Another Smoky Summer in the Northwest

[Cougsfan]

My arthritis is my version of a Vantage pro2, and it says no rain, more hot weather, more smoke for quite a while. (I just had it calibrated)

 

[grsthegreat]

those winds are blowing all your smoke into eastern wash and north idaho. please stop


i am getting sick of the heat, dry air and smoke

 

[oosik]

I got the heat and dry air here. Sky is high overcast. Can't smell any smoke.

 

[cqaigy2]

Maybe it was looking at weather outside of Olympia. I was driving into work and got very light sprinkles.

 

[oosik]

The beginning of a nice day. It's 55F and no smoke. Projected to top out at 81F. I hope this helps with those fighting the fires.

 

[oosik]

All good things must end. It's 103F @ 4:30 with smoke.

 

[oosik]

It's been cooler today. 77F right now. But very smoky outside. We are sealed up tight with the fans blowing the inside air on us. One of these days it will clear.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

It's smoky enough today the sun doesn't cast a shadow. Visibility is about 1/2 mile. I get to test the electrostatic AC filters. According to the package, they remove about 50% of smoke particles. At least with thick smoke, the temp will be nowhere near the 104 predicted.

 

[arto98607]

It's smoky enough today the sun doesn't cast a shadow. Visibility is about 1/2 mile. I get to test the electrostatic AC filters. According to the package, they remove about 50% of smoke particles. At least with thick smoke, the temp will be nowhere near the 104 predicted.

Would you mind saying which kind did you get IE. is it portable or built in the return air duct type?

Not many brands of portable electrostatic ones available now since Friedrich stopped making them few years ago.
Most every store selling portable air-cleaners is offering ones with expensive filters which need replacing regularly and looong time ago I made a decision not to get one of those!

Our house has had a whole house (Honeywell) electrostatic air filter since it was built in the early 80's.
It's installed in the return air duct of a heat-pump and the heat-pump variable speed fan and HRV always run at a low speed whenever it's not heating or cooling the house.

I also keep a portable electrostatic air cleaner in the laundry room running 24/7

The system has kept inside the house smoke free, even during the worst conditions.
Few years ago when there was a large fire in the Gorge, the east winds were blowing smoke directly to us around the clock for day after day and everything outside got covered in a layer of ash.


Only trouble with the electrostatic air cleaners is the maintenance and I think most people do not want to mess with them once the new wears out!

 

[ponytug]

For the Friedrichs and Honeywell. We have had both. The Friedrich's is just the Honeywell in a portable box. I believe that indoor ozone rules pushed the portable electrostatic filters out of the market.

A couple years ago, we started having dust around the house, and I couldn't figure it out. When I thought to check the Honeywell, the main light was out. Further poking around revealed that a resistor had blown on the main board. I ordered a new board, and we were back in business. It had only been running forty odd years... The Honeywell does a great job. I find the maintenance pretty easy; pull the filters out twice a year, rinse them, and run them through the dishwasher, let them drain and dry, re-install.

I recently bought a handful of 20x20x2 and 20x16x2 MERV 13 carbon filters to go on a cheap 20" fan for cleaning up the indoor air during smoke events. There are lots of great resources on how to build one on the web, but I like this one;

How to Improve the Efficiency of the Corsi-Rosenthal Box Air Cleaner - Tex-Air Filters

By Jim Rosenthal Several months ago I wrote two articles for this site on the “Box Fan and MERV 13 Filter” air cleaner. They have been viewed over 30,000 times and many people have built these air cleaners following the simple directions in the articles. They are easy to construct, inexpensive...

www.texairfilters.com

All the best,

Peter