EEVblog

[@flymypg]

I have chronic asthma, and in an attempt to reduce the meds I was taking I "HEPA-fied" my home. You can even get HEPA-like after-market cabin filter cartridges for recent cars! Felt great indoors and in my car, but my life got far worse outdoors: My meds became LESS effective. Turns out it is important to take them continuously, with intermittent use greatly decreasing their power. In the end, only the HEPA filter in my home lab was really doing anything useful for me. I gave my other HEPA filters to a friend whose parent had COPD, who couldn't get out much, so they really helped. Further research indicated home HEPA filters are not good for otherwise healthy kids: An over-sterile environment can reduce the effectiveness of their immature immune systems, making the bugs they do catch far worse. However, wherever nasty airborne contaminants are present, especially in workplaces, HEPA filters truly earn their pay.

[@hansaya]

Humidity in the air helps to keep the dust down as well. Good humidifier lot cheaper than a good HEPA filter. However this only applies if you live in a dryer climate.

[@Maaniic]

@David M there is a sweet spot for that. Where I live the winther can go as low as below 10% so humidifying it back up to 45 reduces the risk of bacteria and stuff. Dust settles on the floor instead of flying in the dry air.

[@BitZorg]

@A Gentleman I would say that the last sentence "However, wherever nasty airborne contaminants are present, especially in workplaces, HEPA filters truly earn their pay." totally covered environments with nasty stuff like diesel particles

[@chrisstevens2]

So this is where the magic smoke disappears off to!

[@lordelectron6591]

Only if you have one

[@MrJef06]

Right, and I suspect the people who recycle the filters do extract that magic smoke and use it to produce new electronic components ;-)

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

@@MrJef06 actually they sell it to IBM. To put it in there Magic Smoke refill kit. See first image of this article. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_smoke?wprov=sfla1

[@aususer]

Fun trick: next time you get activated carbon! Put it in a glass of red wine and it'll filter out the red wine colour. You have a clear liquid that smells and tastes like wine ;)

[@Breadbored.]

Put it in the wine or filter the wine through it?

[@Lagggerengineering]

Dam, I need to try that XD

[@kamiko-i5g]

Good idea if someone prefer white wine

[@Drew-Dastardly]

Better yet - ferment your own 20% ABV wash using sugar and turbo yeast, distill it to high purity using a fractionating column still, and finally filter it through activated charcoal. This is perfectly legal in any country in the world, providing that country is New Zealand. Anywhere else, well keep it on the down low and don't tell...

[@rkan2]

@@Drew-Dastardly Doing moonshine and distilling even up to 100% is nowadays and only recently made legal, even in a land that once had prohibition laws... :P Still can't grow pot though... hmm

[@digitalradiohacker]

HEPA = High Efficiency Particulate ARRESTOR I used to design asbestos disposal gear, and H14 is what we were legally mandated to use. H14 is pretty schmick for a lab (from a particulate perspective). That fan is not the best design for a high volume air mover working through a filter. Centrifugal fans have a much higher static air pressure which allows them to continue shifting air, even through a partially blocked filter. The unit claims a maximum of 700 odd CMH - I strongly doubt the ability of that fan to move that kind of air through a genuine H14. If you want to measure the airflow, the following is accepted standard in UK asbestos works: ~Create a tunnel at the unit output which is the same width as the unit output, and at least as long as the width. This helps to let the air "straighten out" so that it isn't tumbling so much. ~Divide the front of the tunnel into 9 regions. ~Use an anemometer to read the airflow in the 9 regions. ~Add the readings up and divide by 9 = Average airflow through the machine. Lots of further interesting / boring reading: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg247.htm

[@yourcurtainsareugly]

HEPA High Efficiency Particulate Air. Also see: Filter, High Efficiency Particulate Air. www.hepa.com/glossary

[@artifactingreality]

innit. this machine is crap. carbon filter built into the hepa filter. amateur hour.

[@digitalradiohacker]

@@yourcurtainsareugly That is a modern and unnecessary change in nomenclature to keep document writers and training providers in business. Similar changes in wording are regularly applied in various electrical regulations because physics don't change regularly enough for training providers to claim that those who are already trained are now behind the curve. Also, from what I can make out, it is also an Americanism. MMI vs HMI. Originally, we had Man Machine Interfaces. Everyone knew about it, and it could be safely reduced to MMI with everyone knowing where they were. Later, some herbert decided it would be a good idea to "swap shit out", probably on the basis of misogyny. This left us with HMI. I use MMI at every opportunity in the hope it will trigger the largest possible number of brand new, hard-left uni graduates. Mostly, it is just potaters potatoes, but it's a good source of trolling material nevertheless.

