Sinusitis and other respiratory issues are two side effects of breathing in smoke and other pollutants from fires and factories. However, these tools are essential for maintaining healthy air quality. Construct your air purifier with simple materials (like filters with ultra-fine particles) if you accidentally breathe smoke or want to reduce pollution.
A good-quality air cleaner can cost over a thousand dollars because of the micron-level particles they catch and release into the air. Filters for air cleaners are also quite pricey. The cost per filter might range from $20 to $200, which adds up quickly. You can conserve money on your HVAC system by not buying an air purifier.
Toxic gas inhalation can result in asthma-like symptoms, including hives, coughing, and eye discomfort. So instead of rushing out to buy a costly plastic air purifier, we will discuss some natural alternatives that can effectively clean the air in your house.
Houseplants
Having a variety of houseplants can help clean the air in your home, especially if you suffer from respiratory issues like asthma or allergies. In addition, certain houseplants need no or just indirect sunlight for proper growth. NASA research indicates that having houseplants in your home, space, or office can help clean the air and reduce the negative health consequences of common contaminants like ammonia, formaldehyde, and benzene.
The most cost-effective and time-efficient way to achieve clean air in our homes is to keep one houseplant for every 100 square feet of space. Lady palms and broad-leaf palms, which thrive in solid indirect light, and peace lilies, which do best in a very favorable light, are the best house-friendly plants for purifying the air in your home.
Beeswax Candles
Candles generally have a calming effect and finding one that helps keep the air clean is even better. For example, paraffin candles, which come from petroleum, produce pollutants such as benzene, toluene, and soot and should be avoided if you enjoy fragrant candles. Instead of using them, you may try burning some beeswax candles daily to clean the air.
The ionization and neutralization of airborne toxins and pollutants by burning beeswax candles are well-documented. Even better, they burn slowly and don’t need to be replenished as often, so they can help us breathe easier at home. However, when burned, candles made from 100% pure beeswax produce almost no smoke and odor. These candles are great to keep on hand if you have asthmatic patients in your house because they purify the air by removing typical irritants like dust.
Essential Oils
Rosemary, clove, grapefruit, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, lemon, and tea tree oil are some essential oils that can combat the spread of bacteria and viruses, fungi, and mold. Webster State University research shows that the antiseptic blend of pure essential oils known as Thieves oil has a 99.96 percent kill rate against airborne bacteria. The oils include pine needles, cinnamon, thyme, eucalyptus, lemon, and grapefruit. Cleaning the air and killing germs are just two benefits of this blend of essential oils. Adding it to your laundry detergent or dish soap will help keep the air you breathe clean and fresh. You can also put a few drops into a basin of warm water and leave it in the space where you spend the most time.
Salt Crystal Lamps
Himalayan pink salt acts as a natural air filter, absorbing and neutralizing harmful gases and chemicals. In addition, because salt crystals absorb moisture from the air, they help lessen the presence of airborne irritants, allergies, and infections.
All you have to do is put up a Himalayan pink salt lamp in your bedroom or keep one on your desk at work. It offers the aesthetic benefit of a natural glow that won’t keep us up at night without sacrificing the modern convenience of a rustic aesthetic. Moreover, since they include salt crystals, they continue to function even when turned off, although having a more significant effect when activated.
What Can I Use In Place Of An Air Purifier?
Home ventilation helps lower moisture levels, significantly contributing to poor indoor air quality. However, we are not suggesting that you throw open a window to bring all the polluted air from the outside into your home. Instead, have trickle vents installed so the air you breathe inside may be cleaned and recycled.
Given the typical person’s time at home, ensuring that your living environment is secure for you and your family is critical. One approach to help reduce stress and generate a sense of tranquility while simultaneously reaping the advantages of nature is to improve the air quality in your house.
It is critical to the health and well-being of your family that you put out all possible effort to clean the air inside of your home. Consider all of these natural methods that may improve your house’s air quality, and know that you are minimizing the number of toxins your household is exposed to as a result of your actions. You can use these natural methods to clean and deodorize your home.
Natural cleansers: The use of household cleaners every week brings a large number of chemicals into a home. So when removing filth, you might consider using natural cleaning agents like baking soda, lemon/lime, or pure white vinegar. Other useful options include hydrogen peroxide and club soda, providing equally effective cleaning without leaving any chemical residue.
Window treatments: Investing in window treatments designed to block the sun’s rays is yet another fantastic choice that can be made to naturally reduce the amount of direct sunlight that comes into your home. If you want to maintain your home environment cooler and reduce the amount of sunshine that comes in through the windows, installing blackout window shades or exploring other solutions that filter out light is a good idea.
