# Microwave blower motor filtration



## onecarwallace (Sep 12, 2013)

Has anyone here ever tried making an air filtration system using the blower motor out of an over-the-range microwave, like this?

I found a post from someone that stated that he did it but there was no other info regarding the performance. All I can find on the subject is people using furnace blowers, which are probably a lot more powerful. Mind you, I'm in a one car garage so I don't need that many CFMs to filter all the air.

Thanks!


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

You could do better with a 20" box fan with a 20" x 20" furnace filter duct taped to one side of it.
Heck of a lot cheaper as well.


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## rockindavan (Mar 8, 2011)

I used a squirrel cage fan to clear the air from a small 6×6 make shift spray booth and it worked quite well. Getting an effective air cleaner however from one of those fans might not work as well as you hope. To be effective you need enough airflow to circulate the air around the shop in addition to pulling air through the filter. Anyways give it a shot if you have it sitting around. You should be able to swap it out with a bigger fan if it doesn't work well.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

I doubt it will move enough air.


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## onecarwallace (Sep 12, 2013)

I was asking because I already have a microwave blower motor. My microwave died a while ago and I pulled it out before throwing the rest of it away, so no cost. I know this is unscientific, but it feels like it could be pulling more CFMs than a box fan. It's small, but really powerful.

I actually built this setup  but I feel like it isn't doing anything. I have maybe about 8 inches of gap between the top of the filter and the ceiling so that the outlet air flow isn't obstructed, but it probably doesn't do too much in terms of actually circulating the air.

The plan was to see if I could build a better filter with the small blower motor before just buying an overhead air filtration system.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Let us know if it works.


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## Tedstor (Mar 12, 2011)

I too think a range fan is too small to move significant amounts of air.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

You need a lot of CFM, I know that such a small fan cannot deliver.

" Mind you, I'm in a one car garage so I don't need that many CFMs to filter all the air." 
Wrong, you do need the big CFM to move all the air in your garage and not only a few inches around the fan


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