fourfive
Senior Member
Wow nice work. Since the air flow rate is decreased with the cabin air filter installed, have you noticed a difference in cooling efficiency on hot days?
Cabin Air Filter - Tech Report
- Thread starter JZiggy
- Start date
Wow nice work. Since the air flow rate is decreased with the cabin air filter installed, have you noticed a difference in cooling efficiency on hot days?
JZiggy
Senior Member
Sure, when the cabin is super hot it takes a bit longer to cool it down since it just can't pump as much cold air in. But after a few minutes it has more than enough power to keep it cool and not even at the highest setting.
I don't have any data to back up this claim though
JZiggy
Senior Member
Had a little fun with foam filter media.
I had some UNI 60ppi (fine) stuff sitting around so I tried it out:
Also got some UNI 30ppi (coarse), which is obviously too coarse to be much more than a big ol' chunk filter
The two foams stacked up vs. the Merv4 media
I just focused on the airflow since they all had about the same sound
The fine foam worked about the same as the Merv4 stuff. The coarse foam actually provided noticeable more airflow but it not a very good filter. This could be a good compromise if someone doesn't really want dust/pollen filtration but just to keep out leaves and stuff.
I'm all out of ideas for now!
I had some UNI 60ppi (fine) stuff sitting around so I tried it out:
Also got some UNI 30ppi (coarse), which is obviously too coarse to be much more than a big ol' chunk filter
The two foams stacked up vs. the Merv4 media
I just focused on the airflow since they all had about the same sound
The fine foam worked about the same as the Merv4 stuff. The coarse foam actually provided noticeable more airflow but it not a very good filter. This could be a good compromise if someone doesn't really want dust/pollen filtration but just to keep out leaves and stuff.
I'm all out of ideas for now!
Rushthezeppelin
New member
I'll weigh in on this from my perspective as a HERS inspector (I inspect homes for energy efficiency measures and a big part of that is the HVAC equipment). The noise peak with the Russia filter is possibly strain being put on the bearing(s) for the blower fan. If speed is dropping off by half that tells me that these things are jacking up the static pressure of the system (basically there is a larger pressure differential between the downstream and upstream sides of the fan) which will decrease the life span of the fan. The flat filter though definitely has an issue with surface area and thus you can't get really useful filtration out of that without also having static pressure issues. The ideal would be the Russian style but with a lower MERV media but something still good enough to reduce dust and other large particulate. The most ideal situation would be some heavy fabrication to create a filter box like you see in most modern vehicles where the filter slot is much larger cross sectional area than the rest of the ductwork but that would probably run into numerous packaging issues. Sucks to see this as I've been wanting a filter for my truck but for some reason never applied my professional knowledge to the situation. The crappy thing though is dust will also kill your fan over time so I'm not sure if the filter is actually possibly killing it slower.
shadow247
New member
I'll say that I have been running 2 different versions of the Russian filter since 2021. My fan is always on Med or High. I don't think it drops the pressure enough to matter. My fan is still fine after 2 years of running these.
JZiggy
Senior Member
Same. I think the noise is due to the small clearance between the fan blades and the filter. Some sort of turbulence.
chapolito
New member
I'm all out of ideas for now!
Considering how coarse that 30ppi filter is, I was expecting it would be closer to the no filter readings. Makes me wonder if the Tommy filter sans filter would read...might be that a significant amount of the restriction is due to the design of the filter housing?
Thanks for all the tests + sharing this filter with the community, just got mine in the mail, going to install now!
JZiggy
Senior Member
Good idea, next time I mess around with the filter I'll run it empty and see. There's not a lot of surface area blocked so I expect it to just be a minor drop. The coarse filter may let a lot of light through but it's still a meaningful restriction to airflow.
floatingkiwi
Member
Im in New ZEaland. I'd like to get a few of these and sell them locally.
WiseWolf1217
New member
Buying your old Russian filter
Hey is there any chance I could buy your old filter if you still have it?
I was trying to find one of these filters for a while, I want to 3D scan improve the design a bit.but I haven't been able to find one yet, be cool if I could get my hands on it!
Further, after removing the Russia filter now only the second time two of the retaining tabs broke off
The Tommy filter is a tension fit instead of tabs, and comes out easily while fitting snugly. It will be easy to remove and replace the filter element to keep it clean and renew the charcoal odor absorption.
Hey is there any chance I could buy your old filter if you still have it?
I was trying to find one of these filters for a while, I want to 3D scan improve the design a bit.but I haven't been able to find one yet, be cool if I could get my hands on it!
JZiggy
Senior Member
Yeah sure, why don’t you email me at jziggyt4r at gmail dot com and we can figure something out
floatingkiwi
Member
I'd really like to get my hands on some of these. The facebook site is private...
calimobber
Member
Thanks for all the data. Ive had the common filter sites are selling(like the foam one) and I hate the low growl the fan makes and I can def notice the lack of airflow. I live in the southwest and its crazy hot so the car never really cools down.
I was trying to design a filter that pushed up above the hole. there isnt alot of room but i wonder if even going 1" up would give it movre surface area but worry it would make more turbulance or even cutting the hole larger would work.
I was also trying to look at it and see if there was a way to cutt a hole and slide in another style after the fan but that might be a little difficult from the shape of it all. either way great thread and looking forward to any new or progress people make.
I was trying to design a filter that pushed up above the hole. there isnt alot of room but i wonder if even going 1" up would give it movre surface area but worry it would make more turbulance or even cutting the hole larger would work.
I was also trying to look at it and see if there was a way to cutt a hole and slide in another style after the fan but that might be a little difficult from the shape of it all. either way great thread and looking forward to any new or progress people make.
calimobber
Member
Ive cleaning my evap coil(lots of lint and carpet dust blocking) and thinking about all the filter stuff. We all seemed to focus on one that filters both intake and recycle air. Looking at the path the recycle side seems alot easier to filter.
What if we printed a sleeve and had a medium mesh filter on this part. It would be dead easy to clean vs removing the fan. Im going to try and print something up and see how it looks but id love to see someone with more skill than me try something.
What if we printed a sleeve and had a medium mesh filter on this part. It would be dead easy to clean vs removing the fan. Im going to try and print something up and see how it looks but id love to see someone with more skill than me try something.
calimobber
Member
disregard im dumb. I assumed that was intake but thats just the right vent plumbing. filter would do very little there.Back to the drawing board.
