Global Courant
West Coast social media users accustomed to wildfires show East Coast residents how to build Corsi-Rosenthal air purifiers as smoke from wildfires in Canada moves south. wildfires in the western US. Corsi-Rosenthal air purifiers, which rely on four air filters and one box fan, are highly effective at filtering wildfire smoke and other indoor particulates, according to experts.
Social media users share a surprisingly effective way to protect yourself indoors from the toxic wildfire smoke that blankets much of the East Coast: a fan, four air filters, and lots and lots of duct tape.
As searches for “air purifiers” increase on Google, people are posting on TikTok and Facebook how to build the DIY air purifier. The technique, known as the Corsi-Rosenthal method, has received a lot of attention in recent years amid the pandemic and raging wildfires in the western US.
Some East Coast residents are learning about the box-fan method for the first time, unlike their West Coast counterparts who are used to the smoke from wildfires.
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Seattle resident Angel Robertson, 34, posted a video to TikTok of a New Yorker showing how to put it together. In her video, which has been viewed more than 600,000 times, Robertson tapes four 20 by 20 air filters into a box shape and mounts the fan on top. The whole device costs less than $100.
“It works extremely well and will save your life with really smoky days,” she says in the video. “It does a much better job than the normal air filters.”
Public health experts say Corsi-Rosenthal air purifiers are very effective at removing particles from the air. Petri Kalliomäki, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, said their rate of clean air is relatively high and can be used to purify air from not only smoke, but also pollen and viruses.
A Corsi-Rosenthal air purifier built by Liz Hradil is seen at her home in Syracuse, New York, as wildfire smoke from Canada blanketed much of New York on Wednesday. (Liz Hradil via AP)
At the University of Connecticut, Misti Levy Zamora, an assistant professor of public health sciences, and her colleagues handed out free Corsi-Rosenthal air purifiers to anyone who stopped by on Thursday. Zamora said she has done several tests in college, public schools and her own home on the air purifier.
“I can confidently say this thing is working really well today,” she said. “I was able to filter all the particles in the air back to what I saw last week within minutes.”
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The power of social media led to the invention of the box, co-inventor Richard Corsi, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California at Davis, told The Associated Press. He said he was sketching one night in 2020 and posted the design on Twitter. Jim Rosenthal, CEO of Tex-Air Filters, took the design and built it. Corsi said he wanted to make an inexpensive air purifier that the average American could afford. He now hears from friends in the Northeast who are using his idea.
“If you need to seal off a building and reduce the amount of air coming in and if you have to spend a lot of time indoors, portable air purifiers can really make a difference to your life,” he said.
Grace Turner, 31, built her air purifier for her home in Rochester, New York, after picking up the trick by living in Salt Lake City. She shared her DIY box on TikTok where she said the purifier has made a difference in her home.
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“There are a ton of different designs for people to choose from, and it’s really accessible to find the information,” she said of the DIY instructions online.
Liz Hradil, 27, who lives in Syracuse, New York, said the smoke burned her eyes and she could feel the smoke in her nose and throat as the smoke descended in New York this week. She was browsing online to buy an air purifier when she came across the Corsi-Rosenthal box and went to Lowe’s to pick up the filters and fan. She then immediately noticed that the smoke smell was gone after about 30 minutes of starting her air purifier.
“It was my first time, and my friends in New York thought this was so genius,” she said after sharing the photo of the box online. “No one had ever heard of it.”
