dust

[Tim and Peggy]

We are not in a dusty community. We are in Chula Vista, but it doesn't seem to matter. We have told our two cats, they are not REALLY the issue. We are full-timers, in a 40 foot class A motorhome home. We have dust. Litter box? Cats fur and/or general dust. Indeed when the heater comes on it blows stuff around. We take showers, but it is a constant battle. 

When we run into problems or have questions, we turn to our friends who have been full-timers for 10 years. We said what do we do about the dust? They said, get over it.

Any suggestions? Air filters? or should we just "get over it."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

 

[Fulltimer51]

We have an air filter in the living room and one in the bed room. They help a lot.

[Kirk W]

We had one dog but no cats or litter boxes when on the road. We too used a powered filter for pollen and dust in our bedroom for Pam's allergy issues. The only times that I remember much of a dust issue were in AZ on the desert where it was dusty and we had windows open much of the time and also in Montana where there were a lot of fires in the mountains to our west. We were fulltime for almost 12 years and Pam says she doesn't remember more of a dust problem than in a house. 

EDIT;  It crosses my mind that if you and your cats should generate any dust, it would be the pretty much the same as it was in a house, but in a much smaller area which would make it more concentrated. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Kirk W

[sandsys]

Swiffer is my answer. That brand of duster actually picks up the dust rather than just move it around. We go through a number of refills all the time but IMHO that's better than tracking the dust everywhere. Yes, as that implies, I use it on our floors as well. The extension handle one is wonderful!

Linda Sand

[Jinx & Wayne]

Spraying the cats with Endust and then sprinkling catnip about the trailer might work.  Then you only have to shake out the cats.🙀

Nobutseriously, I haven't found anything that works on the dust reducing end of the equation if you have any windows or doors open.  For picking it up once it is there I like Swiffer and a vacuum.

[Tim and Peggy]

we have actually use pledge when we spray them, they like the orange-scented type. Double face tape also works.

[Barbaraok]

Switch the litter to SWheats cat litter - it's made from wheat and that really reduced the amount tracked about by our cat.  We also got the "puppy" training pads and would put one under the litter box sticking forward, that caught any litter sticking to her paws and any 'drips' that the old girl had getting into and out of the box.  

Since we spend the winters in the desert, I just don't worry that much about the dust.  It will always be there, use the Swiffer for tables, door jams, etc., and vacuum regularly and that is it.   

[Tim and Peggy]

morning Barb and thanks. I think the issue really is the dust, hair, etc. The litter-thing is not a big deal, it is more just the sheer dust and because we are in a small environment, it is more obvious. I remember 41-years ago when Peggy and I got married that vacuuming was in MY job description, but this is crazy.

But we are fine, I didn't even want cats, but we have Winnie and Gus and they are great travel companions (albeit annoying).

"Swiffer for tables, door jams, etc., and vacuum regularly and that is it." YEP!

Happy New Year and Thanks. 

BTW where in the desert? As full-timers, we are trying to figure out where to drop anchor. We have been in San Diego for December and headed to Palm Desert for two months.

 

 

 

[Barbaraok]

We spent the winter in Mesa, AZ.   Took us about 5 years to pick out the spot we wanted.   Greater Phoenix area has lots of Arts Centers with concerts of all types all winter,  great museums (Heard Museum and Musical Instruments Museum are outstanding), great restaurants, shopping, etc.   Plus in 10-15 minutes we can be out in the desert hiking, etc.   And the bonus - Spring Training with 15 teams within 30-40 minutes of anywhere in the valley!     We've been coming here since 2010 and wouldn't have it any other way.     In fact, we changed physicians to the Mesa area since we spend several months here and it is easiest to get all poking and prodding done while we are here.

[hemsteadc]

Kind of a mystery to me.. your dust.  I have a cat and litter box, and I notice dust when I clean it, but that's about it -- and I'm in the dusty desert quite a lot!   But the desert is more sandy and dirty than what I consider dust.

What about your furnace vents and ductwork?  Are they perhaps full of dust?  Of course this could also be a question of one's man's dust is another man's clean house.

Edited December 28, 2020 by hemsteadc

[2gypsies]

Do your windows seem to be sealed tight.  Do you notice a lot of dirt in your window 's ledge?

Of course, this is winter but when it's warm do you leave your windows open wide on a windy day?  Doing this in the desert will bring in a lot of dust.  Doing it in a forest in spring will bring in lots of pollen.

