How you can keep wildfire smoke out of your home

CBS News

3 days ago

Feel free to breathe a deep sigh of relief. The dangerous air Minnesota endured for nearly a week is behind us. That being said, the wildfires burning in Canada haven't stopped.
Homeowners know the saying, "water finds a way." Add wildfire smoke to that distinction, another savvy invader harming indoor quality, where people should feel protected from it.
"Unfortunately, there's no device that we have currently that can just push air out of your house without also sucking in some of that air," said Jared Christopher, a service technician with Standard Heating and Air Conditioning in Minneapolis. "I would say instead of trying to focus on how not getting into your home, maybe it's like, once it's in your home, what do we do to treat it?"
Air conditioning units, specifically split systems that provide central air in a home, can be your first defense. It has to do with the filter in them.
"You're going to have a blower and that blower is constantly moving air throughout your home. So, the stale air that's, let's say, in your bedroom or kitchen, that gets sucked through your return grill, and it passes through a filter," said Christopher. "If we have a really good filter there that's able to capture smoke, smoke particulates, we can capture some of that smoke."
When looking for a furnace filter during these smoke events, you want to check the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) rating. Essentially, the higher the number, the better it is at filtering particulates in the air. The rating starts as low as one and goes as high as 16.
To remove fine particles related to wildfire smoke, a filter must have a MERV rating of 13 or higher. Christopher suggests MERV 13 as the best one to grab. Once you go higher, the filter paper thickens to a point that HVAC units must work harder for the air to flow through them. Christopher says a MERV 13 filter "gives you the best of both worlds at cleaning the air in your home but also not stressing your system out."
Experts say air purifiers and air cleaners will help, too, just make sure the air purifier has a HEPA air filter in it to trap the tiny particles.
"If you have those, I would definitely grab one or two, place them in maybe a main room and a bedroom," Christopher said.
If an air purifier is out of your price range, there is a more frugal and functional way to clean the air in your home. You just need three things: a box fan, a MERV 13 filter and some bungee cords to build your own portable air cleaner.
Put the filter on the back of the fan, use the bungee cord to secure it and plug it in. The DIY cleaner has approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for reducing wildfire smoke particles indoors. For more information on how to make one, click here.
Another tip involves switching the A/C on your thermostat from "Auto" to "Fan On" mode, so that your home is constantly circulating the air.
"Which will definitely help because then we're taking that stale air and we're getting it past that filter," said Christopher.
Keeping windows shut and limiting how often you open exterior doors can help reduce the amount of smoke entering your home.