HEPA Air Filters for any air opening in the van - wildfire smoke concern

[anothertry]

Besides the usual pollution concerns for air intakes, in light of the 'unprecedented' Canadian wildfire smoke moving around various areas I wondered about air filtration quality for vehicle living. Maybe those folks in Western North America with more frequent experience can share what they know and have tried as for some this is a rare or new thing in the Northeast and other areas:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/06/10/northeast-smoke-canada-wildfires-explainer/
Here are some useful visual maps of the smoke trajectory forecast and air quality:
https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/https://fire.airnow.gov/
Here are the search results for "air filter" on this forum:
https://vanlivingforum.com/search/411180/?q=air+filter&o=relevancewildfire smoke:
https://vanlivingforum.com/search/411181/?q=wildfire+smoke&o=relevance
You can find advice online on how to handle the smoke - stay indoors, wear a special mask/respirator depending on how bad it is, select air recirculation on your vehicle dash, use HEPA filters, etc
For those with allergies, sensitivity, etc it's definitely an important thing to look into:
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/n...oning-recirculation-safely-smoke-air-quality/

I don't have allergies and haven't had any issues in my van but in other vehicles I drive (trucks) even with recirculation I did get some throat irritation after a whole day of driving during one of the "smoke waves" so each vehicle is different and may not have the best air filter installed - it's good to check under the hood.
You can search by the VIN # for filters on auto parts catalogs such as Autozone, Advance Auto, Grainger, etc.

Air filtration areas:

1. Cabin and engine air filters
2. Ceiling fans
3. Windows
4. Ac/heat units
5. Any other ventable openings

...any of which may or may not have a good quality HEPA filter or covering

For the Promaster 2500 there are two filters:
- Engine filter, cylinder shape
https://www.google.com/search?q=promaster+2500+hepa+filter+engine
- Cabin filter, flat square shape
https://www.google.com/search?q=promaster+2500+hepa+filter+cabin
HEPA filter "fabric" is available to buy in sheets and rolls and can be cut to fit wherever you need it which is helpful as openings vary in size:
https://www.google.com/search?q=hepa+filter+fabrichttps://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hepa+filter+roll
For a DIY cost saving indoor room filter system some people came up with the Corsi-Rosenthal box:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Corsi-Rosenthal+box+wildfire+smoke+instructions

 

[rruff]

A great thing about being mobile... you can move!

 

[tx2sturgis]

This is not really a localized event, affecting one or two states.

Yes, you can leave a smoky area, but you might have to travel hundreds of miles to get to cleaner air, and in the process, maybe for 2 or 3 days, or maybe a week or more, depending on environmental conditions, travel budget, medical care, available camping spots, who knows. You might want some options (masks, filters etc) as you spend all day behind the wheel, breathing the polluted air across entire states and regions. The air might get worse for you before it gets better.

And who can know if that plume of smoke (or ash or dust) wont catch up to you in a week?

The smoke from all the forest fires in Canada is shaping up to be one of the worst fire and smoke situations in recent memory, and maybe in the last century.

Some of us are more sensitive to this stuff...a lifetime of taking our lungs for granted, limited lung capacity, asthma, COPD, or a myriad of other situations that diminish ones ability to function when the air is not fresh and clean.

And now, we have this ginormous Saharan dust plume making it's way across the Atlantic, headed for the south and southeastern USA...supposed to be visible and cause effects all the way over into Texas.

We gotta breathe, ya know?

The sky. It really IS falling!



Seriously, be careful out there.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wildfire-...orecast-impacted-wildfires/story?id=100439224
https://www.wsfa.com/2023/07/06/its-time-year-when-saharan-dust-travels-across-atlantic-ocean/

 

[rruff]

We gotta breathe, ya know?

If it gets bad enough to worry about, the most efficient place to deal with that is right before it enters your body. After covid we should all be familiar with the necessary equipment...

 

[Morgana]

Here's a site where you can look up the air quality at your location: https://www.airnow.gov/.
And one summary of best masks to use, etc., from New York Magazine. Looks to me like basically the same advice as for Covid, as the smoke particles can be small enough to get through the cheaper, looser masks.
Stay well, all!

 

[maki2]

There are lots of good things about Van life and many solutions to problems but being in a hot location with very poor air quality when you have significant respiratory issues is pretty much very difficult to solve without leaving that zone.

A Hepa Filter on a window opening on a hot day is not going to provide enough air movement unless you have plenty of power for higher volume fans or a true AC unit with sufficient CFM. Also remember air pressure has to be equalized between what comes in and what goes back out. Do it is not just one opening that needs a filter.

 

[hipsterreplacement]

I agree that wearing an N95 mask is the easiest place to deal with it - put the filter right before where you're breathing. But if you want to clean the air in the car more generally, you can make a mini-Corsi-Rosenthal box. I ordered these and made one for my trailer and it's also portable enough that you can bring it with you if the fan can be battery-operated as well. https://www.texairfilters.com/a-mini-corsi-rosenthal-box-air-cleaner/

 

[maki2]

The issue with the box filter is when you are out camping and need the windows open so the RV is not too hot you will constantly be bringing in new air. A box filter works best in a space that does not have a large constant incoming volume of fresh air. It is simple physics, there is no way for it to clean up all the incoming air before you breathe it. You have to clean the air at the incoming source as it enters the space or you are just going to be wasting filters as well as electrical energy.

At nighttime if you only have a small amount of fresh air entering from a small window opening that box filter could keep you breathing easier as it is not being over run by a constantly changing volume of air. Instead it is recycling the air volume through the filter a number of times.