Check out our Corsi/Rosenthal Boxes

Post author By Pastor Bob Schaefer
Post date November 2, 2021
2 Comments on Check out our Corsi/Rosenthal Boxes

Air filtration has become an important tool in fighting the spread of Covid-19. The disease is spread by aerosolized particles that can linger in the air for some time before settling. Masks help prevent the particles from entering the air we share with others – air filters are a good way of dealing with the viral material that finds its way into the air despite our best efforts.

Unfortunately, commercial air filters are expensive. It’s easy to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on portable ones.

Thankfully, creative scientists and DIY types have developed the Corsi/Rosenthal box (named for its co-creators). This cube-shaped contraption can be built in about 20 minutes and costs around $100, but performs as well as a unit costing five times as much. Corsi/Rosenthal boxes are being deployed in schools and offices around the country as colder weather drives people inside.

We have installed two Corsi/Rosenthal boxes in our sanctuary to help keep our air free of viruses and allergens. Another has been installed in the office.

As part of our effort to make our building safer for staff and guests, we’ve installed three Corsi/Rosenthal boxes around the building. They’re an extra layer of defense as we spend more time indoors.

Please don’t touch or move the boxes unless you’ve checked first! They need to be handled with care, since virus particles will collect in the air filters that make up the four sides of the cubes. If you touch the filters, please wash your hands thoroughly right away, just to be safe.

And if you’re asked to move one of the boxes, please hold it by the plastic fan, and go slowly, so as not to shake any virus particles loose from the filters as you go.

We’re grateful that God has blessed us with such creative and resourceful neighbors with the ability to invent such a useful device!

If you’d like to learn more about our Corsi/Rosenthal boxes or how to build one yourself, Pastor Bob would love to lend a hand.

Tags Corsi/Rosenthal Box, COVID-19, Worship

2 replies on “Check out our Corsi/Rosenthal Boxes”

Good Morning. I have been investigating air purification systems for our church here in Ottawa, Canada, and came across your site. I would consider these boxes, and would appreciate any advice you could provide. Much thanks, and blessings to you.

Hi, Richard – sorry! Your comment got lost in the spam. 🙁

If you haven’t already made your Corsi/Rosenthal boxes, they’re really easy. The link in this post should give you a good set of instructions, as well as pictures and videos of the boxes others have made.

Here’s some advice we’d offer:

Be sure you get good filters. We paid a little extra to get authentic 3M MERV 13 filters. With four filters per box, they’ll last a very long time, especially if you’re using the filters mostly on Sundays.
Make a shroud for your fan to maximize its efficiency. That’s the cover you see that’s blocking the corners of the fan and leaving open just a circle in the middle. What happens is that the fan actually pulls air IN at the corners if it’s not shrouded. You can see this and work out just where you need the circle to be by putting a piece of paper to the corner of the fan. It’ll be sucked onto the fan on the edges, but there’ll be a point as you move it toward the center that it is blown away – that’s where the airflow changes, and where you should put the edge of your shroud.
In a big room like a sanctuary, these will be only part of the solution unless you can deploy a whole bunch of them. More realistically, you’ll be treating them as an additional layer in your precautions that maybe lets you ease up a little on some other, more irritating precaution.
Be careful in handling the boxes once you deploy them. The virus – along with dust and hair and all sorts of other crud – is being caught on the outside faces of the four filters. You don’t want to touch those without taking some precautions – keep your hands clean, wear a mask, and maybe have a change of clothes if you have to change the filters, in case any virus is shed from the filters in the process. As mentioned, you won’t need to do that very often, so mostly just make sure kids aren’t playing with them – they’re a fun shape, after all!

I think that’s it – if you have any other questions, we’ll watch the incoming comments more closely! And please let us know if you have already built boxes for your church, how did they turn out? Any wisdom to share?

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