Air filter to keep dust down in the hobby room? (house, buy)

[urbex]

Obviously, a dusty house is part of living in the desert. I get that, and accept it. But I'm finding it rather difficult to deal with in one part of the house - the hobby room that is chock full of electronics and small parts, and seems to be attracting more dust than the rest of the house.

While I'm doing doing montly cleanings, the number of small pieces and parts means it's an all afternoon thing. I've been thinking about picking up one of the air filters or ionizers to help keep things a bit cleaner, and wondering how they would work for this. I'm not looking to make it surgically clean, and I don't have allergy issues, just trying to cut down on the amount of dust that accumulates on everything.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by urbex

Obviously, a dusty house is part of living in the desert. I get that, and accept it. But I'm finding it rather difficult to deal with in one part of the house - the hobby room that is chock full of electronics and small parts, and seems to be attracting more dust than the rest of the house.

While I'm doing doing montly cleanings, the number of small pieces and parts means it's an all afternoon thing. I've been thinking about picking up one of the air filters or ionizers to help keep things a bit cleaner, and wondering how they would work for this. I'm not looking to make it surgically clean, and I don't have allergy issues, just trying to cut down on the amount of dust that accumulates on everything.

You can reduce the dust level in the entire house by switching to a 4" thick pleated return-air filter - The Honeywell FC40 series is my favorite, you can get the genuine Honeywell parts for about $40, and generic versions are often in the $30 range - and they usually last me a full year (I vacuum the fuzz off the dirty side in the middle of the cooling season to extend the life).

Here's a link showing the filters - fwiw, you can buy them for less if you google a bit, be sure and verify the size of your filter before ordering...

Honeywell FC40R1029 20x30x4 Return Grille Filter Only $45

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

You can reduce the dust level in the entire house by switching to a 4" thick pleated return-air filter - The Honeywell FC40 series is my favorite, you can get the genuine Honeywell parts for about $40, and generic versions are often in the $30 range - and they usually last me a full year (I vacuum the fuzz off the dirty side in the middle of the cooling season to extend the life).

Here's a link showing the filters - fwiw, you can buy them for less if you google a bit, be sure and verify the size of your filter before ordering...

Honeywell FC40R1029 20x30x4 Return Grille Filter Only $45

Some time ago, in a different house, we installed a new HVAC unit and were told by the man doing the install that those expensive air filters were to be avoided, that they made your AC work harder, that I should go with the cheap ones and change them frequently. Has anybody heard that or was he delusional?

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Some time ago, in a different house, we installed a new HVAC unit and were told by the man doing the install that those expensive air filters were to be avoided, that they made your AC work harder, that I should go with the cheap ones and change them frequently. Has anybody heard that or was he delusional?

he was talking about the 1" thick high-efficiency filters. if you dont increase the surface area of a filter, and you increase the efficiency, you create a bottleneck & cause all kinds of problems. the filters i linked to are 4" thick, so there's a massive increase in surface area. if you're comparing them to the 1" "filtrete" filters at the depot, then yes - you're better off running cheap filters & changing them monthly.

[urbex]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

You can reduce the dust level in the entire house by switching to a 4" thick pleated return-air filter - The Honeywell FC40 series is my favorite, you can get the genuine Honeywell parts for about $40, and generic versions are often in the $30 range - and they usually last me a full year (I vacuum the fuzz off the dirty side in the middle of the cooling season to extend the life).

Here's a link showing the filters - fwiw, you can buy them for less if you google a bit, be sure and verify the size of your filter before ordering...

Honeywell FC40R1029 20x30x4 Return Grille Filter Only $45

While that is true, I don't have a dust problem in the entire house, just that one room. Not to mention, that's only going to be effective while the AC or heater is running, which for us is only a few months out of the year.

Also, there isn't very good air circulation through that room, as the door is frequently left closed to keep the inquisitive/theiving pets out That's why I'm looking at the single room solutions.

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

he was talking about the 1" thick high-efficiency filters. if you dont increase the surface area of a filter, and you increase the efficiency, you create a bottleneck & cause all kinds of problems. the filters i linked to are 4" thick, so there's a massive increase in surface area. if you're comparing them to the 1" "filtrete" filters at the depot, then yes - you're better off running cheap filters & changing them monthly.

I'm not questioning which filter is better, but I don't see how having a much thicker filter increases surface area.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

I'm not questioning which filter is better, but I don't see how having a much thicker filter increases surface area.

Better filtration blocks more air. More total square inches allows for the better filtration to pass the needed airflow easier. Hence, the think Honeywell models accomplish an impressive filtration while not holding back the overall airflow exclusively because the total surface area is well over 4X more square inches.

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by urbex

While I'm doing doing montly cleanings, the number of small pieces and parts means it's an all afternoon thing.

I don't know about keeping dust out, but perhaps cleaning more often than once/month would keep a better handle on it?

I can't even begin to imagine what any room in my house would look like if I only cleaned once/month.

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Better filtration blocks more air. More total square inches allows for the better filtration to pass the needed airflow easier. Hence, the think Honeywell models accomplish an impressive filtration while not holding back the overall airflow exclusively because the total surface area is well over 4X more square inches.

That makes sense...but that is not the same as more "surface area".

[wit-nit]

We have a portable Honeywell single room HEPA cleaner, does the job quite well.