Creek fire now largest in State history.

Dave Angelini

Quite a few of my friends and clients are involved in this disaster. I told many of them of what they can do to clean the air in their space.
Home Depot has the US made Lasco box fan and if you tape a MRVE 13 furnace/AC filter on it you can get near hospital quality air.
I told them I would post this here in case they forget. 

Home Depot also has a mobile app you can order and have brought out to your vehicle in their parking lot. Please check stock first.

If you can't get MRVE 13 filter anything will help above MRVE 8 filtration will help. A 21" x 21" is actually the perfect size as it will be suck on by the fan and you do not need to tape it.

Going back there today with a truck full of gensets.

softdown

Costco CO just started carrying 1200 watt inverter gensets for $279. I recognized the name but forgot. It was - tempting. Would have bit but gas don't last anymore. Edit: Generac I think. 

mike95490

softdown said:

Costco CO just started carrying 1200 watt inverter gensets for $279. I recognized the name but forgot. It was - tempting. Would have bit but gas don't last anymore. Edit: Generac I think. 

The new gear is supposed to survive the ethanol.

Dave Angelini

I think, knowing this costco shopper, he is talking about prepping? Could be wrong.

Most of the creek fire homes have wells and 1200 watts would be pretty useless. Probably OK for an RV. without air.

 One guy lost the whole house but his power shed survived. Some I can't speak of because they said not to but it was a a very long afternoon seeing the sad faces.

 Our governor here is more worried about mountain lions eating poisoned rats than all the people getting laid off.
I heard that Disneyland China about 700 miles from Wuhan has been open for quite some time now. Disneyland Anaheim Ca is 7,700 miles from Wuhan and just laid off 48,000 people. Why can't we be as smart as the Chinese in California?

Photowhit

Doubt it'll help with just fine smoke particles, but I use a preair filter for my wood shop. It's washable and triples the life of my fine particle filter!

Something like this;


https://www.homedepot.com/p/True-Blue-24-in-x-36-in-x-1-in-Budget-FRP-2-Washable-Filter-HD0124361/202195941

softdown

I think a carbon filter would be effective with smoke. That was still the best until fairly recently. But I do not recall square carbon filters at hardware stores. Amazon probably has something.

Mechanical filters won't stop much smoke.

Must be horrible in California. So much smoke that Colorado is often smoky - though we have had a couple significant fires of our own. 2020 has just been horrific.

softdown

This should work: https://www.amazon.com/Breathe-Naturally-Universal-Activated-Purifiers/dp/B07YMLNR46/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=CYMICFSFDAYL&dchild=1&keywords=carbon+air+filter+sheet&qid=1601741526&sprefix=carbon+air+filter,aps,301&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzM04zWVdONzhPQUc3JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTIwMzc0MlQ0UlhWOUtTMFpOMSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjY1Njc2MUVUMlo2UEJGWEdaViZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

softdown

This one appears a better value: https://www.amazon.com/Pureburg-Purifiers-Accessories-Replacement-Replenishment/dp/B07PYDT9KR/ref=sr_1_3?crid=CYMICFSFDAYL&dchild=1&keywords=carbon+air+filter+sheet&qid=1601741604&sprefix=carbon+air+filter,aps,301&sr=8-3

You can order 2 for $17.

Dave Angelini

The MRVE 13  in my first post has been used successfully for 20 years for wildfire smoke. You do have to replace the filter when it changes color. No time to read your links. Got to go.

• Hospital Grade. Attracts and captures airborne particles or allergens less than one micron in size such as pollen, fine dust, pet dander. Also captures bacteria, viruses carrying particles, mold spores and smoke.
• Ideal for standard and residential commercial use
• Designed to last 90 days. Replace regularly for optimum performance.

softdown

Carbon adsorbs rather than absorb. It can not be cleaned - only replaced. I'd probably order some for prepping but Cali residents have an urgent need right now.

I'm "chalk full" of chainsaw wood particulate matter right now. Wondering about the lungs of loggers - though wood dust isn't as bad as many others. It is still dust and dust is bad a rule. We can safely handle a "certain amount".

softdown

I found an Amazon listing with Qty 4 for $20 with more looking. Too bad Dave is obviously overwhelmed. Like a firefighter charging off - without the perfect supplies perhaps. We all know how that feels.

Marc Kurth

Dave, you are on the money. I used to design ventilation systems for cleanrooms, indoor shooting ranges, and negative pressure hazmat labs. A modern consumer-grade MERV 13 will trap 90% of particles in the 1-3 micron range. Forest fire smoke tends to be 2.5 to 3 microns, so a MERV 13 is a good, readily available choice.

Higher efficiency mechanical filters (MERV 17+) will trap 0.3 Micron particles at 99.99% efficiency - including viruses.

The key is a decent air change rate along with particulate efficiency. If the area is large, use two fan/filter kits! I am sure that you already know it, but the particulates in wood smoke at 2.5 to 3 Microns are the right size to have the tendency to go deep into our lungs and take up residence.

A prefilter will indeed dramatically help the useful life of the high-efficiency filter as Photowhit said. 

Be careful out there, man!

Marc

softdown

Still - you are trapping the particulates in smoke with a mechanical filter - which is a great idea. One needs chemical filtration to adsorb the chemicals in smoke. Carbon does that, paper does not. 
Mechanical filtration
Chemical filtration
Biological filtration
Three different things - filtration has been my business for 27 years.

When gases are used the troops have defended themselves with chemical filtration for well over a century - using carbon. Though I suspect our troops may use something far more expensive now. Paper is useless against gas. 

Though it is certainly possible to build filters that do both. The changing colors would indicate they may do that. 

softdown

Dave Angelini said:

The MRVE 13  in my first post has been used successfully for 20 years for wildfire smoke. You do have to replace the filter when it changes color. No time to read your links. Got to go.

• Hospital Grade. Attracts and captures airborne particles or allergens less than one micron in size such as pollen, fine dust, pet dander. Also captures bacteria, viruses carrying particles, mold spores and smoke.
• Ideal for standard and residential commercial use
• Designed to last 90 days. Replace regularly for optimum performance.

I missed this post somehow. Perhaps it was posted at the same time - or I just flat missed it. 

Dave Angelini

People miss things all of the time. I just wanted to keep "my" post about fire smoke and for people dealing with it. You can always start your own post. 

Thanks Marc !  Fine here in the cocoon.  N95 and respirator in the Truck. Thank God for the mini-split!     Hey it is Sunday !
 Heading out to El Cap in an hour. The yellow circle below is Mariposa Cal Fire airport. The wind is east, thanks and rain next week,
they say....