I've got a feeling it's the cats that's creating the stuff.  Or perhaps you're much more particular than we are!  😁

[Barbaraok]

2 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

Or perhaps you're much more particular than we are!  😁

I think that each year out you become more complacent about not trying to battle Mother Nature - the dust will win in the end.   Of course we are people that believe if the coach needs washing, it will soon rain and the worst stuff will be gone.  At our age, life is too short to worry about dust or having a 'clean' coach/car.  

[packnrat]

want to clean up the air you breath. and on the cheap too. for ac voltage just get a 20 in (frame size) box fan. and one of the s&b home central house heppa filters just tape the filter to it and run on low or med. same basic thing with a smaller dc powered fan.  just some might need to build a box frame to mount it all in.

[durangodon]

11 hours ago, packnrat said:

want to clean up the air you breath. and on the cheap too. for ac voltage just get a 20 in (frame size) box fan. and one of the s&b home central house heppa filters just tape the filter to it and run on low or med. same basic thing with a smaller dc powered fan.  just some might need to build a box frame to mount it all in.

That's pretty creative, but I'd be cautious about doing it.  The fan motor was probably not designed to operate under that kind of load and may overheat or worse.

[Tim and Peggy]

Thank you all for your comments. Here is what I heard:

1. Get over it!
2. Keep the rig clean with swiffer, vacuum, etc. We do that, never ending battle (like any home). Having moved out of a 1600 Sq. foot home, maybe it is just the closeness and relative size of the 40'foot motor home there is only so many places it can go-as opposed to a "house."
3. We are obsessing (well maybe a bit) but the other thing that makes it more obvious is the  kind of flooring we have. We have a beautiful ceramic tile floor (no carpeting) and as opposed to carpeting that "hides" some of this it just sits there.
4. So we will perhaps buy some filters and there should not be any down-side to those .

 

Thank you all. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

 

[packnrat]

i have a number of them in my s&b house, use them all year and not one problem. it helped a lot to keeping the ash from the fires out of my home.  i have nose and lung problems, and i do not have any dust flys in my home, (those little things floating around you can see in the sunbeams).

most of the air is forced into the filter, but all the other psi from the fan does get blown out back past the sides of the fan blades. this is not the best. but works great. i even have a smaller one (twin fan thing) set up to pull in filtered air. it also helps cool the house in the summer heat.

[Chalkie]

1 hour ago, Tim and Peggy said:

We have a beautiful ceramic tile floor (no carpeting) and as opposed to carpeting that "hides" some of this it just sits there.

That type of flooring is very nice to look at but as you pointed out shows all the dirt especially if it is dark colored. Our daughter had ceramic tile throughout the lower floor of her house. It was in the house when they bought it but it was a darker color, made every room seem dark and showed all the dirt and pet hair. She decided to have it all ripped out and is replacing it with a lighter colored bamboo flooring. 

We just clean the RV on a regular schedule and have learned to just adapt to the dust. 

[DanZemke]

If I were suffering from dust intrusion, I think I'd buy the Winix 5500-2.  But I'm not at this time, so I haven't.  I prefer it over other Winix models because of it's ratings and looks (I don't care about the remote control that comes with the 5500).

The replacement filters are expensive, but I can afford $100 a year if they work well, and they seem to.  

https://www.amazon.com/Winix-5500-2-Purifier-PlasmaWave-Reducing/dp/B01D8DAYII/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&aaxitk=T3fknl1-7jneIMZcbNSj1g&hsa_cr_id=3671439830501&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0

[Lou Schneider]

9 hours ago, durangodon said:

That's pretty creative, but I'd be cautious about doing it.  The fan motor was probably not designed to operate under that kind of load and may overheat or worse.

It works fine as long as the filter is on the intake (suction) side of the fan.  Any backpressure through the filter just draws air around the edge of the fan so the motor load doesn't increase.  My sister's house was less than a mile from the Creek Fire and when she returned after a 2 week evacuation it had massive smoke and dust inside the house.   She ran two box fans with filters 24/7 for the three weeks until her electrostatic filter arrived and they did fine.  Went through 2 dozen filters in the process.

[packnrat]

even the most expensive "air filter unit" is cheap to the co$t$ of the filters. but the clean air to breath (at least to me) is worth it.

[hemsteadc]

One of the  first things I remember about moving from a house to a 400sqft RV is how dirty it got so quickly.  Yeah, ok, I'll be cleaning much more often, but much less area to clean.  And I do notice dust on my computer screens.