Water based air filter - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEEnthusiast
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 05:57:21 am
content: FriendsHas anyone used a water based air filter/purifier like belowhttps://www.amazon.in/Fragair-Portable-Purifier-Humidifier-Revitalizer/dp/B07HM8Z5LS/ref=asc_df_B07HM8Z5LS/?tag=googleshopdes-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=397005671440&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7198495262120440936&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9062047&hvtargid=pla-862804403887&psc=1&ext_vrnc=hiIn principle, it seems to work. It draws air and passes it through water where the dust and other soluble gases get trapped. Just wanted to know if anyone has used it.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 06:14:02 am
content: Regardless of the concept, it doesn't look big enough to do anything. Most filter-based air purifiers move a fair bit of air because you have to get all of the air in the room through the filter in a reasonable amount of time to have any hope of doing anything useful even in a closed room. In a room that is actually used, people tend to come in and out, so that increases the required air cycle to be any use because air is getting introduced from outside the room

author: EEEnthusiast
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 06:41:00 am
content: Some one posted an image of the water after running for a day and it was murky like the outlet from a washing machine. Not sure if it was morphed or he added some additional dirt into the water. Anyways I will order one and try it out. It is cheap. If it doesn't work as an air filter, I might use it to make milkshakes..

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 07:26:38 am
content: It does not look cheap at all - maybe cheap to produce. Cleaning the air with water is tricky, as the water reservoir can be a breading ground for bacteria / fungi. It may work the first week or so, but later chances are it would cause more problems than good.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 04:53:44 pm
content: Quote from: EEEnthusiast on February 11, 2020, 06:41:00 amCould be a chain smoker (not the band). Thar would make a mess of any filter.Quote from: Kleinstein on February 11, 2020, 07:26:38 amPut a little bleach, peroxide, pool chlorine, or other sterilizing agent into the water.

author: jogri
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 06:34:19 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on February 11, 2020, 04:53:44 pmPlease don't do that unless you want to experience how chemical burns in your lungs feel like. You have a device that is designed to create an aerosol (ie an extremely big surface/mass coefficient for your water), if you dump in toxic, volatile compounds like HCl and Singulet-oxygen they will just leave the water and transfer to the air that you are breathing...You'd have to use a non-volatile sterilizing agent, and there aren't many that are available to the public, don't stink and are not toxic. H2O2 might work, but given the fact that you are constantly exposing it to fresh air i wouldnt count on it working longer than a day or two.One non-toxic and environmentally friendly way would be to use tensides, but you'd have to use a defoamer (for obvious reasons). Wikipedia suggests vegetable oil, but i don't know how well that works.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 07:03:56 pm
content: The Amazon page seems to indicate you have to buy some fragrance vaporizer oils to add to the water. They have Iris Lemon Grass Fragrances Vaporizer Oil and Iris Lavender Fragrance Vaporizer Oil listed, and maybe there are a bunch more.My own two cents... It is either a piezoelectric / ultrasonic transducer humidifier type device with some aromas added that will permeate through the room and cover up the smell. [EDIT before I came up with the alternative explanation below I wrote... ] How in the world is it supposed to "capture" dust into it, as you are just drawing in air and adding the atomized water (due to the ultrasonic/piezo element) into it along with fragrance and blowing it out the other side.I could understand removing dust and particles using an electostatic type filter, and then taking the output of that and humidifying it. But I see nothing of the sort with this cheap device. I have a few of these piezoelectric type in the kids rooms... they look cute and they break after a few years. Here is an example:EDIT: Actually looking at the image from the Amazon site seems to suggest something else is going on.... Here is the image and it appears that air is being drawn into the central core, being pushed down and bubbles would then escape through the water and be pushed out the other side:It appears that it pumps the air down into the water reservoir through that funnel in the middle (that has rotating arrows around it) and basically acts like a water-pipe "bong" type device (aka "hashish pipe"). It picks up some flavoring/fragrance from it and blows it out the other end. I wonder how loud this device would be and how much humidity it can pick up (and how much dust it can clean) with this method.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2020, 11:38:40 pm
content: More discussion here:https://hackaday.com/2020/01/29/building-and-testing-a-diy-air-purifier/The DIY filter is one I highly recommend.A water based high end commercial version,https://www.amazon.ca/Venta-Airwasher-Humidifier-Air-Purifier/dp/B0001J05IC?th=1Solution is ammonium chloride.I would like to see a proper comparison vs a typical HEPA filter, but didn't see anything from a quick search.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2020, 12:13:03 am
content: Quote from: edy on February 11, 2020, 07:03:56 pmBig Clive looked at one a while back:

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2020, 12:53:57 am
content: I can't imagine it having enough air flow to do much. At least it has pretty flashing lights. If you really need better quality air look for a brand name cleaner with a HEPA filter.

author: Nauris
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2020, 04:07:12 pm
content: Quote from: Kleinstein on February 11, 2020, 07:26:38 amOur tractor has motor oil in the air filter, maybe you can use oil in that filter too?