Material for letting in air/keeping out dust

[gbus]

Hello there,

Firstly, I have tried googling this along with 'eplaya', but i can't seem to find the information I need.

Secondly, I understand that there is nothing I can do here to keep the dust out, I am just looking to find a balance between some air and as little dust as possible.

Anyway, I am taking a friend's truck to the burn and I am going to be sleeping in the back of it. I am camping in a village and will look to set up shade there. The back of the truck does not have any glass windows, but does have window shaped latches that open up.

I would like to be able to keep one of those latches open for air, but would like to minimise dust as much as possible. My plan would be to get some kind of fabric/material than I can tape over the inside of the latch, in theory creating a kinda filter.

So my question is - is there something you would recommend for this job? As mentioned, I understand that nothing is going to be perfect, I'm just looking for better than nothing.

Cheers!

[Captain Goddammit]

Hopefully your friend understands what’s going to happen to his truck...
I’ve just got an extra piece of advice about this, makes sure whatever you do still allows you to close the thing up tight during dust storms.
And always close it up tight whenever you leave it. You never know when the dust will start blowing. Never go away and leave it open.

[gbus]

Cheers for the response

Yeah, he was with me at BM 2015, so i'm hoping he remembers how things went!

[Token]

LoTek way - better than nothing:

Go to JoAnns, Michael’s or similar craft store, get batting used for making cushions, pillows and whatnot. Shove, tape, wedge it into opening, hope for best.

MidTek way - has a chance of working:

Get Hepa Filters, cut to size, tape over opening - Hepa has specs published and effective for Playa dust. May clog. Will present pressure drop for any air circulation so may be best with forced air - i.e. big fan.

HiTek way - will work like a charm at steep engineering cost:

Static ionizing electric plates. Used for clean-rooms and the likes. High voltage is effective and fun! Needs constant cleaning and washing. Low pressure drop. Possible ozone generator so may be toxic if not done right.

Go with the LoTek solution and beg for forgiveness.

[Luigi]

I use a 10x20 furnace filter blue taped to the side window on my vw van. Provides a bit of ventilation.

[Traveller in Time]

Air ionisers Deprecated

(used to be a fan of these items '84)

[gbus]

Superb! Thanks for all the help

[gbus]

Result - due to running out of prep time I ended up going with nothing and just having the latch closed over, but not locked, while i slept. Wasn't the hottest year so was able to sleep until 11 - 11:30am without being too warm.

Cheers for the much appreciated advice anyway

[Canoe]

Wish I'd noticed this before BM.

Oddly, the best way to get fresh air without getting dust inside is to use a small swamp-cooler.

If you're not concerned about chilling the air, the smallest DIY size, the bucket cooler, will do this job. What chilling it provides is a bonus. (Depending on the size of the vehicle, exposed windows and colour of vehicle, it may or may not be sufficient to keep it cool.)

• Dusty air gets inside the vehicle. Dust also gets tracked in on footwear and on one's clothes, hair and skin.
• Dusty air inside the vehicle gets pushed out by the incoming swamp-cooler's ducted air: fresh air from outdoors that has the dust filtered out, chilled and some humidity added.
• As you stir up the dust you brought inside, that too gets exhausted as it is replaced by the incoming swamp-cooler's dust-free air.
• (this is the big bonus) The incoming air creates positive pressure inside the vehicle, so all of the little air leaks don't have hot dusty air coming in, as that pressure has air from inside the vehicle exhausting outwards through those leaks.
  (Some of those leaks can be overwhelmed by a heavy gust of wind. It's a good idea to tape the obvious ones you can get to. If you have a really crazy blow pushing dust in anyways, you may need to close your exhausts while it blows, to limit what can get in.)

A swamp-cooler needs the space it's filling to have a decent exhaust opening. The air already inside needs a path to get pushed out by the incoming air, or little of the incoming air can get in.

• Where I had open windows and a roof vent I needed to have resist dust blowing in, I taped a furnace filter over them (pleated v-support).
  - They can be overwhelmed by a heavy wind, so the filter is insufficient to leave open while you go out exploring BRC, but I did leave them open while sleeping.
  - I had the metal screen support side facing inward, to have that strength supporting the filter material against a strong wind.
• This also works for the needed exhaust for the swamp-cooler.
• Dryer exhaust style vents with light enough flaps will open/close as the swamp-cooler is turned on/off, and most heavy gusts will force them closed enough to prevent much dust from getting inside. What does get inside is shortly exhausted by the incoming swamp-cooler air.
  - Still recommend closing/blocking that on the inside when you turn your swamp-cooler off and go out exploring BRC, just because.