DIY Air Purifier: How Well Does it Work?
The Build
Inspired by Smart Air’s DIY Purifiers as well as the recent air pollution in Bangkok (which is now fortunately gone), I’ve decided to test out building my own DIY Air Purifier.
I got my hand on two locally available materials from HomePro:
- Hatari HT-PS20M1 Fan — 448 Baht
- Hatari RAP-1201 HEPA Filter — 888 Baht
At first, I’ve tried just putting the filter right in front of the fan and while the air coming out was good, there was very little air flow. So instead, I’ve put it at the back of the fan and built a (somewhat) sealed chamber around it and that has considerably increased the air flow.
The Test
I have pitted the DIY purifier against a Sharp FP-J30TA purifier (3,590 Baht) by letting both of them purify an approximately 10 squared meter room which was filled with Bangkok smog and record how the pollution level changes. The result is as follows:
You can see that while the DIY works, it takes twice as long to purify the room, making it not very usable for larger rooms.
Conclusion
Functionally the DIY purifier worked, however, it is slower and louder than an entry-level air purifier. I might be able to improve the performance and reduce the price by ordering a cheaper HEPA filter from AliExpress (the RAP-1201 has a carbon layer which might reduce air flow), but if I were to choose, I’d probably just buy another Sharp air purifier which works well and is quiet. I’m also not sure if the DIY purifier would cause the fan to break sooner or pose any fire hazard risk or not.
