need to quickly build an air purifier to handle new carpet smell

[engineheat]

Hi,
I moved into an apartment where they replaced the carpet and I hate the smell. I haven't lived in it yet and only moved my stuff in. I tried airing it out over the weekend and didn't notice a significant decrease in smell, which makes sense since ventilation has little to do with the off gassing rate. The management offered to steam clean it tomorrow but I'm not having my hopes up. I heard it would take weeks for the off gassing to drop a significant amount.

I already got 2 air purifiers that I got from Lowes that supposedly can each handle 170 sq ft of area. I plan to use it in my bedroom (100 sq ft) where I will be spending 98% of my time in the apartment. The filter has a HEPA medium and an active carbon layer. Unforunately, the carbon layer seems thin and it's embedded in some kind of plastic matrix so I'm not sure how effective it will be.

Fortunately I will be away for a week. I want to build something quick using off the shelf components/fans that can more effectively absorb (adsorb?) the VOCs. Something that'll allow me to use a generous amount of activated carbon granules. I guess I would need a chamber of some type to hold the granules, a fan, and maybe some tubings/housing. Not too concerned with particulate filtration, just the VOC filtration.

I got a box fan from Walmart but that might not offer enough pressure...

Thanks

[Someone]

Very large tray of baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) and some gentle fans to slowly circulate air. Nothing fancy required.

[Halcyon]

I too have had good results with the baking soda technique, albeit in small areas (like a car), in an open container, giving it a shake every so-often to expose the fresh stuff to the atmosphere.

You just need to try and maximise the surface area of the NaHCO₃ as much as you can, rather than having a thick layer where the circulating air can't get to. A lot of those "Shake'n'Vac" type products usually contain a high proportion of Calcium Carbonate (and some pretty smelling stuff), which act in a similar way, however I don't think I'd be putting either directly onto the carpet for long periods, because both are hygroscopic and could damage certain surfaces/products.

[thm_w]

This isn't something a cheap air purifier will be any good at. You'd have to spend a lot of money before you get anything with more than a few grams of carbon.
The DIY option: buy a carbon 4 or 6 inch grow tent filter ($40-60 on amazon), these are about the cheapest way to get activated carbon and are already pre-shaped. Put a duct fan on the end to suck air in through the carbon.

But it may not be worth the effort. I'd just go for lots and lots of ventilation.

I would think the steam clean will help due to the heat.

[Psi]

I'd just go for lots and lots of ventilation.

+1 for this.
Setup something to get outside air flowing through the house from one end and out the other end constantly.

[Stray Electron]

   Most of the 'whole house' water purifiers use activated charcoal and that has to be replaced periodically so you should be able to buy it in reasonably large amounts from any company that sells or services water systems.  IIRC the one that I have is about five foot tall and IIRC holds about 5 pounds of charcoal.

  I had a an sink overflow a couple of weeks ago and some of the carpet got wet and started smelling funky.  I took the top off of an old UV EPROM eraser, bypassed the timer switch and set it so that the two UV-C germicidal lamps were pointing at the wet area and ran that for about a week along with a fan blowing over the area and that totally eliminated the smell. The UV-C radiation and the small amount ozone that the lamps generate both kill bacteria and also break down chemical odors. I've used this method for years to deal with mold and mildew and it works.  But I don't know if it will work for new carpet smell. 

  Lengthy exposure to UV-C and ozone are both bad for your health so I closed the door to the room and only ran it when I wasn't in there.  I never smelled ozone outside of that room.

[BrokenYugo]

The DIY option: buy a carbon 4 or 6 inch grow tent filter ($40-60 on amazon), these are about the cheapest way to get activated carbon and are already pre-shaped. Put a duct fan on the end to suck air in through the carbon.

This, Amazon or local hydroponics shop, duct fan and a carbon filter. Just be mindful these tend to spray some carbon dust in my experience, might want some sort of post filter.

[themadhippy]

Just be mindful these tend to spray some carbon dust in my experience

That why you put the filter on the sucky end,not the blowy end.
Personally i wouldnt bother with carbon filters,as others have said plenty of through ventilation,and maybe a bucket or 2 full of ono blocks,there pretty good at masking pongy things

[Siwastaja]

Large amounts of activated carbon (DIY solution is needed, consumer commercial air purifiers with carbon filters have too little of the stuff). HEPA or electric filters do nothing, they filter larger particles.

Alternatively, just increase ventilation. During winter time, energy cost caused by increased ventilation could be too much though.

