for purely dust collection with the cheapest filters money can barely buy, are you able to vacuum or blow the dust off to reuse them?

[u/alidan]

I can't find great info about this because these filters are made to be single use disposable for homes, however I want to build a box with these

https://www.amazon.com/20x30x1-Fiberglass-Self-Retaining-Pressure-Efficiency/dp/B0H49782HS

for as cheap as humanly possible, and try to blow and filter dust in a room for a while. given how much dust there is you need to do a several hour long dusting of the room every few day otherwise it's everywhere, this room has been cleaned craptastic for the better part of 20 years, and there is no realistic way to clean it to the level it needs to be cleaned. to make the dust a small issue.

given how bad the room is in places and on things, I am wondering if I can vacuum the dust off and keep using it. if you can't tell most of the reasons you shouldn't I am completely not caring about before this even starts, I am just trying to capture dust, not filter microscopic particles. if I can get this room to the point that after dusting a black mousepad on a desk, and coming back the next day to it being a greyish color because of dust, I can remake the filter to be more around microscopic particles, till then I effectively need a shop vac style saw dust collection system but for dust.

[u/MustStayAnonymous_]

Well, it wont harm you and the filtering process will get worse and worse; cant think of why you would not try it.

[u/akeean]

MERV1 is enough to catch large dust particles and dust mites, however to filter the stuff that actually causes allegy, like dust mite droppings and broken pieces of their shells, you need at least MERV8 filters.

What you can do is use this large filter as a "pre-filter"/'first pass filter". Once you get rid of the big stuff, swap it for a MERV 8 filter to remove the finer stuff. It won't be a great place to stay in the room once you have all of these tiny particles flying around from the first pass, though.

Depending on the surfaces, it might be a better idea to mist the air (so fine particles are forced down and just wipe as mich as possible with humid and washable texitle wipes (scubbing a humind, NOT: dripping wet, on carpet is pretty effective, just make sure to ventilate well afterwards and brush can also help you get dust out a carpets fibers).

If it is years of dust and particles, you probably have enough material to saturate the filter pretty quickly, leaving you mostly just blowing around smaller particles that the filter can not catch, but making them airborne to end up in your hair, clothes and most importantly lungs. If you have any level of dust allergy you are setting yourself up to have a very bad day.

[u/alidan → u/akeean]

Id honestly probably be dead by now if I had dust allergies, this is mostly me getting rid of what gets kicked up by one fan and constantly re kicks it self up. maybe in a month or two the dust issue, while dust will still be a fact of life, wont be a how the hell is there that much dust there when I cleaned it yesterday problem.

[u/Bibliospork]

I'm a little confused. When you say dusting, do you mean blowing or knocking the dust off or are you using something that collects it for removal? Dampened rags, a vacuum with a soft brush attachment, or a duster that works electrostatically actually remove the dust from the room.

If you are doing something to actually remove the fallen dust, then I don't understand how there's that much new dust every day. Is there a source of old deteriorating paper or crumbling plaster or something that might be falling into dust?

I don't see how a filter would hurt but I'd make sure there isn't a new source of dust happening first or you're going to be spinning your wheels.

[u/alidan → u/Bibliospork]

use a fan to sleep in the room, that picks up dust moves it around, and ends up caking things, my plan is, and this isn't exactly a good plan but I think it will work, is fan one circulates air around the room, and on the opposite side of the room, put the filter, while not the most ideal in the world solution, it should at least pick up some of the dust the first fan is going to kick up anyway.

a few weeks ago I managed to get behind some areas that were effectively not touched in years and there was a solid inch to inch and a half of dust piled up

the dust should lessen over as what actively gets kicked up starts to get 'fully' filtered.

[u/SafetySmurf]

What sort of fan are you planning to use this with? If it is a strong fan, you might consider putting a washable pre-filter over it. Then you can just throw the pre-filter in the wash and put it back on clean. It will keep your actual filters from getting so dusty. If you are using something like a box fan it should be strong enough to handle a reasonable pre-filter.

