prairiewindmomma Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 (edited) We have been dealing with wildfire smoke for weeks, but a new fire combined with a wind shift has our air quality plummeting. We have multiple HEPA filters going in the house…and they can’t keep up. We’re now building Corsi-Rosenthal boxes in the middle of the night. How’s your part of the smoky West? ETA: our co2 levels are getting high in the house also. If anyone has any ideas on how to lower those, please share! Edited October 20, 2022 by prairiewindmomma 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Our air quality was the worst in the world for a time earlier today. I masked on my walk. I am coughing a lot. I don't know of any special things to do. I am eagerly waiting for rain to come on Friday. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 Yes! The rains can’t come quickly enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 Our first Corsi box is up and going…our indoor AQI is back under 100 in a room where we have the HEPA and the Corsi box going. On the AQI metric, it looks like we just needed more filtration. Our CO2 levels obviously aren’t improving, but maybe we can try opening a window in a small room tomorrow for 15 min and see if we can find a balance between CO2 and AQI if we are doing very heavy filtration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 I am so sorry for everyone facing this please be safe! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 California wildfires have been relatively tame this year so far. Do you have any potted plants that would be okay indoors? That would help take up some of the carbon dioxide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSera Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 How high are your CO2 levels? Unless you have Covid concerns with others in your house (oh, you actually do have Covid right now now that I think about it, don’t you), they would have to be extremely high before the CO2 was more of a concern than the smoke. Otherwise, windows or house fans to bring in “fresh” outdoor air are the way to lower CO2. Except you have no way to get fresh air 😔. Lots of houseplants?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 I have two houseplants that are good for CO2 conversion. The Snake Plant is especially good. But it’s toxic to cats, dogs and small humans. So you have to be careful with it. My outdoor plants are suffering. Some of that is lack of rain but a lot of it is air quality. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 I can’t wait for the smoke to clear out of here! It looks like “green” air is pushing its way into the sound right now thank goodness. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 (edited) I have a ton of indoor plants, including snake. It does nothing when we measure rooms with our monitor, fwiw. Normally we open our windows a couple of times a day and get good ventilation that keeps our CO2 manageable. We can’t do that right now and bring in more smoke. We just beat out Jean as worst quality air in the world this am. We have our HVAC going, but it isn’t enough fresh intake right now. We were pushing 2000 with CO2 in some rooms last night. We were able to get enough bedrooms with good AQI air last night that we could spread everyone back out to sleep and now they are around 1200-1400. I had COVID last week and have had my second negative test, so I am no longer isolating even though it is day 8 for me. I was getting headaches from the co2 levels. I just did another breathing treatment. I was hesitant to open my airways up until we had consistent good AQI air where I was. At least I am breathing a bit better now…still have burning itchy eyes and a sore throat though. Edited October 20, 2022 by prairiewindmomma 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 I went outside and it was raining here! Very light rain which weirdly didn't show up on my weather app at all but perhaps it was very localized. I doubt that it did much to change the air quality though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saw Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 I'm new to this smoke and I don't like it! Feeling a bit unwell. I don't think the HEPA filters are working well. Any recommendations for smaller air purifiers that can be used for one room? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loowit Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 We didn't get as bad here as other places. We only got down to unhealthy, we are back into unhealthy for sensitive people now. DD who south of us has worse air quality. Her college has advised them to stay inside as much as possible. I am really looking forward to the rain to help with the air quality and with the fires. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 53 minutes ago, saw said: I'm new to this smoke and I don't like it! Feeling a bit unwell. I don't think the HEPA filters are working well. Any recommendations for smaller air purifiers that can be used for one room? Fwiw, both our Levoit and Honeywell purifiers with HEPA filtration perform about the same degree of “cleanup” as each other. They do fine in a 10x10- 10x12 room, with a closed door. They are not enough for an open living/kitchen/dining room in current circumstances or in a larger bedroom despite being rated for larger spaces. A Corsi-Rosenthal box gives you the benefit of four sets of filters purifying the air. It’s been great in a large space—brought the AQI down to 33 from 227 (inside the room numbers) in about 15 minutes. If you are running your HVAC, don’t forget to swap out your filters there either. Ours are turning brown every few days. Just being inside doesn’t do enough to clean the air, especially for sensitive folks. The studies from OHSU from the 2020 fires clearly show that—and so do the numbers from any AQI meter. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 Much better! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMom Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 I feel like a child on Christmas morning! Thank goodness the fresh air has arrived! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted October 21, 2022 Author Share Posted October 21, 2022 We have the windows open and are airing out the house! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer&Mom Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 I’m going to open windows and turn on our kitchen exhaust fan. Suck that new air in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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