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Right, so, one week in and definitely have some data on prototype 2a already.
1: Obviously, it reclaims a lot more heat/humidity than prototype 1. Mostly, I have not needed or wanted the partial cover. In the north hallway, we gained a free 1.9°C, or 3.4°F, which was durable... well, at least 12 hours. It's over 12 hours later and it hasn't returned to pre-laundry temperature, though it's pretty close now. Humidity was a 6-7 point gain and we're again still over baseline, which in this case, is good. We never exceeded bad limits or even got close.
2: The fabric screen material I was trying as a pre-prefilter definitely does not work. It's far too coarse. I kind of anticipated that being the case, but now I know. It did basically nothing.
3: With hinged access to the filter, using the vacuum hose to clean lint off the charcoal prefilter is simple, quick, and pretty effective. This feature definitely needs to stay.
4: A filter this much larger needs some central-axis support. Easy enough to do, but noting for the future.
5: Basic PLA is definitely not a usable material here. It's strong enough, but it's getting hot enough that it's warping enough to be unacceptable over time.
6: MERV 13/MPR 1900 is definitely good enough for dust control. No apparent lint is escaping, which is, obviously, exactly what we want.
7: I don't know how actually-clogged or not-clogged the filter was, but lint mostly got attached to the lower third of the charcoal prefilers, and it wasn't a blocking amount there, either. Is monthly cleaning reasonable? I don't know and I'm afraid I don't really have enough cold weather left to find out, given that I want to test other questions first.
I think the idea of a once-a-week quick cleaning with a vacuum is practical and sustainable - it takes about as much work as emptying the regular lint screen - so my objective at this point is to see how well the filter holds up with once-weekly cleanings.
I also want to think about high-temperature PLA and tighter-mesh fabrics for the pre-prefilter. If I can come up with the right material, I kind of think I should be able to have something that doesn't grab on to lint so easily, where most of it falls off the prefilter and down/out the exhaust tube, outside.
Even without that, though, I kind of think a design that requires only a monthly cleaning cycle is possible. I'd like to get there if I can, not so much for my own use - I do laundry on housecleaning day anyway, vacuuming one more small item when I'm already vacuuming everything else is not a big problem - but for other people with additional issues.
But I don't have that answer yet, and likely won't get to try it until next autumn.
Unless March ends up surprisingly cold, of course. Then I'll have a shot.
1: Obviously, it reclaims a lot more heat/humidity than prototype 1. Mostly, I have not needed or wanted the partial cover. In the north hallway, we gained a free 1.9°C, or 3.4°F, which was durable... well, at least 12 hours. It's over 12 hours later and it hasn't returned to pre-laundry temperature, though it's pretty close now. Humidity was a 6-7 point gain and we're again still over baseline, which in this case, is good. We never exceeded bad limits or even got close.
2: The fabric screen material I was trying as a pre-prefilter definitely does not work. It's far too coarse. I kind of anticipated that being the case, but now I know. It did basically nothing.
3: With hinged access to the filter, using the vacuum hose to clean lint off the charcoal prefilter is simple, quick, and pretty effective. This feature definitely needs to stay.
4: A filter this much larger needs some central-axis support. Easy enough to do, but noting for the future.
5: Basic PLA is definitely not a usable material here. It's strong enough, but it's getting hot enough that it's warping enough to be unacceptable over time.
6: MERV 13/MPR 1900 is definitely good enough for dust control. No apparent lint is escaping, which is, obviously, exactly what we want.
7: I don't know how actually-clogged or not-clogged the filter was, but lint mostly got attached to the lower third of the charcoal prefilers, and it wasn't a blocking amount there, either. Is monthly cleaning reasonable? I don't know and I'm afraid I don't really have enough cold weather left to find out, given that I want to test other questions first.
I think the idea of a once-a-week quick cleaning with a vacuum is practical and sustainable - it takes about as much work as emptying the regular lint screen - so my objective at this point is to see how well the filter holds up with once-weekly cleanings.
I also want to think about high-temperature PLA and tighter-mesh fabrics for the pre-prefilter. If I can come up with the right material, I kind of think I should be able to have something that doesn't grab on to lint so easily, where most of it falls off the prefilter and down/out the exhaust tube, outside.
Even without that, though, I kind of think a design that requires only a monthly cleaning cycle is possible. I'd like to get there if I can, not so much for my own use - I do laundry on housecleaning day anyway, vacuuming one more small item when I'm already vacuuming everything else is not a big problem - but for other people with additional issues.
But I don't have that answer yet, and likely won't get to try it until next autumn.
Unless March ends up surprisingly cold, of course. Then I'll have a shot.