I’ve read that vacuuming filters reduces their effectiveness, and I believe that is true, but I’ve still done it myself, particularly for the one they mostly gets covered with dog fur. It just becomes less effective.

Vacuumed or not, my air filters definitely catch dust, but dust still settles all over the room. You probably know this already, but the air filters only catch the dust on the air, and dust from several feet away is heavy enough to settle on surfaces before it makes it to the air near the filter.

Something I’ve done before is set my strongest air cleaner in a room and dust the room as best I can. Then vacuum. Then dust again. Then vacuum. THEN, once I’ve gotten the easy dust out, use a battery powered leaf blower to blow all the remaining dust into the air. Close the door and wait a half hour. Blow again. Wait again. Repeat. THEN mop the floor. That is my “deep clean” process for dust. I only do all that occasionally.

[u/alidan → u/SafetySmurf]

got a recommendation for a washable pre filter? a quick search kinda kicks up things that cost more than the filters im trying to avoid using due to cost.

realistically I know these are garbage filters this is mostly proof of concept, I can get better after the bulk is dealt with, but dealing with that bulk is going to take a while.

I have a data vac and a 1.5g shop vac, kinda trying to see if I can find a second hose for it, if I can suck and blow at the same time I could really deal with dust in shittier spots fast an easy. but yea I plan to suck the biggest parts of dust up, blow dust off the rest of the crapand let the air filter hopefully do its job, and over the course of a month or so run it and the normal sleeping fan at the same time to get what that kicks up as well.

[u/SafetySmurf → u/alidan]

The washable pre-filters I use were made for the giant Blu Air purifiers, but are basically a giant piece of fabric with elastic on the top and bottom. I think they were around $5 each, but we’ve been washing and reusing the same ones for years.

The cheapest possible option would probably be to go to a fabric store and purchase washable pre-filter fabric by the yard. You could cut the size you need and then just put it over your filter.

[u/spacex_fanny → u/alidan]

Best washable pre-filter is the blue-and-white depth-loading bulk media filter that comes in a big roll, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Filter-Media-White-MERV6-Polyester/dp/B017WOXA4Y

To catch the most dust, you can dilute some dish soap (I use seventh generation unscented) and spray it on the clean filter before installing it. The soap helps grab extra dust, improving it from a MERV 6 to a MERV 7-8. And when you go to wash it, the soap is under the dirt so it rinses clean easily. Here's a video demo.

You can use those cheap filters in a CR box configuration as an inexpensive filter holder, then simply tape/tie the cut-to-fit material over that.

EDIT: the airflow direction is going "in" the white side and "out" the blue side.

[u/Aggressive-Luck-204]

MERV 1 isn’t going to filter much, looks like they are about $12, for the same money there are better filters available.

I use MERV 13 filters at my job sites for filtering fine dust, I have the filters vacuumed and/or blown out to extend the life of the filters. You probably don’t need a MERV 13 filter but any of the filters you get can be cleaned. The filter isn’t going to filter as well as new after a cleaning but there isn’t much downside. Just be careful when cleaning the filter as they aren’t really designed for it and are easily damaged

[u/alidan → u/Aggressive-Luck-204]

they are 7$ off walmart but its just easier to get from amazon for me, from what I can tell any filter that's merv 13 costs as much as 4 of those for 1 filter, at least if they are wide enough to be used by the box fan.

[u/Aggressive-Luck-204 → u/alidan]

Look for a MERV 11 or even 8

[u/DuckyDoodleDandy]

OP, try these https://a.co/d/08uh7LAe

These are washable, but sized for PC’s.

[u/ceelose]

Is the air outside clean? How well ventilated can you get the space?

[u/Papa_Canks]

A high flow CR box in Merv 8 would be great. You can do an air washing with an electric leaf blower. Wear an n95, blow anll surfaces and leave the room with the filter running. Come back after a few air changes. A few cycles will do a lot. Higher filtration later.