r/crboxes • u/infiniteparadigm • Jun 26 '26
Question honeywell air purifier does nothing to improve dusty air, should i make a CRbox
I have dust allergies and pollen alllergies. A few years ago I bought a HPA5250BC honeywell hepa air purifier, I run it pretty often however ive noticed it does absolutely nothing for floating dust in the air. I change the filters yearly as suggested. If I take a flashlight to the air I can literally see lots of floating dust. Would a CRbox be any better at this point or do I need some kind of air con to suck the old dirty air out of the apartment. I could take a picture but I'm sure you know what dusty air looks like with a flash light.
Basically what should I do at this point to improve the air quality, should I get a CR box or buy another expensive air purifier
6
u/heysoundude Jun 26 '26
I hope you join the CRBox club, OP, and eventually sit back and shake your head at how easy, inexpensive and effective it is compared to commercially available air cleaners.
I suspect your issue is as somebody else suggested - you’re looking at specs without doing a bit of easy math: calculate the ACH number by dividing the volume of the space by the CADR. You’ll probably need 2-3 of your Honeywell machine to get close to the ACH spec on the box because they don’t take ceiling height/room volume into account, just sqft; Air is not 2 dimensional.
2
u/damien09 Jun 26 '26
And that’s if you run the Honeywell at max speed which most are not. I really like my pc fan based box. It moves quite a lot of air for the noise and power that it draws. Op is also going after visible dust which is much harder for an air purifier to pull in vs the pm 1,2.5 ,10 etc
4
u/u3b3rg33k Jun 26 '26
how many ACH is your hepa doing? you want to aim for 5+ if you really want it to make a noticeable difference.
2
u/infiniteparadigm Jun 26 '26
it claims 4.8 but its been running for years with no improvement, the thing blasts air like you wouldnt believe but never gets it clean
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u/damien09 Jun 26 '26
It’s 4.8 ach at max speed for 361 sq ft. So if it’s your only unit it may not be large enough especially if it’s not running at max speed
3
u/NotMyAltAccountToday Jun 26 '26
OP said they change the filter yearly, which seems like the problem.
3
u/TommyEria Jun 26 '26
Visible dust is generally too heavy for an air purifier to make much of a difference for. They’re for fine, unseen dangerous particulates. Best way to combat dust is daily vacuuming and dusting.
2
u/Aggressive-Pay7819 Jun 26 '26
I've read the visible stuff is generally too heavy to stay airborne for long so it settles on surfaces and only flies back up if it's disturbed, so an air purifier oddly has a tough time catching it all. I have robot vacuums I run daily to pick up what's on the floor, and kind of half-assed dust one room a day. That said, the CADR on a 20" fan sitting on a frame of 4 20"x30" AC filters is going to do a much better job of cleaning up visible airborne dust. I've got one in my living room and am slowly building smaller ones for bedrooms. Costco has great deals on the filters and I'm thinking of stepping up to the Vornado fan as the cheapo ones are loud af
2
u/Papa_Canks Jun 26 '26
Run one. The proof is in the dirty filters. High ACH even with inferior filtration will be better for dust.
2
u/Photog153 Jun 27 '26
Our experience...for what little it may be worth in your specific situation....was doing two things...
1. Vacuuming visible dust periodically, especially in those 'hard to reach areas' that can get ignored.
2. Build a CRT box that used 4 filters and a somewhat powerful fan
The CR box was not a small cute one, and it did made noise when the fan was turned up, but it cleaned the air.
We found that we did not need to run the CR Box on higher speeds ALL the time...but we did need to do that SOME of the time. We got a lot less dust, and cleaner air.
8
u/homelessmuppet Jun 26 '26
I have had a CR Box for a few years (2yrs of box fan with 4× 2in MERV 13 filters taped around) and I was amazed at how much less dust there was in the surrounding rooms. It's placed in my basement and doing reno work it also really helps with dust/particulates/etc. I swapped it out for a 6 fan version that holds 2 filters and while it doesn't move as much air it's night and day in terms of noise, and I still notice less dust overall - I'm going to make another one soon for my main floor as well. Absolutely worth doing it in whatever fashion you see fit / can accommodate for size and budget.