Box fans: Consider turning on your box fan throughout the milder months of the year, such as summer and fall, to help circulate the air inside your home. Using a box fan is an excellent method for lowering a home’s temperature, and it may also assist in ensuring that a greater volume of air is drawn through the home’s ventilation system, where your box fan can then be cleaned.
Clean air filters: Altering the air filter housed within your home’s heating and cooling system regularly is one of the most decent ways to clean the air contained within your house. Of course, to get the greatest out of your air filter, you should replace them consistently. But again, if you want to purge toxins in the air in your house quickly and easily, a HEPA filter is the way to go.
Activated charcoal filters: Most air purifiers have activated charcoal filters, which go by the name active carbon as well, and are a fantastic method of organically filtering and purifying the air quality inside your home. These charcoal filters are readily available in stores and can be purchased online. The charcoal in the filter will remove odorless contaminants from the air as it absorbs them.
What Happens If You Don’t Have An Air Purifier?
If you want your air conditioner to work correctly, it is imperative that you have a purifying unit with a filter and that you replace it once every two weeks or so. It is not a piece of equipment that can be left out of the equation, despite what some individuals may believe. In addition, if you want your box fan, air conditioning unit, and other HVAC systems to work correctly and maintain a healthy home environment, you must invest in good air filters.
Costs on the energy bill that are higher
If your air conditioner is clogged with dust and other particles from the surrounding environment, it will have to work much harder to move any cold air throughout your home. When an air conditioner is forced to work too hard, it will typically short-cycle, which means that it will switch on and off a great deal more often than it ought to. Not only does this generate noise, but it also consumes a significant amount of additional energy, and as everyone is aware, energy does not come for free. Therefore, if you do not have a filter or if you do not regularly change the filter that you have, you should anticipate seeing a higher amount on your energy bill.
Freezing your air conditioning unit
When you ignore your air conditioner’s air filter, one of the other things that may occur is that the junk that builds up in your system might make it difficult for cool air to circulate. This typically implies that cool air will gather inside your air conditioning system, causing its internal temperature to drop and the coils to become all ice, resulting in your AC unit freezing up. When something like this occurs, you have no choice but to contact a qualified HVAC technician to get you out of the jam in which you find yourself.
Problems with your home appliance
Debris, such as dust and hair, can accumulate in your air conditioner if you do not have a filter or if the filter that you do have is old and dirty. This has the potential to inflict severe harm to your air conditioning system. For example, if dirt and other particles are trapped inside the air conditioner, they may clog up various sections and prevent those parts from functioning as intended. In addition, the accumulation of dust and debris can block airflow, leading to your AC unit’s overheating and turning off. It is also possible that it will cause your motor to sustain irreparable damage, which will require you to replace it. Therefore, it is essential to use an air filter and replace it regularly if you want your air conditioner to remain in good condition and last as long as possible.
Poor air quality
What you breathe in will be fresh, pure, and free of allergens if the air filter of your AC unit is doing its job correctly. The air filter’s job is to remove ugly muck from the air in your home. If your home’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVACs) do not have a filter, your house will be full of dust and other particles. This not only means that you will need to vacuum your home much more frequently, but it also increases the likelihood that you will frequently sneeze and wheeze. The same will occur if you have an old filter that is highly clogged up with debris. Your home’s air quality will suffer as a direct consequence of the debris and dust that become caught in it and are then recirculated throughout the space.
How Can I Make My Own Air Purifier?
DIY air purifiers are practical tools for cleaning the air within a home or office. They don’t break the bank, but their ease of use is expensive. However, when broken down into their simplest components, not all air purifiers are straightforward projects that may be duplicated at home.
People started using masks, and building managers scrambled to improve air quality when it became evident that COVID was being distributed via the air. Usually, this entailed putting in HEPA filters, which are incredibly effective air purifiers. Then, the air is driven through a porous mat, where viruses and other impurities are trapped, and the clean air is released on the other side.
Wooden Air Purifier
Wood is an excellent alternative to plastic if you attempt to avoid using it in making a DIY purifier. However, remember that you’ll need some skill with tools to construct this wooden air purifier to reduce air pollution effectively.
The complexity of this do-it-yourself air purifier depends on your skill with tools. For example, some people build compartments into which the filters may be slid, making it simpler to swap them out as necessary.
- Find an old wooden table, such as the one you may use as a nightstand. Take off the middle panel and one of the side panels. It will be the same on the bottom, and the poles in the corners will stay put.