[@Ender_Wiggin]

@@yourcurtainsareugly He is right, "HEPA is an acronym for high-efficiency particulate air filter. Its original name was high-efficiency particulate arrestor, titled so by the US government when they were developing the filter during the manufacture of the original atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project)2." Not first party but will do: cleanair.camfil.us/2017/07/10/heck-hepa-filters-care/

[@Ender_Wiggin]

@@digitalradiohacker Lol you gave me a good laugh. You sound like one hell of a hand full. Cheers

[@SantaClaw]

I use my lungs to filter the air in my room.

[@artifactingreality]

I use my lungs to filter the air in my bong

[@isenhertor]

Am more sophisticated. I use a cigarette filter before i use my lungs

[@georgelareese1086]

Let fart in your room.Then you will need a lot of filters.

[@gglovato]

Me too

[@lordelectron6591]

@@georgelareese1086 And light a lighter and boom

[@PapaWheelie1]

In 9th grade Electronincs Class we all made Tesla Coils (ozone generators) and ran them in class. It smelled like a thunderstorm in the class all day every day. We all got the flu and colds that semester. I remember the entire class being sick at once. It was still fun.

[@xenonram]

That doesn't make sense. O3 kills bacteria and viruses.

[@fh5678]

A nice vintage 1992 desktop tower you've got there! Even one of the elusive small form factor modells.

[@tyhuffman5447]

never replace a filter based on the calendar, always replace a filter based on performance.

[@DrakkarCalethiel]

Exactly, they don't go bad.

[@Petertronic]

yes, same with your razor blades/cutters

[@MrJef06]

Sure, but how do you measure performance in this case? The sensors are only on the intake :(

[@GRBtutorials]

That's difficult to measure, though...

[@jasexavier]

@@MrJef06 A good quality filter won't start bypassing dirty air, rather it will obstruct more and more airflow, so simply feeling how much air is coming out is a good test.

[@allthegearnoidea6752]

I don’t normally follow KZbin recommendations for the obvious reason. I suffer from asthma and the soldering fumes really don’t help. So it was useful to get a recommendation. I bought one today. Thank you Dave.

[@mr_gerber]

Oh, activated carbon is aDsorbing, not aBsorbing.

[@EEVblog]

Yes, quite right.

[@kamiko-i5g]

What is the difference?

[@The101damnations]

@@kamiko-i5g Adsorption happens only at the surface, absorption happens throughout the bulk of the material. That's why activated charcoal is a fine powder, to maximize adsorption.

[@twobtwobtwo]

You can get charcoal filters made for range hoods for under $13 for a four-pack.

[@GRBtutorials]

@@The101damnations Yeah, in fact activated carbon is just carbon with a very large surface area.

[@russgibson7376]

I got my blue air 600 after I learned that they were used by the hospitals after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I have had it for more than a decade, and am very happy with it. I will get an electrostatic eventually, but as you mention, they aren't cheap.

[@russ1669]

Thanks Dave. I've had a bluair for 4 years. Really good product as you say. I found that vacuuming the filters outdoors gives them another lease of life if you haven't hammered the carbon. They even clear air of cigarette smoke.

[@ats89117]

I like the fact that it tells you when you smell bad...

[@1967CougarXR7]

I've been using hepa filters in the house for years. They also help keep the dust and pet smell down. I pull out my older ones a few weeks ago and have 7 of them running in the home now. With another on coming online as soon as I get new filters for it.

[@vascotech88]

Hi Dave, maybe you could get some Xiaomi Air Purifier and make a review of it, at least here in Poland (and Europe) they seem to be super popular :)

Yeah finding decent xiomie reviews in English is hard. I'm currently looking at Xiaomi 3H, seems like it has H13 HEPA on it.

[@micaslarsen]

@ I have the Xiaomi 3H air purifier. It's a pretty decent device with air quality meter, oled display, H13 HEPA filter included. Google home intergration also works flawlessly.

[@Daniel-hd7gq]

@@micaslarsen is an activated carbon filter available for it?

[@x65535x]

Just ordered 2 of the IQAir HealthPro Plus. I was going to go for the BlueAir 605 but wasn't fond of the design having dusty intake air running through the fan and most of the chassis before being filtered. There should be a filter at the intake even if it's not more than a prefilter. Great info, thanks as usual Dave.

[@Dirty_Bear22]

x65535x owing both units I agree the iq air is a better choice. The iq air has a pre filter, separate gas absorption filter, lower yearly filter cost, filters that are capable of 0.003 microns vs 0.1 on the BlueAir, and a much better full system air seal.

