Bad air quality--finally taped a house filter on the A/C

[wopachop]

Its the cheap kind ive had it for years. Hope its decent for smoke particles. What are the negatives besides tape residue and reminding me of wearing a mask? Im out of blue tape. Just got to the trailer and decided to slap it up real quick. Made it a partial dome shape. It was holding up without the tape. Which i consider a bad sign. But i suppose the stock filter does as well.

I do have 2 larger pieces of filter if the A/C pros consider it too restrictive. My plan years ago was to make a nice looking filter housing so i could leave it installed. I dont want to leave the tape overnight.

Safe to assume running the fan on low would be best? Or could that act like bogging down an engine? I know we are talking about an electric motor. Its more comparing a bogged down engine to the efficiency of the fan blades. Maybe the fan blades work better at the higher speed. For now i have it manually set to stay on low.

[bighatnohorse]

Wopachop wrote:
What are the negatives besides tape residue and reminding me of wearing a mask?

Potential fan damage (as others have noted).
Personally, I think that is a move in the right direction IF you are living in the camper and in one of the bad smoke areas.


Air Quality Index (AQI) has been consistently at Very Unhealthy to Dangerous levels and off the charts in some areas.

What's the worst that could happen? Fan replacement vs heart/lung damage?

[hypoxia]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Is that on the Return side?
YES...then you will end up with diminished return airflow which can lead to Evap Coil Icing up especially with fan speed on low

And make the compressor run at higher temperatures and pressures reducing its life. It's a bad idea.

[coolmom42]

I agree, an air purifier unit would work better.

[schlep1967]

You are fighting a losing battle. RV's are not air tight and if they were we would die from lack of oxygen. I understand trying to clean what air is in the unit at this time. An actual stand alone air purifier would serve you much better and possibly save you a lot of money compared to replacing your A/C unit from operating it in a restricted mode.

[wildtoad]

profdant139 wrote:
wildtoad, it may look funny. But if you were stuck in a place with bad smoke (West Coast), this solution is a lot better than nothing.

True, hope it works for them.

[Lynnmor]

Flyfasteddie wrote:
Wildtoad, he's trying to mitigate the horrific air quality those of us in the west have been under for the last week. Wopachop, if I was out in the RV in this mess I would do the same thing. I would just go by the sound of the motor - if it's bogging too much then try something less restrictive. It's going to be a trade off, the more restriction the more potential stress on the motor but I would be trying to filter this lousy excuse for air too.

Actually the motor has less to do with more restriction, just like a vacuum cleaner speeds up when the nozzle is closed off. Motor failure from less air flow would be caused by over-heating. I think the OP has the right idea, but I would use the MERV-11 filter and make it much larger.

[Old-Biscuit]

What trailer.....what A/C Unit?

[Rover_Bill]

Most A/C filters (and furnace filters) are for cleaning dust only and don't trap smoke. To clean out smoke you should use a stand-alone air purifier equipped with a HEPA and carbon filters. Something like this.

[wopachop]

Wonder if i could measure intake airflow. I do have a cheap anemometer i could rig in there. Could also mount a small camera. Actually i think i could do it.

Goal would be to test the stock filter. Then see what the new filter does. Ive wanted to run a household filter on the trailer AC for years now. Its dusty here.

The smoke issue was enough to tape the filter up real quick. Will pull it down now before i forget.

[Old-Biscuit]

Is that on the Return side?
YES...then you will end up with diminished return airflow which can lead to Evap Coil Icing up especially with fan speed on low

RV A/C Units are 'recirculating' units...inside air gets sucked in/cooled down/discharged back inside

You source of smoke is via bad slide seals, open roof vents, open windows, entry door leaks etc
It's not from the A/C Unit.

[Flyfasteddie]

Wildtoad, he's trying to mitigate the horrific air quality those of us in the west have been under for the last week. Wopachop, if I was out in the RV in this mess I would do the same thing. I would just go by the sound of the motor - if it's bogging too much then try something less restrictive. It's going to be a trade off, the more restriction the more potential stress on the motor but I would be trying to filter this lousy excuse for air too.

[time2roll]

You really need MERV-11 or better to block smoke particles.
Might get some with that but it will take a large format filter to minimize restriction.

[profdant139]

wildtoad, it may look funny. But if you were stuck in a place with bad smoke (West Coast), this solution is a lot better than nothing.

[wopachop]

I agree it sure be ugly.

[wildtoad]

What are you trying to solve with this rather ugly DIY filter? Clean the original filter and coils.