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HEPA Vacuums - What Defines
a True HEPA Vacuum Cleaner
Heard the terms "HEPA", "HEPA like", "True HEPA" and don't know what they mean exactly?
If so then this is the right place for the answers to your questions on the wonderful world of HEPA vacuums.
HEPA Defined: HEPA is short for High Efficiency Particulate Air. In other words this is a microfiltration system that does a super job of removing even very tiny particles from the air. One that is designed in such a way as to remove 99.97% of dust particles (down to as small as 0.3 micron) from the air.
Okay great, but if you're thinking along here you might be wondering, what do ordinary vacuum cleaners do?
Ordinary vacuum bags and filters, which are not HEPA filters, just trap the larger dust particles inside the bag or canister of the cleaner. But they fail to catch the very fine particles as the filter design is such that it traps large particles while letting the fine dust particles escape back into your room. Plus the vacuum cleaners are themselves often not so called closed units. Which again is a nice way of saying they spew some dust laden air back into the room. Result? Well for one if you find yourself sneezing while vacuuming this may the problem.
To avoid these problems you'll want to get yourself a HEPA certified vacuum cleaner. (The operative word being certified.) They also help if you are sensitive to dust, have allergies or suffer from asthma too. Or you simply want a cleaner room. Here's why. And forgive me if this becomes a bit technical.
But in a general sense think of a HEPA's inner filter as a mat of thick, dense fibers. The big idea is to remove various sized particles from the air passing through these in three different ways. They are called interception, impaction and diffusion.Doesn't matter if your choice is bagless, an upright, or a lightweight handheld. If it's got the right filter it can be a HEPA vacuum. Thanks in part to James Dyson's vision of the better vacuum.
These science project like terms basically mean each of these processes target a specific size of dust particle. The details of how this works exactly doesn't really matter. But suffice it to say through the miracle of science these filters trap the super small stuff like fly paper in a way.
So what you should look for with a HEPA vacuum?
• Ideally the vacuum should have powerful suction to draw air past all those fibers and still give adequate cleaning power. A two fan suction motor is better for this purpose as it draws in more dirt than a single motor fan.Then you need to ask yourself if this feature is worth the extra cost? Both initially and then ongoing in terms of the filters.
• It should be a true HEPA filter. And only true filters can be so labeled. HEPA-like will not have the filter efficiency as that of true HEPA. While HEPA type filters are not designed to allow all air past through so they tend to only trap a smaller percentage of dust particles.
• The vacuum should be a completely sealed system so that there is no leakage of dust filled air.
• Find out how long the filters are expected to last before needing replacement.
Whatever you decide, these pointers will ensure that you get a useful HEPA vacuum that filters what you're expecting it to. Rather than getting duped by some in between deals.
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