[@x65535x]

@@Dirty_Bear22 That was my feeling too about the seals. I also run humidifiers for my plants in the same rooms I have the IQAir units in. I've noticed the humidifiers tend to cause airborne particles to coalesce with the water vapor (ultrasonic based humidifiers) and the IQAir units pull all of that out of the air, it seems like most of the large particles get caught in the prefilter and the rest is captured by the molecular absorbent media and the final HEPA stage. They really do make a difference. I'm also pleased that they don't have any ion generation inside, I suspect the only way even high end ionic filtration passes CARB testing for ozone generation are due to the carbon filter absorbing the ozone, there is also of course other products like Nitrogen Oxides which the carbon stage would filter out until it is no longer active.

[@SalvagedCircuitry]

Did you get a chance to see who manufacturers the fan? Thanks.

[@RobertSzasz]

.3 micron is usually used as a standard because most filters have the hardest time capturing them. Smaller is easier, larger is easier.

[@Krejstrup]

This was new to me. Do you know why it is that that?

[@actiniumanarchy9237]

Hahaha just cleaned my heapa filter after 3 years 😅 having asthma and being allergic to cats (while living with 2 of them) HEPA airfilters save my sanity, giving me a safe place to live comfortably LOL

[@erikjgreen]

Dave - if you look at the specs for the N95 mask standard, they're rated against .3 micron particles because that's the most difficult size to filter for various weird reasons. In fact, those masks and similar filters typically filter more particles both larger *and* smaller than 0.3 micron, which is another reason they're useful against viruses smaller than 0.3. They also use electrostatic attraction for specific sizes, because they're designed to gain an electrical charge statically from the air flowing through them.

[@JohnSmith-ws7fq]

+rep

[@pete3897]

I heard it once and let it go, then heard it again and couldn't help but comment! Dave, despite them indeed being chemicals, the C in VOC stands for "compounds" :)

[@xenonram]

Neat

[@ChurchOfTheHolyMho]

20x20 Lasko box fan ($18-$30) + 20x20 HVAC 3M Filtrete MERV 11 (perf 1200) allergen filter w/carbon ($15) + NiteIze CamJam (w/ paracord) (~$8?) :P (one step above duct tape - lol) Super-portable, multi-purpose, inexpensive filter media, easy to use. There are several KZbin videos suggesting (/testing) this config. Its not HEPA, but it seems to get out whatever allergen usually bothers me and the carbon does a great job of killing odors. I personally have enjoyed this more than I expected.

[@m4d3ng]

Doesn't activated carbon start releasing what it has captured after a while hence why you need to replace it after the recommended time period?

[@DrAllan1]

I work in the fitler industy as a test technician, I would be interested to see how much bypass this has, just as it looks like the fitlers are a press fit without any gaskets and air is inheriently lazy!

[@Dirty_Bear22]

DrAllan1 I’m guessing 10-20 percent. The only home unit with zero air leakage I know of are Iq air health pro.

[@Tommyinoz1971]

I'm going to have to get one of these for the toilet. This reduce the number of times the house needs to be evacuated for an hour.

[@AndrewSkow1]

Thank you! I was just starting my research; I want an air purifier before wildfire season starts up again here in California.

[@npiper]

I don't know which is the more insane normalization, 4:59 Dave's "I expect 5 minuets of direct sunlight to give me a blistering sunburn" or your "Everything is on fire season". Neither of these are normal, both of these are huge problems. Dave I love ya man but here in the states not even the dedicated outdoors laborers have the level of UV damage you have on your arms.

[@JustinDrentlaw]

Are you in NorCal or SoCal? I'm out here in Yucaipa (basically the border of San Bernardino County and Riverside County). We had some real bad fires back in October in the Calimesa area that got fairly close to where I live, it was a bit scary! The mobile home park that burnt down was the very same one where I was looking to buy a mobile home, I'm glad I didn't get one now. Article describing the event below: laist.com/2019/10/10/calimesa-sandalwood-fire-evacuations-latest.php

[@BretFrohwein]

The BlueAir 403 has gotten me through the fires. but jeeze the filters are so pricy.

[@Daniel-hd7gq]

@@BretFrohwein yeah.. that's the problem with my 405.

[@prjndigo]

Exhaust first, filter the incoming air. If you want to put a scrubber tower on the exhaust, do so.

[@2soldierman2]

Side panel removal. I have a non sensor model the of same size. To remove the sides to vacuum/clean. There are two screws on each side panel at the top in the filter area. Remove these and the panels will slide up about 13mm and unlatch from hooked tabs on the bottom. You may need to lightly bump the panels upward with a light rubber mallet or your palm. While the outside painted panels have been de-burred, the inside galvanized panels are not. If you knock about inside with a brush to loosen dust you'll end up with some scraped knuckles.

