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DIY Air Cleaner Program for Wildfire Smoke Protection

Solution Overview

The City of Vancouver expanded a DIY air cleaner pilot program in partnership with the Pacific Institute for Pathogens, Pandemics, and Society to provide supplies for 300 air cleaners and enable community members to build their own filtration devices.[1] This initiative targets seniors and low-income residents to help them filter air in their homes during wildfire smoke events.[2] The program was categorized as Critical priority and scheduled for completion by 2025.[1]

Technical Components

The DIY air cleaner design uses a box fan, a MERV 13 filter, and duct tape as its core components.[5] The simplest formulation of this approach (box fan with taped on MERV 13 furnace filter) achieved a Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of 111.2 ± 1.3 ft³/min.[12] Large increases in CADR could be obtained by using a shroud (40%), using a 4″ thick filter (123%), using two filters in a wedge shape (137%), or using four filters in a Corsi-Rosenthal box design (261%).[12] The smaller 1×1 design is optimal for people living in smaller spaces, easier to transport, and more straightforward to have workshop participants build on their own.[7] CADR increased with increasing fan speed, increasing filter thickness, increasing filter rating (MERV), increasing number of filters used, and increasing particle size.[12] Reported CADRs for DIY air cleaners range from 49 CFM to 825 CFM, depending upon the fan/filter features and particle characteristics.[12] The CADR was greatly reduced with filters heavily loaded with smoke, pointing to the need for frequent filter changes during smoke events.[12] Studies from the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that simulated the effects of wildfire smoke showed the DIY filters are about as effective as commercial ones at pulling particles out of the air.[3][6] DIY air cleaner designs with a cardboard shroud and multiple filters increased the cost effectiveness making them more effective at removing particles than higher-priced commercial units.[11]

Implementation Details

The pilot was initiated in 2023 as part of Vancouver's poor air quality adaptation actions.[1] Since 2023, the City partnered with the Pacific Institute for Pathogens, Pandemics and Society and the BC Lung Foundation to build and distribute the air cleaners, with more than 230 air cleaners built and sent home with seniors and low-income residents who need them.[2] The BREATHE Project, a collaboration by Simon Fraser University, the BC Lung Foundation, and The Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society (PIPPS), helped communities protect themselves by teaching people to build their own air cleaners.[8] Dr. Anne-Marie Nicol, an associate professor of professional practice at Simon Fraser University, started the BREATHE Project in 2023.[5] The workshops are mainly funded by Simon Fraser University and the BC Lung Foundation, with additional support from the B.C. Health Ministry, health authorities and municipalities.[5] The project began as a pilot in the Vancouver area and now runs workshops across B.C., showing participants how to build air cleaners.[5] BREATHE has partnered with all of B.C.'s health authorities and hosted over 90 workshops so far this year in northern, rural and remote regions including the Cowichan Valley, Lower Mainland, Central Okanagan, the Kootenays and the Northern Rockies.[9] Volunteer Lyra Murphy showed seniors at the Chinatown Plaza in downtown Vancouver how to build a DIY air cleaner as part of the B.C. Lung Foundation workshops for people who are more vulnerable to the effects of wildfire smoke.[3] About 20 participants took part in the session at Chinatown Plaza making the filters and learning about how to keep their indoor air clean and wildfire smoke-free.[3][6] The project now focuses on targeted outreach through seniors' centres and community organizations, with groups able to apply to host a workshop through the BREATHE Project website.[5] The B.C. Lung Foundation's DIY air cleaner design costs less than $100 to make, compared to store-bought air purifiers that can sell for a couple hundred dollars.[3]

Benefits and Impacts

The project has helped build over 2,500 air cleaners.[4] Workshop participants left with not just knowledge, but a functional air cleaner and the confidence to use it effectively during future wildfire smoke events.[10] Participants in the DIY air cleaner workshops leave with a little less climate anxiety than they came in with, armed with knowledge about how to protect themselves during fire season.[6] The distribution of air cleaners to vulnerable populations reduces exposure and negative health impacts of wildfire smoke and other air pollutants to those who do not have access to other forms of air filtration, in addition to improving community capacity and solutioning.[1] These health-promotion and preparedness devices can drastically improve quality of life during wildfire smoke events, particularly for vulnerable populations without access to air filtration.[1] EPA researchers evaluated a range of DIY air cleaner designs and a low-cost commercial air cleaner to identify the lowest cost and most effective design, with costs including the initial construction or purchase cost and estimated operating costs for electricity.[11] UL tested five models of box fans with clean filters and with filters loaded with smoke and dust provided by EPA under several scenarios including an extreme scenario where the front and back of the fan were both blocked for an extended period of seven hours.[11] Throughout the testing, temperatures of all fan components remained safely below recognized temperature safety standards, and none of the scenarios tested posed any observable fire hazards.[11]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

The do-it-yourself workshops were developed in response to evidence gathered during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic that showed simple DIY air cleaners were very effective in reducing indoor airborne contaminants.[8] BREATHE added additional resources for communities grappling with the co-exposure of wildfire smoke and extreme heat.[9] BREATHE serves as a launchpad for research on the impacts of wildfire smoke on at-risk populations across the province.[9]

Business Analysis

Following a DIY air cleaner workshop pilot program in 2023, the SFU Air Cleaner team developed a 'train-the-trainer guide' in consultation with public health officials.[7] The train-the-trainer guide is for organizations, municipalities, and emergency management personnel wanting to host their own DIY air cleaner workshops to build resiliency to wildfires and other indoor air pollution.[7] The guide provides comprehensive information on the scientific evidence behind DIY air cleaners, along with logistical considerations and potential challenges.[7][8] The train-the-trainer guide provides information on the research and evidence behind the units, the logistics of hosting a workshop, the potential costs, and the challenges that may arise.[7] The BREATHE Project provides step-by-step instructions translated into 11 languages including Spanish, French, Tagalog, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Punjabi, Korean, Farsi, Portuguese, Vietnamese, and Japanese.[7] EPA researchers are working with tribal and local partners to evaluate the effectiveness of air cleaner use in homes to improve indoor air quality and health measures during smoke events in the ASPIRE-Health Study.[11] EPA tested the effectiveness of DIY air cleaners in removing smoke particles in laboratories in Research Triangle Park, NC using simulated wildfire smoke made from smoldering pine needles in a room-sized chamber to determine the Clean Air Delivery Rate.[11]

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