smoke

How does activated charcoal work?

The carbon filter mesh consists of many carbon granules that have been treated to become extremely porous. This means that they have huge surface areas. In fact, just one gram of activated charcoal can have between 500 to 1500m² of surface area!

This massive surface area allows the carbon granules to trap many harmful gas molecules, giving you cleaner odourless and chemical-free air.

Blast carbon filter eliminates chemicals and odours

Troubled by odours or smoke smells in your office or hospitals? Get the Blast carbon filter to effectively remove harmful chemicals and odours.

HEPAs are great at capturing particles, but we'll need a carbon filter if we want to capture gas pollutants.

The Blast is simple and easy to use. Its carbon filter screen slots into the HEPA frame and sits between the fan and the HEPA.

Does everyone need a carbon filter?

Not necessarily. Not all homes have dangerous levels of harmful gases or VOCs that would call for a carbon filter. VOCs are more common in homes:

  • with recent home renovation or repainting
  • with smoke or other offensive odours
  • near a source of gas pollution like a factory

If you have inflammation or asthma symptoms, you may also consider using a carbon filter.

Purifier companies have a financial incentive to convince people to buy carbon filters. They make more money if they can scare people into buying carbon. We won’t do that. Check the facts and data first before spending your money.

Does activated carbon really work?

To answer this question, we ran tests with an Industrial Scientific MX6 iBrid gas detector that can detect VOCs and many other harmful gases. In an enclosed porch, we lit three cigarettes (known to emit formaldehyde and benzene), turned on a Cannon fan with a carbon filter, and tracked VOC concentration. We also ran a control test of a fan with no carbon attached.

The blue line shows how the carbon layer effectively reduced VOC concentrations.

Carbon Test: VOC Reduction

Your Purchase Includes1 × Blast Carbon filter
ColourBlack
Dimensions L × W × H (cm)54 × 1 × 114
Weight of Carbon (kg)1.7 (± 0.05)
Warranty30 days

Carbon Filter - FAQs

How do I know when to change my carbon filter?

Carbon filter lifespan is very difficult to predict as every house has differing levels of background VOCs.

As such, we recommend what we call the “smell test” to know when to replace a carbon filter. To run your smell test:

  1. Open your purifier and remove the carbon filter
  2. Hold the middle of the carbon filter up to your nose (within 1-3cm) and smell the carbon filter
  3. If you smell a sour, acidic or chemical smell, then this means your carbon filter is saturated and should be replaced.

Perform the above 3 steps on a regular basis (every 1-2 weeks) to tell when to replace your carbon filter.

What’s the difference between pellet-style and foam-style carbon filters?

What’s important for a carbon filter is
a) the total weight of carbon used (increases the lifespan)
b) the total area of carbon available (increases the CADR)

So foam style carbon filters may well have a higher CADR short term, but a drastically reduced lifespan. Another ‘pro’ is lower air resistance, which allows more air through. But this is at the detriment of lifespan and possibly CADR.

NOTE: above CADR all refer to f-CADR or ‘formaldehyde CADR’. That is, CADR for VOCs not p-CADR (CADR for particulates/PM2.5).

Are carbon filters recyclable?

Theoretically, carbon filters can be reactivated, but reactivation requires a high temperature (600-900ºC), making it impractical.

If you want to utilise or dispose of carbon filters in a more environmentally friendly way, you can first disassemble the filter, then take out the activated carbon particles and dispose of them separately. You can also check if the local recycling plant offers activated carbon recycling.

Activated charcoal is also helpful (if not heavily polluted) for growing flowers and vegetables (it helps to control the soil humidity and pH).

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