[@radry100]

The ozone such air purifiers generate is tiny and ozone (o3) quickly falls apart and becomes oxygene (o2) in room air. Every laser printer produces more ozone than this and you still have them in your office.

[@xenonram]

A laser printer doesn't run 24x7. It runs for a few seconds/minutes a day. That's why you don't smell ozone from a laser printer, but you do from ozone generators. I am with you in saying (implying) that the neg ion generator in the air filter is no big deal. People seem to confuse neg ion generators (ionizer) with ozone generators, with the former producing less ozone than the latter, and laser printers producing less than the ozone generator; since they are not continually running. From what I can tell, modern laser printers produce about the same amount of ozone as neg ion generators while running; around 100 mg/hr. Compared to the 1000-5000 mg/hr that ozone generators produce. (Naturally these numbers did vary drastically, depending on the model and how/who is testing, but those are averages of what I found.) So, since a laser printer runs about 0.1% of the time (Assuming a very high average run time of 90 seconds per day, for the laser printer, in a business like Dave's), it is producing a negligible amount of ozone. Like 2.5 mg/day.

[@ats89117]

Carbon doesn't absorb, it adsorbs, i.e. things stick to the outer surface of the carbon...

[@goognamgoognw6637]

just petty pointless anal semantic digress.

[@twocvbloke]

While looking on google for specs of H11 (I have some Kirby HEPA rated H11 bags for my Kirby vacuums), I found one site selling some room filter which proclaimed that H11 was "better" than H13/14, using the fine vs. coarse tea strainer principle, because apparently using two filters stacked ontop of each other "works better", except it's still only H11, which is not H13/14, had a good laugh at that one!!! Think they had mistaken filtration for airflow, which apparently they have issues with on both... :P

[@md5451]

I have used those same filters, along with a hardware store cupboard, three large computer fans, and an arduino with similar sensors on a project at home. The dust sensor looks like the Sharp model available commonly for cheap. You can also get much better particulate sensors like the Plantower PMS7003 commonly now too.

[@yeso8205]

Replace with IQ air health pro

[@davepusey]

How good are these at preventing the buildup of dust?

[@AndyMcBlane]

Hi Dave, the front should slide up to come off. Taken a few of these apart to replace the bearings if you ever have any Q's

[@davenz000]

Need some of those in the office for when someone decides to microwave fish for lunch.

[@ITTom]

I ve got Sharp air filter. How to check if ionizer is still working. I heard that this solution has its limited lifetime.

[@RobertHancock1]

Figaro is known for making those kind of gas sensors. Their big thing seems to be making the sensors for carbon monoxide alarms.

[@FoxMccloud42]

I'm happy with my small Honeywell HAP-16200E for my small room. Cost me around 60€ two jears ago and keeps the pollen away (and my nose free).

[@EricPenn1147]

was hoping you would touch on these that have UV sterilizers... Always wondered how fast the air can move through these and actually kill stuff.

[@PsiQ]

Now if you'd like to elaborate on how a single, not droplet or dust bound virus could get airborne and fly around in your lab ? I've worked in building clean rooms for waver factoring with particle counters and what you learn is you only really reduce the count if you also only allow special materials. But please dont feed the fear that you need to have this against corona or this will protect you if there is a sick person in the room. Dont get me wrong, a good soldering station or lab exhaust is great, but the best is sucking it in and blowing it outdoors. edit: dont want to be too negative here so a follow up: take a look at optimizing air flow (perhaps you find a simulation) for using in OR, it's quite tricky to get everything to move from clean air "top" over moving people with turbulence, without causing negative cooling symptoms to drop anything in the air straight to the ground instead of an openedpatient on the table. the heatload from the movable lights already gets your nicely planned airstream completela offset.

[@X-OR_]

That HEPA Filter case has a beautifully design..... Hell, that would make a cool computer case !

[@AlbertLorincz]

This is a nice looking filter. A simple alternative that I use near my 3D printers is a 3M FAP-C01-F1 (~$50 US) combine it with a FAPF-F1-H (~$20 US) and its lists 0.3 microns and 99.97% airborne particles.

[@hypercube33]

From what I've read these are almost better. They do lack carbon filtering, and Ion generation but do charge the filters through friction. Their design is somewhat stupid though, sucking in air from the floor if thats where you keep them (I have the bigger unit)

[@vhfgamer]

I run an Amaircare 4000, and it works great! About 20 pounds of activated carbon inside for the VOC and the hepa filter for everything else. It can change the air in a 3000 square foot area 6 times an hour. It's freaking wicked! ... And I paid 6 bucks for it at a thrift shop.

