If you designate an inner room, then you are going to have to have some means of getting air into and out of the room. Leave a window opened in one room that connects to the safe room. Place a rectangular high–efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in that outer room window. Then build a frame for the safe room’s door to hold another high–efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter and a small ledge in front of the filter to rest a small (12 x 12 ) box fan. Big fans use too much energy. The rest of the door area would be sealed by the frame, and this made safe with duct tape. Some filters come framed. Buy according to your needs.

If you use a small outer room having toilet facilities, this would be better, if normal utilities and water pressure are not interrupted during a CBW attack with terrorists targeting electrical, water, and natural gas utilities, using explosives and/or computer attacks (have portable toilets handy). You can make the room "safe" by sealing it, given above, then place the HEPA filter in a window partially raised and seal it there. It may take more than one filter to do the job.

The HEPA can filter out 99 percent of particulate matter in the air, including microbes with a diameter a little larger than 0.3 micrometers (millionths of a meter). This includes, possibly, some of the larger viruses.

The small fan is placed in front of the filter blowing into the room. It is actually pulling air from the outside, through the filter, giving you fresh air, not a lot, but you are getting an exchange. The "tight" room will have leaks, and this procedure you have created will keep carbon dioxide down. If not removed from the ambient area and no oxygen coming in to the room, carbon dioxide build up in the body can occur, halting various energy producing reactions of the cells.

But what if the electricity goes down? You can opt for a generator, but someone will have to go possibly to an unsafe area, outside, most likely, and turn it on, and periodically refuel it while wearing a protective suit and mask. You will bring back in with you, if a heavy CBW aerosol attack has been perpetrated against your area, microbes—recall the postal attacks of October 2001, or outgassing, unless you have a positive air lock system, the opposite of the negative Biosafety Level 3 (BSL–3) and decontaminate your protective gear, with your person in it, in a decontamination room.

In a Biosafety Laboratory, with BSL–3, for example, those "…laboratories are under negative pressure with regard to the corridor outside. When the door is opened, air is sucked into the laboratory," as opposed to air being pushed out. Conditions are created such that air pressure is greater on the outside than on the inside, thus air flows in and not the opposite.

In a positive system, air will be leaking to the outside from the inside through any crevices, keeping the pressure greater on the inside than on the out. Thus, no CBW agents should enter your safe room. Since you want to create an inexpensive, positive air system without undue exposure, if electricity is halted and you don’t want to risk going outdoors (or even if you have the electric generator indoors) to service the generator, the next thing would be to invest in a 10 amp solid state automatic battery charger switched for conventional and maintenance free batteries as well as 6 and 12 volts. Also get a 350 watt power inverter that converts 12V DC to 120VAC. The Rally® is one we have and find it very good for our needs. You can get it at Kmart. You would need one to several new heavy duty automobile batteries.

The whole system works this way: have your battery(ies) fully charged, using the automobile battery charger, as needed. If the electricity is halted, or is sporadic, you plug the small box fan into the inverter which is connected to your battery. It will run for hours, pulling in air. Not much, but it will give you fresh air in an emergency. Run it for several hours or more at first when an attack has been announced or you see evidence of CBW. You want a positive system while concentration is high; it will taper off in several hours to a day or so. Have a battery radio to keep abreast of any emergency broadcast advisories. After this, you can operate your positive air system for an hour or so; off for thirty minutes. Continue in this manner to refresh the air. It is the best you can do under the circumstances and for the investment incurred. You want to get through this thing alive and in fair to good health. If the latter procedure falters for you, run the fan more, or continuously at low speed. Hence, the need for more batteries, we feel. When the electricity returns, recharge the battery(ies) immediately and use the regular AC source, switching out as needed, as the electricity may be intermittent.

Plan your needs accordingly. Roughly, a family of two, have two batteries or more. You can operate small light fixture(s) for hours. We have done it three to four hours with power to reserve when we used a 60 watt light bulb. But, remember, anything that heats (electric heaters, cookers, etc.) up will use power more rapidly. This is why you want pure stored water and ready to eat meals in this particular instance (MREs—Not More Than 21 Days; Have Fiber Capsules And Probiotics, Such As PB8 With the MREs, and/or canned goods). You need to last for several days to a week for dissipation of CBW agents to occur. Obviously, have a battery powered radio.

To make the HEPA filter last longer, we suggest you also have a roll of filter material (20 ft. L x 3 ft. W x 1 in.) and place a cut and sized piece from the roll on the outside of the HEPA filter, using duct tape to fasten it in place. When the "All Clear" is given, remove filters from outside the window if possible and incinerate in a burn barrel. A metal trash can would be suitable. Do not try to decontaminate with bleach and other materials given for reuse; the filter will come apart. Have several HEPA filters present for possibly several attacks. Spray the outside exposed roll filter with Endust®.

We got our filter material in a roll at Home Depot, made by "True Blue," and the HEPA from Lowe’s.

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Watch These & Do Accordingly

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Making Your HEPA Filter

The Inverter

Get The Inverter!

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We Definitely Suggest This:
Carbon Dioxide Monitor

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Master These Books Immediately Above!

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Everything Will Come Suddenly
Without Warning!

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These Are In Our Future:

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... To Be Continued ...

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