[geggi1]

ozone generator

[engineheat]

I only care about the smell in my bedroom as that's where I spend the majority of my time. I tried ventilation and air purifiers. While those helps it doesn't eliminate the smell. So I thought of the following which I will try today:

Seal off the carpet in my room with plastic sheets (shower curtains) and tapes, even around the walls such that the off gassing vents outside of my room where I no longer have sheet covers. And continue ventilating the rest of the apartment.

I'm not an expert on gases but I would think using non-porous covers in my room should eliminate almost all smells in my room right away as the vocs from the carpet cannot possibly penetrate it. The air purifier with active carbon should take care of any trace amounts due to leakage, such as through door (will be closed almost always) gaps.

Is this viable?

[thm_w]

I guess that is an option, polyethylene sheet should be readily available for building supplies. Shower curtains might have their own issues. As long as the room is not too small and you do bring in fresh air on a daily basis (otherwise CO2 can build up).

https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/2021/05/how-to-sequester-offgassing-furniture-beds-pillows.html
https://ask.metafilter.com/315759/Plastic-sheeting-to-block-VOCs-from-Kills2-primer-Chemists-Anyone

As for the ozone:
I tried experimenting with two new rubber dumbbells, one with a small ozone generator in an enclosed box for many hours. I thought it had less smell after, but my partner said it had more stink. So that was completely inconclusive...

[Whales]

Would washing the carpet help remove a lot of the smelly volatiles?  You can rent carpet cleaning machines and buy shampoo (the smell of which should be shorter lived than your current issue).

[engineheat]

I don't know if washing will help. They steamed cleaned it and it didn't do much. I feel the chemicals are getting emitted from the fibers itself rather than being on the surface.

Good thing my lease is only 6 months. I'm not waiting 2 months or more for it to fade naturally. Also got a loud neighbor upstairs. This is the lease from hell.

[jonpaul]

Rental appartments have the cheapest carpets if any.

These are often made of plastic that is outgassing chemicals.

In US and other locations, fire safety regs may demand a fire proofing treatment, often a fluro/chloro.

The smell may be from the carpet material or fire treatement and impossible to remove.

Even a few PPB may be detectble in an enclosed space.

Many people develop allergies or sickness traced to such chemical vapor or gas emission over a long period.

Thus unlike a spill or fungus/biological waste stain, the entire carpet will emit regardless of UV, disinfectant, or activated charcoal adsorbent.

I would beware of any rental with a noxious material in the carpet.

Bon  Chance

Jon

[Sredni]

My experience is that washing can take away the smell. I am talking about 'real' carpets (no plastic garbage) and by washing I mean with water, LOTS of water (and a common laundry soap).
I had this carpet that smelled like wet dead dogs, and no amount of steaming could help in removing the smell.

On a very hot summer day, I took it in the garden and washed it thoroughly using a garden hose (and soap). Twice on the upper side, once on the back.

The secret is that it has to dry fast if you do not want it to catch a new bad smell. Hence the hot summer day.

No more smell of wet dead dogs for me, now.

[engineheat]

I plan on moving out early. I've rented other places and never before have had this issue. For the sake of my health and happiness I'm prepared to take the loss.

I just feel so robbed if I have to pay 2 months worth of rent as penalty in addition to the Oct rent which I already paid. Is it worth trying to negotiate with them? They do care a lot about online reviews.

I tried thinking over what I could've done different to avoid this situation and given what I knew at the time I don't think I did anything wrong on my part...

[engineheat]

Since it's not my place I don't think it's realistic to expect them to take the carpet out and wash it or put it under the sun. They even told me they could've done that before installing but dont have the ability to.

Winter is coming and I won't even be able to ventilate much if the weather gets cold.

Hence I want to move out and get away from this headache now

[CatalinaWOW]

Your solution (moving out) is effective, but unless you have very few possessions it is a lot of work.  I will follow with my suggestions to cover the case that you are not able to find a place to move to.

My experience with this condition showed a time constant in the one to two week area.  I haven't tried, but am not totally convinced that the activated charcoal will help.  As others have suggested ventilation is the best palliative.  Having the room heat as high as possible (particularly when you are not there) helps.  It lowers the time constant. 

Winter weather makes the ventilation uncomfortable, not impossible.  If you are stuck with this apartment a few weeks of wearing heavy clothing and using heavy blankets is better than spending the rest of the winter being gassed.