[@Daniel-hd7gq]

What does the replacement filter cost?

[@vhfgamer]

@@Daniel-hd7gq About 290 US dollars.

[@rosetta7862]

15:50 It's very easy to teardown and to get into it. You can see (14:09) at the top inner side of the machine, there are screws ~5 cm above each side filter. Unscrew the total 4 of them, then simply lift up the giant white-colored shell on each side, then you have access to the inside of the machine and maybe give a clean to it. I have a 550E used in my home and it has a very similar design with your model. Fun fact: the giant fan is actually made in Germany rather than China. Caution: Be very careful with the ionizing devices inside. It has small brushes at the end of it and the brushes are actually very fragile.

[@angelvazquez2112]

Will this filter get rid of cigar smoke and smell

[@t.w.3]

Those BlueAir cleaners are nice. Too bad the filters are very expensive. Here locally you no longer get the BlueAirs as buying two sets of filters usually cost more than the machine itself. Inkjet printer story comes to mind.... Would be nice if some company made a machine that used moss and h2o for filter medium to clean the air like H13 Filtration..

[@GreenAppelPie]

Dayum that’s a beauty, I think I just found my Birthday gift.

[@michelfeinstein]

You don't need 0.1um filters to filter Coronavirus, they travel with body fluids, saliva, mucus, and those fluids particles are much bigger than that. That's why doctors use N95 masks, which blocks 95% of 0.3um particles and they are just fine.

[@cannesahs]

No gaskets? Part of air can bypass filters?

[@RadoKob]

I do not see any sealing that blocks air to go around the filter and not through the filter. Is the top filter just placed inside and that´s it?

[@Dirty_Bear22]

Rado Kobularcik yeah. The air seal on blueAir uninstall never was the best.

[@inspectahfragile9507]

Room air filters are good BUT the 2 first options should always be vacuum cleaning and filtered fresh air intake.

[@electronic7979]

Helpful video 👍

[@oppressorable]

My opinion is that good Hepa filter doesn't have cardboard holder. The reason is that carboard is soft and is unlikely to be able to stay true from factory to the installation in the machine. The particles filtered are minuscules and the filter will get clogged with use. Once clogged, the air will have more difficulty passing through and will have a tendency to take the path of least resistance which could be a leak around because there is a play in the carboard holder which didn't stay true from factory. Also, does that unit have seals around those Hepa filter? If it's just pushed against a holder, that's not good enough for ultra fine particles. The filter may be Hepa but you are not getting a Hepa grade filtration with all those leaks. Futher more, how much activated carbon that unit have in it's carbon cartridges? A good units will have upward of five pounds of carbon. Ideally even above ten pounds. That may be a good air purifier but my personal opinion is that it's not among the best. IQAir, Austin air, Airpura are much better units.

[@SelfrotDnBFreak]

Love the filters where I work. Don't know if they're HEPA filters, but they do look like them. They're 2meters wide, 1m tall and >1m deep. They last a while =)

[@TheOnlyPsycho]

BTW, this is stated in their website, on the higher end models *Blueair air purifiers have not been tested against Coronavirus, and Blueair does not claim to capture, remove, or kill 2019-nCoV

[@Daniel-hd7gq]

Yeah because you won't be able to test. It's just nothing that is airborne so it's irrelevant.

[@paco3447]

The ozone issue reminds me those typical 80s audiophile plasma tweeter drivers.

[@TheCrazyStudent]

11:45 - I’ve heard Dave mention this guy Polly quite a lot recently. Apparently, Dave wants Polly to put the kettle on. When Dave says “Polly! Put the kettle on!”, then whom is he talking to exactly? This Polly guy, is he there in the lab together with Dave? And where should Polly put the kettle exactly?

[@GamingWithNikolas]

I hoved this comment, it made my day.

[@markg735]

Figaro Engineering are one of the main manufacturers of gas detectors. Didn't realize they are Japanese!

[@frollard]

I always compare the negative feedback loop of recirculating an ineffective % population of the air in a given time through any exchanger - filter, exhaust, etc - as the same as homeopathy. You can keep cutting it, but if you are mixing clean with dirty you're just mixing the clean back into the soup. This is where proper ducted systems really come into their own where there is a centralized collection point but distributed outputs - causing a net flow through the room that goes faster than the diffusion ratio of the particulate's ability to mix upstream.

