To anyone who is experiencing this for the first time, some tips I've found useful:
1) Even if it seems counterintuitive, try not to move air. Don't run fans or open windows. Do run filtration systems, but preferably interior ones. Even exhausting outside will draw new air (and particles) inside. Keep doors and windows closed as much as possible.
2) Run humidifiers if you have them. If you don't, and you just desperately need relief, close the bathroom door and run the shower hot for 10-15 minutes (i.e. make a steam room). That usually helps my sinuses and eyes quite a bit. You can also try breathing through a warm damp rag, although that gets pretty old pretty quickly.
3) No science behind it that I'm aware of, but I find that carrot juice really helps my throat when it's sore.
4) Be sure to try and enjoy at least one sunset. They will be glorious.
You can do the same with regular air filters for your HVAC. Buy 4 that are square, the size of the box fan. Put the 4 filters on end into a box. Put it on the floor or cardboard bottom. Place the fan on top blowing into the box. Obviously, duct tape the filters where they meet to keep the box from collapsing.
The only catch there might be is actually being able to find a furnace filter on store shelves during these AQI disasters. They have a tendency to quickly vanish much like toilet paper during the beginning of covid or A/C units during heatwaves.
Ait is bad enough, skipping indoor exercise is probably best unless running a quality air filter.
My learning of that was after taking days and once weeks to recover from smoke exposure. I don't think the gravity of how bad it is really sinks in until the super long recovery is observed
I tried this once but the fan didn't seem like it was capable of pushing sufficient air through the filter to do anything. I remember I looked up a bunch of articles on this to make sure I was getting the right kind of filter, and it still didn't work well.
Most box fans will struggle with a single filter right up against them. The blade design on a typical box fan is designed for velocity, not pressure. Also, I don't know the physics as to why, but you want to be pulling air through the filter rather than pushing. It's why car radiators have the fan on the engine side.
The best setup is to use multiple filters arranged in a box shape, since more filter surface area = less restriction on air flow.
The primitive "filter taped to box fan" model worked fine for me in Portland during the massive fires of 2020. Maybe not the greatest thing for the fan, but my indoor AQI sensor would go from reading like 250+ to under 100 pretty quickly. And of course, the filters basically turned black in a short period of time.
You can get woodworking Masks for outside if it gets bad. Humidity is a tricky one - because we sealed our house for over a week last year it actually got way too humid.
I picked up a whole mess of them when everyone in my deep blue area stopped masking. They were deeply marked down. I can’t be the only one looking ahead like this. They’re great for home improvement projects, risky environments, and days like this.
If you really need air, which I found was basically necessary on hot smoky days without AC, I put a MERV 13 20x20x4" HVAC filter in my window and drew air through it with a box fan. This took out most of the small particles (verified with air quality monitors) and cooled off the inside of the house.
1) Even if it seems counterintuitive, try not to move air. Don't run fans or open windows. Do run filtration systems, but preferably interior ones. Even exhausting outside will draw new air (and particles) inside. Keep doors and windows closed as much as possible.
2) Run humidifiers if you have them. If you don't, and you just desperately need relief, close the bathroom door and run the shower hot for 10-15 minutes (i.e. make a steam room). That usually helps my sinuses and eyes quite a bit. You can also try breathing through a warm damp rag, although that gets pretty old pretty quickly.
3) No science behind it that I'm aware of, but I find that carrot juice really helps my throat when it's sore.
4) Be sure to try and enjoy at least one sunset. They will be glorious.