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Comment by jdavis703 | Hacker News Reader

My experience from west coast wildfires and taking indoor air pollution measurements is if I put 3 air purifiers in one master bedroom and keep the windows and doors closed I can go from code purple air outside to code orange air inside… So it’s not perfect, but it does kind of work if you’re in a situation where you can’t integrate a positive air pressure system.

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Something would seem to be wrong in your situation then, just one should be enough to get it to green if windows and doors are closed.

Not sure if your filters need to be replaced, if you need to wipe dust off their exteriors, or something is just wrong with their airflow that they're not filtering.

A $100 Levoit purifier (the longtime Amazon bestseller) has been keeping my bedroom in the green (measured by an Awair) while it's been maroon (400+) AQI outside today here in NYC.

With those you have to vacuum it every 2 weeks and change the filter every 6 months.

Changing a filter every 6 months sounds more than reasonable to me

Yes. Just saying that the filter is not simply an appliance that runs forever.

Air filters are often for particulate matter but not VOCs.

Or radon. Sometimes trees pump the radon from deeper groundwater and the radon levels rise when trees burn.

Radon is interesting because not a lot of people think about it, yet it's very dangerous. It's almost everywhere in France, Germany and Scandinavia. If you don't have anti-radon measures in the mentioned countries, high chances are levels are exceeding the limit.

You can get activated charcoal filters to help. But just having positive pressure (ideally with the intake vent a decent distance from the ground, since radon is quite a lot heavier than air) should help, because radon usually seeps in through the foundation due to pressure in the ground, and the fact that lower levels of houses are often natural at a slight negative pressure.

This is too real and relatable. We take clean air so for granted huh.

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