The Levoit, and basically all 'consumer' purifiers, are extremely under-powered and generally have very low air clearance rates & CFM. Usually relatively/overly expensive filters, too.
To get a remotely apples-to-apples comparison, look at commercial air purification systems -- think devices intended for areas that allows indoor smoking, such as bars/casinos/smoking rooms/etc.
My experience was that a relatively modest 20x20 (x12' high) room requires a massive amount of air movement, and products actually designed for spaces of that size generally run $3-6k or more.
A Corsi-Rosenthal box can delivery very good PM2.5/PM10 numbers, even with challenging environments & when "stretched" to provide purification for an entire home.
PurpleAir or a similar quality AQ monitor provides some very objective data to guide you; I trashed my Levoit purifiers rapidly after realizing just how ineffective (and expensive) they were versus a CR box.
The Levoit moves a lot of air on its highest setting. The filter is $23 and lasts for 6-8 months. It works amazingly and effectively in a bedroom or living room or office. I know, I use them and measure my indoor air quality with an Awair.
The CR box is probably far more powerful, yes, but it's also gigantic. You'd never put it in a bedroom or living room. I'm honestly not sure where you'd put it.
Seriously. Plus the Levoit gives you adjustable fan speed to balance noise vs effectiveness, set a timer, it tells you when to replace your filter, it looks nice and professional rather than garage hardware, etc.
If it were a quarter the price then I appreciate a DIY thing, but this is already in the same ballpark price-wise as the best-selling air purifier on Amazon. I don't get it.
These sorts of fan setups also use a lot more electricity than a dedicated air filter with similar stats. Not a big deal if you're just running it for a few days, but something to keep in mind.
What is that calculation based off of? The article lists the 4 filters as $70 (which I'd assume you would replace all at once).
The Levoit uses 1 filter "unit", and filters are $55 for a 2-pack on Amazon ($27.5/ea), or half that if you trust the third-party ones.
Levoit recommends to replace the filters every 6-8 months, so you could get 12-16 months of filtration for $55. I can't find any calculation in the article for how long the author estimates their filters would last.
Levoit filters are advertised as lasting 6–8 months and cost $23 each.
Meanwhile a set of four filters like the one in the tutorial cost $70 and looking up comparables online at that price point indicates they're good for 3 months.
So even if using 4 at a time extends to 12 months, that's still more expensive than the up-to-2 Levoit filters you'd use in that time.
I see zero cost benefit here over Levoit -- it seems to be more expensive actually?
The Levoit mentioned (I have one) is tiny and only good for a small room. The comparison box fan filter can clean a lot more air over the same time period.
It's good for a large room, not just a small one. I have one too.
The CR box is tremendous overkill for something like an apartment. It's gigantic and I don't even know where most people would put one even in a house.
But it's also not what the original post was talking about. The original post is a device akin to a Levoit in terms of size and power.
To get a remotely apples-to-apples comparison, look at commercial air purification systems -- think devices intended for areas that allows indoor smoking, such as bars/casinos/smoking rooms/etc.
My experience was that a relatively modest 20x20 (x12' high) room requires a massive amount of air movement, and products actually designed for spaces of that size generally run $3-6k or more.
A Corsi-Rosenthal box can delivery very good PM2.5/PM10 numbers, even with challenging environments & when "stretched" to provide purification for an entire home.
PurpleAir or a similar quality AQ monitor provides some very objective data to guide you; I trashed my Levoit purifiers rapidly after realizing just how ineffective (and expensive) they were versus a CR box.