[@gunnars.2902]

In my opinion bacteria usually are larger: 2 - 3 micrometer (f.e. bacillus subtilis) instead of 0.5 micrometer. 2:14

[@xenonram]

It's not a matter of opinion. Bacteria vary in size by 2-3 orders of magnitude. They can range anywhere from sub micron to the visible range. (Like _T. namibiensis,_ which can be almost 1 mm in size.) It is an infographic. It can't represent every possible bacteria.

[@MandrakeFernflower]

@@xenonram they most likely used rickettsia as the bacterium as it's around 600 nm in size

[@matsv201]

Should make a man portable filter with this kind of kasets in it.. .. well maybe a bit smaler. To force air into the mask of healthcare workers so they don´t have to use the one time use filters.. And also would be easier for them to work

[@kanguruster]

A terrific little company, just up the road from you Dave in Tuggerah, InovaAir make H13 HEPA with activated carbon air purifiers. With our dollar taking a dive, these locals will be making top-quality filtration for Aussies way cheaper than their OS competitors. I got an H8 model from them to survive the bushfire smoke after our last-but-one disaster and it works exceptionally well, even though it's only the baby air purifier.

[@nigeljohnson9820]

Are fans better pushing or pulling? In principle pulling might be better for the fan because it will sit in a flow of clean air. It has been suggested that copper is a good coating for air filters: copper having anti bacterial and virus properties, destroying them on contact. I assume that metals in the filter would also discharge ionised dust, attracting it. They might also act as a catalyst to break down any ozone. The problem with all such air filters is the cost of filter replacement. It must be possible to engineer them to be self cleaning or washable. During the 1970s, there was a fad for small home air filters. These used a combination of glass wool, activated carbon and carbon foam filters. They quickly fell out of favour, due to the high cost of replacement filter cartridges, the more expensive of which boasted of using a silver anti bacterial coating on the filter material.

[@Graham_Wideman]

If you're trying to certify the quality of the output air, you don't want anything complicated, like a fan, downstream of the filter, I would think.

[@CliveChamberlain946]

Cardboard boxy filters don't seal well. I have 3 Austin Air HealthMate 400 units with soft rubber seals. They say 'medical grade' down to 0.3 microns, last for 5-years, weigh 18 pounds each, with a replacement cost at $250

[@digitalradiohacker]

That sounds more like it. Doing a DOP test on the kind of gear you're talking about reveals alarming leaks despite the price and efforts of the manufacturer to prevent leaks. A silly cardboard box slotted into rails is never going to seal, no matter what it is filled with.

[@JohnSmith-ws7fq]

2:12 "Mechanical filters can only do down to about 0.3 micron at best" - Sorry Dave, but think you're well out there. 0.3um is the "most-penetrative" particle size for a HEPA filter. Diffusion typically traps particles smaller than this, and impaction/interception bigger. www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-136/pdfs/2003-136.pdf?id=10.26616/NIOSHPUB2003136 - p8-12

[@AstralS7orm]

Well. Ozone is bad for you, but it's also bad for bacteria and viruses. Used for disinfection. You know, you can ventilate it out. :) But it should be possible to disable.

[@gearstil]

The air passes through the blades, and it gets filtered to the outlet. In time, the motor and blades compartiment could get covered with dust. A better design would be to filter the air before the blades.

[@xponen]

a blowing fan is easier to use because you put filters around it and it will blow air out of all of it equally, unlike a sucking fan which suck air from the nearest inlet which skip the filter so you have to make the enclosure air tight.

[@nielsrobben7205]

i have an Sharp UA-HD60E-L was wondering if you can say its a good one, or maybe you can advice a better product? reason i got it since it also adds humidity into the air, to avoid having dried up air ways and stuff during sleep

[@breestandard1318]

Any experience or knowledge of the Alen "Pure Air for Life" brand of air purifiers?

[@Petertronic]

Very interesting and informative! Come on Blueair, send one to FranLab for her to review. Edit : Forget that, Fran seems to have two of them now. Send me one instead, I've got 10k subs 😅

[@lr5037]

Producing ozone for dezinfection is not bad. I know that it is not good for us to breathe, but saying that air purifier that produces ozone is bad and one that is not producing it is good is not correct. I would say that the one that releses it into the air while you are in the room is not good. But if it has the function to produce the ozone to clean the air while let's say you are at home might be good idea.

[@STONEDay]

Can-Filters make great VOC filters. 30 years in the business.

[@Sm0kingp0wer9]

I love watching his videos, Great job on your break down!

[@m4dizzle]

Have you seen the Airocide? I have one and very happy with it, would be interesting to get your opinion! It's not a filter so much as a killer of tiny things

[@Dirty_Bear22]

MarkFromSales I believe they are overpriced gimmicks. High price, low air flow, and only works on biological pollution. A comparable price hepa/gas absorption mix will outclass any free radical/catalytic conversation based air purifier.

