kevin_standlee | Battling the Smoke

There was no improvement in smoke conditions today, and indeed it's getting worse, with the National Weather Service predicting unhealthy to hazardous air conditions today. We needed to get groceries, so we both masked up with our N95 filters, which are probably all that can do something against the smoke. (The wetted-down cloth masks provider initial comfort, but do less to filter the fine smoke particles.) Maybe I was imagining it, but the air did seem cleaner to taste under my N95 mask.

Taking some advise I saw online from a California state air-quality management agency, yesterday, we bought a couple of 20x20-inch air filters and taped them over the box fans we have. We do not have a forced-air cooling system (except inside the travel trailer), and we have to open the windows at night to try and force out the hot air in the house and bring in cooler air, smoke or not. After only one night, we had photographic evidence of how dirty the air is right now.

Using blue tape, I attached the filter to the box fans. In this particular case, I realize to my annoyance that I'd accidentally attached it to the front of the fan instead of the back, but it was easy enough to pull the tape off and put it on the correct way. Note that the filter is relatively clean and white right out of the package.

Following my normal practice, I put one fan in the bathroom window to draw air in overnight and another in the bedroom window set to exhaust air. This allows me to point the evaporative "swamp" cooler into the bedroom, sending cool, damp air into the room but also allowing it to exhaust and actually evaporate. If you don't do this, you end up with muggy, uncomfortable air after a while.

This is what the filter on the fan in the bathroom looked like after one night of drawing air from outside. It's not surprising that there's already a lot of smoke and dust trapped in the filter. It does reduce how much air comes through, but at least the air coming through is somewhat cleaner.

This is what I didn't expect. The fan set in the bedroom exhausting air was similarly covered in gunk, which shows just how much bad air is already inside the house. I'm glad that my CPAP machine has multiple filters. I probably should change them more often in the short term. I can afford more filters.

Maybe I should leave the filter off the fan set to exhaust air, as I really don't care if I'm blowing dust and smoke out of the house.

The AQI reported in Fernley shortly after we got back from grocery shopping in Reno was a whopping 462, which is listed as Hazardous, with a recommendation that we stay indoors. I'm wondering if I should wear my N95 mask even inside today. Should I have to go outside again today, I'll definitely wear that mask. Breathing smoke is No Fun.