- Remove three identical wooden panels and replace them with screens. Filters can be attached to the wood with screws.
- Create a little gap in the last wooden panel and fit in a vent. The air will be released here.
- Make a tiny hole for the fan wire to pass through the wooden panel or the filter’s cloth.
- The box you’ve made can house the fan, producing cleaner indoor air. Another option is to drill a hole in the wooden lid and secure the fan there.
DIY HEPA Air Purifier
It’s no rocket science: making an air purifier with a DIY filter can help significantly if you have allergies or asthma. Particles larger than 0.01 microns are effectively removed from the air using HEPA filters to 99.9 percent, which is way better than standard HVAC equipment and other ventilation systems.
A HEPA filter costs more than a standard screen, but creating your own at home can reduce the burden on your pocket: improving indoor air quality. In addition, this air purifier model is among the quickest to assemble and can remove unfiltered air and wildfire smoke.
- Make four holes in the fabric (not the frame) near each corner using a screwdriver or other tool.
- Clip the filter to the rear of the fan. Next, you can locate the directional arrow on the side of the filter housing. It indicates the proper path for airflow. Next, connect the display to the fan, as indicated by the symbol.
- The four ties should be threaded through the openings you’ve created. Put them on the fan to keep the filter in place. You can also use tape if that helps.
- There’s a chance that the filter is getting in the way of the control knobs on your regular circle fan. So before fastening the filter, select the required speed. After that, you’ll need to physically plug in and unplug the fan every time you use it.
Plastic Bucket Air Purifier
One inexpensive alternative is a purifier made from a plastic bucket. The equipment you’ll need may be picked up at any local hardware or home improvement store for next to nothing.
- Various smoke, volatile organic compounds, dust mites, and fine particle filters are available. First, determine what kinds of debris or molecules you want to stop and go from there, then pick the appropriate kind.
- Measure the diameter of the fan’s head or trace its outline on the top of the bucket.
- Use a cutter to create a pit in the center of the bucket’s lid. The aperture must precisely accommodate the fan’s head.
- Make holes in the bucket with varying diameters (one to two inches). Then, create two rows of four openings vertically.
- Sand the area around the new holes to remove any debris.
- Adjust the filter fabric’s height to the bucket’s height. The length is appropriate if it is the same as the container’s diameter.
- Position it into the bucket so that the edges meet.
- A small hole must be cut to run the wire from the fan to the top of the container.
- You may close the bucket’s lid using the fan to keep the lid in place.
- Connect the box to a source of electricity, whether a socket, a tiny battery, or even solar panels.
How Can I Purify Air Cheaply?
A working carbon monoxide detector in your house is crucial, as unvented or broken appliances can release potentially lethal levels of pollutants. In addition, some famous and helpful electronics contribute significantly to poor indoor air quality or using activated carbon filters and high-efficiency particulate air filters inside your DIY purifier.
To add insult to injury, scented air fresheners do not clean the air. That odor contributes to the health risks associated with indoor air pollution. Also, most air fresheners add to the problem by releasing more chemicals that could worsen outdoor air.
Take off your footwear: Allergens, fungi, human hair, bacteria, and excrement are some of the gross things that can be carried in the dirt outside any room, clogging your exhaust fans. All of it could be stuck to your shoes when you come inside the house, so removing them or changing into slippers is preferable. In addition, it’ll aid in the upkeep of cleaner air and floors since it filters outdoor air efficiently.
Newly purchased furniture has to be aired out: Toluene and benzene are examples of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can be found in various products. Know that your new couch or chair will produce more VOCs, gradually decreasing over time. Ventilate your house as much as possible to lessen the impact of VOCs on the air within. Keep the windows open throughout the day for the first few months, or store up them in the garage for a week. You can also check out second-hand linens and furnishings, as they are less likely to emit harmful gases still.
Ventilate the room: It’s the smartest and easiest way to make your home healthier for those who live inside. Opening the windows for as little as five minutes daily is recommended to reduce the buildup of dangerous air pollutants in your home. It may be a good idea to sleep with a slightly ajar window to get fresh air as you sleep. Always let in some fresh air while you’re cleaning by opening windows.
Clip the paws of your pets: The skin cells of your pet, or dander, can be found in abundance in every corner of your home. Unfortunately, dander from pets is far more likely to trigger asthma attacks or exacerbate the condition if you already have it. Regular cleaning, brushing your pet outside if possible, and vacuuming with a HEPA filter will help keep pet dander to a minimum inside your home.