[@gglovato]

My house and office have more openings than a stadium with lot of diesel traffic near, using this would be like turning it on outdoors

[@muctop17]

I allways use those bicycle drivers, to cleanup the air behind my diesel SUV!

[@aaaaaaaaaassssssssdf]

meanwhile i'm still using an old box fan with a filter taped to the outlet... might not filter the smallest but it really gets filthy after running it for a couple months

[@ReachOutToWilliam]

Which probably improves it filtering capability.

[@SharpblueCreative]

Would it make a good lighting rod ?

[@iamdarkyoshi]

I've got a furnace filter taped to the back of a box fan with a modded ionic pro in front of it Given the whole lot cost 20$, it can't be worse than not using anything

[@PapaWheelie1]

I did the same thing back in the 90’s and forgot that it was behind the couch - after about a year I checked it and it looked like a Wookiee with all the hair and dust

[@orionsmith7668]

Preventing covid, doubtful. Droplets will be all over the lab before reaching that guy. Sensors where what I wanted to see and called it. Laser/optical for particulates and VOC for "smell". Nice unit and I doubt your filters are anywhere close to EOL. Measuring dP @ design flow will be something you can track back to a datasheet.

[@xenonram]

Anything that reduces the amount of aerosols containing the virus will be helpful in preventing disease. Even if you had a little tiny HEPA filter in a warehouse, that only circulates the air every month, will reduce transmission by some degree. There were some idiots that were saying that face masks don't don't any good against SARS-CoV-2. Even the bottom of the line surgical masks that loop around your ears, will prevent transmitting to some degree; even if it reduces it by 1%. Diseases are not transmitted instantly by breathing in air with aerosols that contain the virus. (You most likely won't contact the virus by breathing in an single aerosol particle with a single virus particle in it.) There is more to contraction than just breathing the air that an infected person has expelled. (Both biochemical and statistical reasons.) It's like putting an open container of gasoline in a garage. It's highly unlikely that the stochiometry will be just right for an electrical contactor to ignite it. The filter will do a great deal towards reducing the transmission of viral pathogens.

[@rackbites]

The wifi and app on the later 680i BlueAir model only works with old wifi protocols that no one who is sane would use anymore. Shame as knowing the pollution levels is useful, I buy the meters of eBay and scatter them around the house . The filters on the the BlueAir model are really expensive like $150-$200 each (times that by three) as they are combined hepa & dust and need changing every 6 months ... I prefer the E20 Inovaair's (ozzy made too) they filter before the air hits the fan, so the fan doesn't get dusty and they hepa filters last way longer - like years as the dust filter can be changed every 6 months for $30. I have no affiliation to Inovaair ... theirs is claimed to be certified H13 ... but they also claim to have been lab tested down to 0.003 microns @ 100% ... which is a weird / bold claim to make & advertise. "Certified 99.97% minimum efficiency at 0.3 microns (tested down to 0.003 microns @ 100% efficiency)*". It has no electrostatic that I know of. inovaairpurifiers.com.au/products/airclean-e20-plus The Inovaair's charcol / hepa filters are REALLY heavy like 25 kg, you have to remove them for shipping or they will damage the unit. Inovaair are endorsed by Asthma society and also make medical / industrial grade ones for hospitals and the like. I got my entire extended family onto them during the recent bushfire season.

[@rackbites]

smartairfilters.com/en/blog/what-is-pm0-3-why-important/

[@volvo09]

Someone has to ask.... If you let one rip next to it, can it smell it?

[@volvo09]

@A Gentleman hahahaha, nice

[@Smidge204]

I'm kind of surprised it pushes air through the filters... typically they pull through, so the pressure difference helps to keep the filters seated. Otherwise the filters get pushed away and air can leak around them instead of going through them.

[@EEVblog]

So what? It's about the total volume of air filtered and changed per hour. Doesn't matter if it does 100% of the air sucked in or 99%, that unfiltered air will eventually get sucked back in and filtered.

[@Smidge204]

@@EEVblog It's lost efficiency. I suppose it doesn't matter as much in a non-critical application like this (vs. say, a surgical procedure room) but you're spending energy to push the air, so any air that gets pushed but not filtered is energy wasted. My field is mechanical engineering (HVAC) and the vast majority of filtering is pull-through; if it's blow-through then at least the filters are still retained such that the flow pushes on them to maintain a better seal.

