Dust eater

[akis]

I live in the suburbs, a good distance away from motorways, and other sources of pollution. We have hard floors no carpets anywhere. However we are bathed in dust, which is clothes, bed sheets, couch covers. My laptop needs dusting every two days, when the sun comes in you can see clouds of dust in the air. And it is all clothes fibres.

I was thinking the fans on our laptops and PCs are clogged with this dust (had to open up and clean my son's laptop the other day), so what if I had a large (say 120mm or larger) slow rotating fan (very very quiet) to sit in every room with a filter at the front, to work 24/7, and it would trap a lot of dust. Maybe not all, but something is better than nothing.

I cannot be the only one to have come up with this idea?

[ju1ce]

How often do you use the vacuum cleaner? I think you can achieve better results by hoovering more often. Having to make nice boxes with finger guards, burning a lot of electricity etc. makes me not too excited about your idea.

[akis]

Sure and you can cover a larger area - that is right. But the vacuum cleaner is like 1000-1200W. A little fan would be like 0.5W - approximately 2400 times less energy.

[nanofrog]

Have you considered a room sized air cleaner that uses a HEPA filter?

Pulls dust and other particles, but without nearly all the noise of a vacuum cleaner.

[aroby]

Have you considered a room sized air cleaner that uses a HEPA filter?

Pulls dust and other particles, but without nearly all the noise of a vacuum cleaner.

mjlorton has a couple of reviews on his Youtube channel of cleaners that he uses in his lab that may be useful.

[SeanB]

HEPA filter outside and a fan that pressurises the whole house a little so that all incoming air is filtered and any openings let air out.

[mzzj]

HEPA filter outside and a fan that pressurises the whole house a little so that all incoming air is filtered and any openings let air out.

this is a recipe for a disaster in colder climates.

Bedroom and laundry room are the dustiest places of the house so if you are using your laptop in the bedroom its not really a supprise .
Vacuum twice a week, wet-wipe the floors once a week and get air cleaners if necessary.

Do you have some sort of heating/ventilation system?

[akis]

The dust is fabric dust from our bed sheets, clothes and couch covers - it's not coming from the outside. Pressurising the house would not achieve anything. Actually whatever we leave outside or in my workshop downstairs, stays perfectly clean.

Someone mentioned youtube, and I found this

A standard box fan and a filter taped on it does the trick.

[Yago]

Thought the dust would have a large percentage of skin.
So, it's down to you and the family, pets too!

A silly question, but is your vacuum cleaner in good order?
Filters and seals good.

A crappy or knackered vac can do a good job of spraying all that dust back into the air.

[akis]

Yes we also have a cat. I know.

Vacuum cleaner is alright, but you'd have to vaccum almost every day.

I found this: http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/am07white/dyson-am07white-heater?refsource=APadwords&crtag=AP&gclid=Cj0KEQiAlISlBRDHpIekkMGiiskBEiQAh-0KQBOM-v3CRXgSGdXJC_5WwouEKY3Vs7_hvJVW_tPH1vgaAnfH8P8HAQ#maindesc

Can someone please tell me I am reading this right: 56 KW

[Yago]

Yes we also have a cat. I know.

Vacuum cleaner is alright, but you'd have to vaccum almost every day.

I found this: http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/am07white/dyson-am07white-heater?refsource=APadwords&crtag=AP&gclid=Cj0KEQiAlISlBRDHpIekkMGiiskBEiQAh-0KQBOM-v3CRXgSGdXJC_5WwouEKY3Vs7_hvJVW_tPH1vgaAnfH8P8HAQ#maindesc

Can someone please tell me I am reading this right: 56 KW

That should get rid of the dust then!!

[wreeve]

modern AC unit with a plasma filter. LG make one and it works great; the amount of dust it extracts from the room...with the added advantage it's cool in the summer and hot in the winter :-)

[Rory]

Yes we also have a cat. I know.

Vacuum cleaner is alright, but you'd have to vaccum almost every day.

I found this: http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/am07white/dyson-am07white-heater?refsource=APadwords&crtag=AP&gclid=Cj0KEQiAlISlBRDHpIekkMGiiskBEiQAh-0KQBOM-v3CRXgSGdXJC_5WwouEKY3Vs7_hvJVW_tPH1vgaAnfH8P8HAQ#maindesc

Can someone please tell me I am reading this right: 56 KW

http://www.dyson.com/fans/tower/am07/am07-tower-fan-black-nickel/specifications.aspx

26W.

[akis]

But I live nowhere near main road, or other commercial/industrial pollution.

