Hi all! Hopefully this is the right place to post this question. Over the past number of years I have casually tried to learn about air quality in the never ending quest to keep the air in my house clean (I have 2 dogs and a cat). Each time I reached a point of information overload and would get analysis paralysis after looking at approximately 23838923 different types of air purifiers available online, and buy nothing.

Then, a week ago I took one look at the fire map (I’m in northern MI) and decided I had to do something quick, even if I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I DIY’d a CR Box. Mostly I saw a lot of Canadians had done it during Covid and wildfires, and I have great trust in my neighbors to the north so went for it with some 20x25 filters from Costco. It is hideous (thanks to my tape job 💅), it is abominably large, it works, I love it, and now want to make one for each room in my house.

So naturally now that I’ve been “hands on” and feel like the Bob Villa of Air Quality (or Red Green for the duct tape fans), my casual curiousness with air quality has turned into my newest hyper-focus. I am pretty geeked that 4 store-bought filters taped together with a box fan was the solution to make my eyes and throat stop stinging last week and protect my family while fine ash was raining down in northern MI, and want to learn all about it.

So now that I know the tiniest sliver more than I did a couple weeks ago (but still please do not ask me to explain positive and negative air pressure and how it impacts hvac, I am Just a Girl™️ and trying my best), I am actually even more confused about the air purifier market.

Which leads me to my question for this post: For air purifier models that offer aromatherapy diffusion as part of the machine, is that not defeating the purpose of the air purifier? And a waste of not only the EO but also impact the purifier performance? Especially since it mostly seems to be offered on models that have a charcoal filter as part of the set up, and if I am understanding the use of charcoal correctly, to me it seems like adding essential oils to be diffused by your purifier would just be a waste of the carbon filter. Or am I misunderstanding how an air purifier would interact with EO particles?

Is there still smoke burning in Canada? Is there lingering affects? Im in Ontario, Canada, and my allergies have been SO BAD and I'm using my inhaler excessively because I can't fucking breathe.

I've wanted an Android widget for years... but checking the PurpleAir map dozens of times per day during the recent wildfires made me decide to finally just make it myself!

You don't need to own a PurpleAir sensor yourself, this can track any public sensor.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.seancolombo.freeair

It's free. It's also open source. It's not official or endorsed by PurpleAir in any way.

It supports multiple sensors, differentiates indoor and outdoor w/a ring around the circle, just like the PurpleAir map.

One thing I'm struggling with is that I currently ask people to get an API key which seems like a potentially annoying overhead, but since the app is totally free, I don't think I could just run everything through my own key.

I'd love to hear what you think of the app! If you like it, please rate it in the Play Store so that other people know it's worth getting :)

Hi all! I noticed that there's been a lot more activity in this sub due to wildfire smoke affecting much of North America. I like to answer folks' questions and thought I'd do a post to consolidate things.

My background: My professional and academic career has focused on the intersection of energy, climate, and health. I was funded by the US DOE to develop a tool to quantify the impact from industrial pollution and the economic benefit from decarbonizing those facilities before going back to grad school. I have also done research on secondary photochemistry (what things turn into once they're in the sunny atmosphere) and I am currently getting a PhD focused on indoor air quality.

My current research looks at how outdoor air pollution gets indoors, what factors drive indoor-outdoor air exchange, and how to protect our indoor spaces (especially from wildfire smoke).

Ask me your questions!

Edit: So many great questions! I apologize if I don't get to yours immediately.

I just moved into a new rental and this ...new furniture smell is pretty intense... it’s VOC off-gassing, so an air purifier just sitting there circulating the same air isn't enough i need actual air exchange to dilute it.

andd i can't leave the windows open all day because the street traffic noise outside is super deafening, and i definitely can't drill holes for a wall-mounted ERV.....

so i ran into a pre-launch concept called "cozeware freshflow" while searching for window-mounted fresh air options.... the idea of bringing in filtered outside air without drilling makes sense for rentals, but i wonder if a compact window unit can actually move enough CFM to dilute VOCs effectively....

or would running the bathroom fan 24/7 be a better deposit-safe hack?...any idea?

I’m in eastern VA and since the air quality peaked this week I’ve had the above symptoms my doctor gave me eyedrops and an inhaler but I still can’t fucking breathe 😭 is anyone else dealing with this

I have just gotten an air filter. I cook often and now just learning about PM 2.5 and the dangers of heating oils excessively etc.. Hve been cooking the last 5-6 yrs and never even knew about this. I am 28 and scared about risks now.

Since Canada’s wild fire incident Thursday and the air quality increasing on Friday, I’ve been getting sick. Walking from my front door to my car gave me a bad burn in my throat and ear pain. But I didn’t feel it the rest of the day or Saturday. Until Sunday, my throat started to get itchy and losing my hearing in my ear. Honestly curious to see if anyone else was having the same symptoms as me.

Hi all. Sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this. I have a Hisense portable a/c tower. It’s the 8000 BTU model with dual hoses. I’m curious if there are any good filter recommendations for this a/c that would help filter out the wildfire smoke. Thank you in advance! 🙏🏼

Wildfire's made Chicago's AQI this past weekend hit 750. Outdoor pools closed across the city, but indoor pools remained open.

However, I have read that indoor pool health codes have strict ventillation requirements that are usually met by having an HVAC system that draws in fresh outside air.

I couldn't find any info on what filtration the outside air typically undergoes, if any.

Of course, exercising outside when AQI is 750 isn't a great idea, but does anybody have any idea of how safe it would be to do a vigorous swimming workout indoors during an extreme AQI event?

Where I am the air quality is back in the “good” range today. I still wonder if it’s safe to bring my babies outside for our walks and playground time as usual -

1) could there be anything residual hanging around on surfaces that wind or whatever can kick up?
2) I know AQ sensors from AirNow and others don’t measure VOCs and things Other than pm2.5 that might still be lingering

am I being overly cautious here or is there reason to still play it safe? Thank you for your input!

I have the air quality reader app with the purple wind icon/thumbnail. None of the sensors have updated readings. I’ve checked that the app is updated on my iPhone, but all of the sensors in my area say the last time data was updated was 11 months ago. Is there a better app now?

The air quality where I live is 137, which is the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category. I have a garage that is detached from the house that I’m wanting to get cleaned up today, but I’m not sure with the way the air is. What would one suggest? I have no heart or respiratory issues that I know of, but my garage is not airtight at all and has a couple spots open to the outside

Hi everyone,

I'm the founder of MapYourHealth, a project that brings together environmental health information in one place.

One part of the project focuses on air quality. Along with local AQI information, I've been adding nearby pollution sources (such as landfills), smoking rates, radon rates, etc. to provide additional context about the environments people live and work in.

My motivation was simple: AQI tells us what the air quality is like today, but many people also want to understand what might be contributing to it and what other environmental factors exist in their area.

I'm interested in hearing from this community:

• What air quality information do you check most often?
• Are there datasets you wish were easier to access or visualize?
• If you use air quality maps regularly, what do you think they're missing?

For anyone interested, the project is here:
https://mapyourhealth.info

I'd genuinely appreciate any suggestions for improving the air quality side of the project.