[@xenonram]

Blueair's website has an info graphic that shows a pic of a cube (not a square, but a 3D cube) and next to it, a SQUARE footage rating. Lol. I guess it can handle a 750 ft^2 room, with anywhere between a 6 foot tall to a 16 foot tall ceiling. (4500-12000 ft^3) Derp.

[@LordGryllwotth]

If I am making my own filter system, buying cheap car coupe filters. Can I reduce airborne dust?

[@Daniel-hd7gq]

You will reduce dust by using a t-shirt as a filter 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@lachlanlau]

Would the charged particles eventually lose their charge and go through the filter?

[@Daniel-hd7gq]

The charge is not supposed to hold the particles inside the filter. It's to attract them so they touch and get stuck in the filter.

[@metallitech]

If I breath on the smell sensor it locks up and just says 8BADF00D .

[@barrybadass3481]

My homemedics filter got a uv-c light what does it do is it dangerous ?.

[@RespawnRestricted]

Not at all

[@barrybadass3481]

@@RespawnRestricted I got it in my bedroom it runs overnight so is it safe in that situation , there is a button to deactivate it but as i said i don't know what it does.

[@DedmenMiller]

UV-C kills bacteria. Not sure about viruses. Basically disinfects the air. It is dangerous if it shines on your skin, basically the same UV that gives you sunburn. But I'm sure it's well encapsulated in the thingy and won't cause problems

[@barrybadass3481]

@@DedmenMiller Thanks , And yes its enclosed in the unit .

[@lukasandrysik3666]

I have xiaomi purifiers (models Pro and 2S). They are pretty good. Not as these BlueAir etc but the value for money is excellent i think.

[@kardeef33317]

I have a question , when it says 58 square meters, shouldn't it be cubic meters? I have been in homes that have had 2 meter to 6 meter ceilings. I mean a room with a 4 meter height would have twice the volume of air as one with a two meter ceiling. I think maybe I am just missing something.

[@jusaca01]

I guess they are asuming a standard office height of something like 3m or so.

[@EEVblog]

Yes, it's cubic, but most places are a relatively standard height and they need to make it easy for the normies.

[@kardeef33317]

Thanks Dave for the reply and videos

[@TheTallGirl]

I have a one cheaper unit at home, mainly to catch dust from construction works It have build in UV lamp to sanitize filter/air, no idea how effective it is But after year or so fan start to squeak at low speed, other way it was silent Expect some super cheapo build motor bearing and it have no way to disassemble/repair at if looks like a glued/welded plastic

[@Bumika86]

Great video, I got for my sleeping room Sharp with ionezer works great

[@exaMAB]

I did not quite catch that, was the unit presented expensive or a cheapy one -_-

[@Krejstrup]

Well he said that you probably could buy 5 cheapy ones for the same price as this, didn't he?

[@Multimeter1]

Is this practical for just having clean air in your room to having clean air say if I put this next to a cat 🐈 litter box? Or anyone got a recommendation. If you’re a pc guy I was the Noctua fan of air filters. Only some will understand what I’m asking around here!

[@Dirty_Bear22]

Abraham blue air or Iq air are both top notch units, and can filter 900 or so square feet. you could lower the fan speed if you are using it in a smaller space. Owing Both a Blueair and a Iq Air I would go for the Iq Air.

[@thomasleerriem6872]

After seeing this post, I bought a Classic 680i air purifier, that comes with a hefty price by the way. I’m very sorry but I expected more of both the app and the device. You can set alarm ranges for all the items that are measured, but they just don’t work. Although my phone is working normally and the notification setting are correct. The device is noisy at the lowest setting, and makes a rattling noise as if the bearing has an issue. When I start soldering next to the device, it detects an increased number of particles, as you’d expect. But then something very annoying happens: the device starts oscillating between the lowest and the highest setting. Come on, that’s very poor control loop design. The engineers at Blueair should try to understand how a PID control loop works, and how to design the control electronics properly. In short: such an expensive unit has too many flaws, both to the app as to the device itself.

[@m4c1990]

I got a Xiaomi Air Purifier 2S and it's pretty good to get the smell out of the air. The display always shows 0.1 while running, sometimes higher, after opening the windows. 600 on new year at 1am. It does something. Small House, small room. But I can't find many data about the filter. It says 0.3PM? Sometimes it's HEPA,, sometimes EPA. Chinese Stuff.

[@michelfeinstein]

What about using HEPA filters as Covid-19 masks? (Being sure it's not the ones that use fiberglass)

[@lordelectron6591]

I have one at home but it happens to be a desktop It actually works

[@zednought8012]

@EEVblog Is that the old Dick Smith / EA(?) kit power meter in the background?