All the dust in my house is clothes dust, fibres coming out of the bed sheets, couch covers, and the clothes we wear. There are no carpets in the house.

My laptop is black (like most) and I can see the layers of dust on the keyboard and screen, I need to vaccuum clean it every 3 days at most. It is a crazy amount of fibres in the air, I am just looking at my small desk speakers now (black), their top is almost white with this dust.

[Wh1sper]

We do have an fireplace indoor (Kamin)
It might help to build a ionizer.
It is waiting for build in my personal pipeline since months

[tszaboo]

I was also considering this a while back. I'm using drier for my clothes, that removes an insane amount of lint, it still amazes me.

[BurningTantalum]

These synthetic clothing fibres are looking like the Next Big Worry. They are now at measurable levels in most of the world's oceans and the US/Can Great Lakes.
Buy cotton garments (- read the labels) + you won't smell so bad after excercise !!

[george graves]

Do you have forced air heating?  Have you checked your HVAC system filter?

[atferrari]

I found that at a certain point in their life, cotton towels start to release lot of lint.

Seal windows and doors as well.

[crystal]

Equip your room with an electric ionisers and air water humidifiers. Surround yourself with them, dust can be the cause of some serious problems. I had some skin problems and it didn't stopped until I bought that. They work by they make the dust and all other allergenic particles heavier and than they fall on the floor.

I have this one, it's ok but I dont use it anymore since my skin problems are gone: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5L-Ionizer-Ultrasonic-Aroma-Humidifier-Air-Diffuser-Purifier-Home-Atomizer-/141533395210?pt=Home_Fragrances&hash=item20f40c390a

and I have this its always on and does make the air much cleaner in room I can really feel that since the outside air is polluted:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Portable-Ionizer-Air-Purifier-Oxygen-Filter-Kit-Freshener-Clean-Travel-New-/271734281578?pt=US_Vacuum&hash=item3f44a0156a

[jaxbird]

You should get some of these air purification units. I have a few and they work great, doing both hepa level bio filtration and ionizing.

These ones got odor sensors as well, so if any smell spreads they tend to auto adjust speed and fairly quickly get rid of it.

A good test (fun ) is farting within a 5 meter radius and watch the air quality LED go red and hear the unit accelerate it's fans to full throttle

[nukie]

Few suggestions from someone who hate dust.

Wear bunny suits - prevent dead skin cells from scattering.
Buy used linen, new linen are full of linen dust.
Install ducting system with HEPA filter. Turn on fan only mode to cycle the air in your house.
Install window and door seals.
Install double doors.
Don't leave the house. 

[Marteck]

I live in the suburbs, a good distance away from motorways, and other sources of pollution. We have hard floors no carpets anywhere. However we are bathed in dust, which is clothes, bed sheets, couch covers. My laptop needs dusting every two days, when the sun comes in you can see clouds of dust in the air. And it is all clothes fibres.

I was thinking the fans on our laptops and PCs are clogged with this dust (had to open up and clean my son's laptop the other day), so what if I had a large (say 120mm or larger) slow rotating fan (very very quiet) to sit in every room with a filter at the front, to work 24/7, and it would trap a lot of dust. Maybe not all, but something is better than nothing.

I cannot be the only one to have come up with this idea?

I live in a dusty house with a dog and two cats, I use a good quality vacuum cleaner and have dust problems, these include dog and cat hair, the usual human body dust and some gawd awful dust that I presume comes from outside, I have tried your idea of adding fans and filters, all they do is capture small amounts and create a draught and are more bother than they are worth unless you set up one area as a clean room where the room is under pressure to repel dust.

Most of the time I use a damp duster to collect the dust and change the filter on the vacuum cleaner, its easier to do that than trying to vacuum the cats and dog and anything that creates dust ( tried vacuuming the wife once but got a black eye )

What I did find is that 'some' of this dust in this house enters from under carpets via the gaps in floorboards and in the gap between the skirting board and floor and the stairs if its carpeted, the rest comes from outdoors, people, pets, the loft and the vacuum cleaner throwing dust out past its filters.

One guy I knew years ago was into photography and had dust problems, he tried everything but ended up using some heath Robinson throw together vacuum cleaner that vented through a hole in the wall to the outside, I think its based on an American idea, suck it up and dump it where it belongs, outside the place your trying to clean !

[helius]

Airborne dust is trapped by moisture, so the bathroom is dust-free after a hot shower. Home photographers take advantage of this.
Another tool is to build a drying cabinet, either sealed or vented with an air filter. Varnish finishes need extended time to dry and any dust would ruin them, so woodworkers as well as photographers use these.