Efficient 12 Volt Cabin Air Filtration (WILDFIRES!)

1000arms

Well-known member
Well, all I can say is that I've thoroughly tested carbon canister filters capabilities of removing smoke from burning trees... one bong rip at a time.
Well, despite your best efforts, you might not have produced enough small particles to clog a carbon canister filter before the VOC absorption capability was depleted. Acres and acres of wildfires just might put you to shame. :cool:
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
considering they are designed to attach to a 700cfm axial fan and run for 6mo+ solid w/out being touched.. Then when its tapped out you empty it, then bake the carbon in the oven to re-activate it.. I think you underestimate its scrubbing capabilities... Here in Colorado, we subject commercial grows to significant air quality monitoring, if the MED department gets reports of smells they can get shut down.
 

1000arms

Well-known member
Well, all I can say is that I've thoroughly tested carbon canister filters capabilities of removing smoke from burning trees... one bong rip at a time.
Well, despite your best efforts, you might not have produced enough small particles to clog a carbon canister filter before the VOC absorption capability was depleted. Acres and acres of wildfires just might put you to shame. :cool:
considering they are designed to attach to a 700cfm axial fan and run for 6mo+ solid w/out being touched.. Then when its tapped out you empty it, then bake the carbon in the oven to re-activate it.. I think you underestimate its scrubbing capabilities... Here in Colorado, we subject commercial grows to significant air quality monitoring, if the MED department gets reports of smells they can get shut down.
@dreadlocks, if you were referring to me, well, no, I don't think I'm underestimating the scrubbing capabilities of carbon can filters. Carbon can filters are quite useful in removing VOCs and some particles, but, often come with a "pre-filter", that can be washed or replaced, to protect the carbon can filter from clogging on particles. The system I suggested makes use of several different and easily replaceable furnace filters (as a very effective "pre-filter") to protect the fan and the carbon can filter from particles. Air then travels through the fan and is pushed through the carbon can filter.

I've seen enough of your posts that I am absolutely certain that you "thoroughly tested carbon canister filters capabilities of removing smoke from burning trees... one bong rip at a time", which is why I replied with my joke. :cool:
 

erstwild

Active member
I have another question. Is there any good thin cut to fit material (filtrete, etc.) where I can cut a circle to fit inside the screen of the MaxxAir fan (I think there is about 1/4 of an inch of clearance)? I don't care if I need to run it a few settings higher if I can filter out soot and large particles at least if I am running my seperate hepa purifier/carbon filter internally. I figure a large scale prefilter of sorts, lol.
 
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1000arms

Well-known member
I have another question. Is there any good thin cut to fit material (filtrete, etc.) where I can cut a circle to fit inside the screen of the MaxxAir fan (I think there is about 1/4 of an inch of clearance)? I don't care if I need to run it a few settings higher if I can filter out soot and large particles at least if I am running my seperate hepa purifier/carbon filter internally. I figure a large scale prefilter of sorts, lol.
To work with what you have:

Could you install a lightweight "ring" to the circle I can see on your fan (in the photo of the inside of your camper in the thread you linked) and still work the fan controls?

Maybe make one using Coroplast and tape (that will handle the temperatures you will be experiencing), say an inch or two?

Then tape a Coroplast plate, with a hole to fit inside the ring, sized to tape a furnace filter to the Coroplast plate? You could tape things well to seal everything and to secure everything to your roof.


There are thin filters designed for pollen and dust that you could cut to fit the way you asked about, but the ones I found aren't for smoke.

 

broncobowsher

Adventurer
If you look back at the 1980 MGM Grand disaster, many of the people who were killed were in there rooms with no smoke damage. The filters generally discussed here are particulate (generally the PM2.5), the stuff that makes smoke difficult to see through. The other gasses pass right through. and hopefully you are not dealing with hypoxic conditions (the oxygen consumed by the fire).

I think you are setting yourself up for a false sense of security with filters.
 

