DIY: Home Filter Options
*This article is not medical advice. Before starting on any health related regimen, seek the advice of your Primary Care Physician or an M.D.
Home Filter(s) On The Cheap
One of my favorite home air filtering systems is the iQ Air, Health Pro Plus. It has 3 stages, pre-filter (hepa), ultra-hepa, and then a filter with 6 pounds of charcoal, especially effective for removing VOC’s. The ultra-hepa removes some particulate from diesel exhuast, which is super small, and VOC’s can attach. And it’s now around $1,000. Inflation exists. This article is not about precision, but about options, that can help, but certainly are not perfect.
Charcoal impregnated furnace filters are good options for removing VOC’s from the air, especially if you live near oil and gas operations activity, or where various petroleum operations or gasses that seep into home foundations. The EPA calls this ‘vapor intrusion’.
The basic materials
A four pack of 20”x20” or 20”x25” charcoal impregnated furnace filters, Merv 12 would be good.
Optional four pack of higher merv, like Merv 14, more restrictive regular furnace filters.
20” box fan from your favorite retailer
Good old fashioned duct tape.
VOC’s
In the U.S., these can be prevalent from vapor intrusion, as well as just normal commercial activity (paints, gas stations, petroleum refining, any old manufacturing plant). Vapor intrusion is something the EPA has issued reports and studies on before - and these VOC’s can settle in the basement of homes, and then with a basement furnace can be spread throughout the house. If the home has a radon mitigation system that ensures airflow out of the basement that can help too. Often these vapors find cracks in the earth, that exist or from drilling, and then make their way along sewer lines, plumbing, etc into homes. Charcoal is effective at removing VOC’s (benzene, ethyl benzene, toluene, styrene, xlyne’s, etc). Think of the movie Erin Brochovich.
A Personal Story
I personally dealt with this post a traumatic brain injury in 2018. I decided to buy my own hyperbaric oxygen chamber, and put it in my basement, not knowing a thing about VOC’s at the time. The oxygen concentrators and air compressor provided concentrated air and VOC’s that were in my home into the hyperbaric chamber at concentrated levels. When i wasnt recovering, a naturopath did a Genova Blood Toxic Effects panel that showed benzene, ethyl benzene, toluene, styrene, and xylenes at 3-8X the 95th % in my blood. I asked the well known naturopath who was in his late sixties, if he had seen levels broadly this high before. He said, “Yes, i had this one client who had owned a car body shop and painted cars > 20 years, and just the last few years started wearing a protective mask.” Yikes. Talk about NMDA receptor activation, on top of a brain injury. I had long standing issues with my autonomic nervous system reacting to even small amount of voc’s in gasoline, paints, etc. I went through a long 10 month detox process, and gradually watch each of those toxins, one at a time, lower, and then go to zero. Sauna. Phase 2 Detox. Colonics. You name it. I found that the gasses were coming into my house via some of the piping, and closed those off, as well as installing charcoal based filters throughout my house.
Back To Regular Programming
A finer filter like a Merv 14 filter from Filtrete (available at Costco sometimes in 4 packs), can be a good add on before the charcoal filter, or just another whole filter setup on the upstairs of the house. It will be good at removing smaller particulate, maybe not remove all molds, mycotoxins, etc, but some. So if you just want one filter system, you could put the merv-14 filter on the outside of the charcoal impregnated ones. Alternatively , a separate filter system on the first or second floor, you could have another filter with just the Merv-14 Filtrete filters.
These are not perfect solutions, and they certainly are not $1,000. Most of the 4 packs of filters retail around $35-$65. Box fans around $25. You can even add on a timer, so the fans only turn on at night so they don’t disturb you with noise or sound during the day. Replacement filter sets for the iQ Air are close to $300. The amount of surface area in the box fan cube filter system should be able to last a few years in most environments.
References:
www.epa.gov/vaporintrusionhttps://clu-in.org/issues/default2.focus/sec/Vapor_Intrusion/cat/Guidance/