1000arms

Well-known member
If you look back at the 1980 MGM Grand disaster, many of the people who were killed were in there rooms with no smoke damage. The filters generally discussed here are particulate (generally the PM2.5), the stuff that makes smoke difficult to see through. The other gasses pass right through. and hopefully you are not dealing with hypoxic conditions (the oxygen consumed by the fire).

I think you are setting yourself up for a false sense of security with filters.
Please continue your thoughts/suggestions/ideas/warnings/etc.. The OP appears to be thinking about short term and long term solutions.
 

vtsoundman

OverAnalyzer
If you look back at the 1980 MGM Grand disaster, many of the people who were killed were in there rooms with no smoke damage. The filters generally discussed here are particulate (generally the PM2.5), the stuff that makes smoke difficult to see through. The other gasses pass right through. and hopefully you are not dealing with hypoxic conditions (the oxygen consumed by the fire).

I think you are setting yourself up for a false sense of security with filters.



Please continue your thoughts/suggestions/ideas/warnings/etc.. The OP appears to be thinking about short term and long term solutions.

Really? Ahh...the internet. How do thee wist reality and sanity.

This thread has become downright absurd.

Comparing this to the MGM? Why stop there? Why not the cabin of a burning jet? Why not just tell the OP to get a scott pack SCBA...

The MGM was basically a sealed jar with lots of highly concentrated chems from burning building products with wildly varying cause specific deaths. Oxygen was depleted, particulates were off the charts, lung killing chems at insane levels, etc

Unless the OP is attempting to sleep in the middle of a structure fire, a decent filter with an appropriate MERV rating along with additional HEPA is just fine. A carbon filter for VOCs will also help...but again, unless the OP is sleeping adjacent to the various massive fires, he will be fine. CO is another concern for FRs, but not for someone who is following the law and is outside the evac zone.

Huge swaths of the NorCal population (including me) live in this ******** smoke for weeks on end. My SQ monitors indicate good AQ (with low VOCs and PC with the hepa and carbon filtration.). The AQ will creep negative when the active carbon starts to give out however - but that's an easy fix.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk
 

vtsoundman

OverAnalyzer
One more thing I forgot to mention...

For the fearmongers and others on this thread...

The hospitalization rates during the severe wildfires aren't that much higher if at all...So if the smoke were really that bad, don't you think that people that are dragging oxygen tanks around to survive... Or the horrendously asthmatic... Or the severely immune compromised folks... Would die immediately? Marin county is full of elderly people... they're not exactly dying left and right.

Or what about the park rangers that have to live in and around campgrounds where a campfires are burned continuously for months out of the year... They're not exactly dropping like flies...

So come on, let's reel it back in to reality and common sense.

/Rant over.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk
 

vtsoundman

OverAnalyzer
Dont use Scott. They will be better off using MSA.
I used to work for Tyco, I ought to know...
we had both Scott and MSA at the rural FD where I was a volunteer - one of them was a pain in the butt...now that you mention it, I wonder if it was a the Scotts....

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1000arms

Well-known member
If you look back at the 1980 MGM Grand disaster, many of the people who were killed were in there rooms with no smoke damage. The filters generally discussed here are particulate (generally the PM2.5), the stuff that makes smoke difficult to see through. The other gasses pass right through. and hopefully you are not dealing with hypoxic conditions (the oxygen consumed by the fire).

I think you are setting yourself up for a false sense of security with filters.
Please continue your thoughts/suggestions/ideas/warnings/etc.. The OP appears to be thinking about short term and long term solutions.
Really? Ahh...the internet. How do thee wist reality and sanity.

This thread has become downright absurd. ...
... For the fearmongers and others on this thread...
Speaking of the absurd @vtsoundman , why are you still posting in this thread? :unsure: ... :cool:
 

1000arms

Well-known member
Just to cap the thread, I have found a nice solution. I cut rounds of 3M Filtrete room air conditioner filter sheets:


That I put inside the screen of my MaxxAir roof fan. They are very thin but seem to do a great job and act like a prefilter for the whole cabin.

I also run a small Levoir LV-H126 Personal HEPA filter that also has a carbon filter inside.
Please let us know how it works for you.

Stay safe! :)
 

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