And vacuum cleaners come to mind, we more than likely thing of the vacuum cleaner bag, and is it full or do we have spares? However, most vacuums are filters too, catching the small particles that exit via the vacuum exhaust. People who have allergies tend to go for vacuums with a HEPA or ULPA filter, for others the standard vacuum cleaner filter is okay.

HEPA and ULPA Filters:

A lot of companies supply HEPA vacuum cleaner filters with their mid-range and premium items. HEPA means “high efficiency particulate absorbing” filter. To satisfy the definition of HEPA, vacuum cleaner filters have to pick up 99.7% of particles that are 0.3 microns or less in size in testing by the US Department of Energy. For comparison, a grain of salt is approximately 5 microns in size.

Anecdotal evidence from many allergy sufferers shows some peoples’ symptoms are reduced by cleaning the house with a HEPA vacuum cleaner filter. Most scientists are not ready to say however, that there is a connection between HEPA filters and allergy relief.

Sometimes a vacuum cleaner filter is labeled “HEPA type” or “HEPA technology”. These are terms that mean something that captures less than an actual HEPA filter. If you want real HEPA, watch the language on the vacuum’s packaging. You must clean a HEPA filter often; when the fine mesh gets clogged with dirt, the airflow slows down, overtaxes the motor, and just does not work as well.

An ULPA, “ultra low penetration air”, filter is even finer and is used mostly in industrial applications, when not a particle of material should be lost. Think along the lines of cleaning up an asbestos or nuclear mess.

Entrust ULPA vacuum cleaners to the professional person. The meshing is so fine that it slows up the suction and causes the machine run with less efficiency. If you’d like to try out this sort of filtration for your allergies, go with a home air cleaner fitted with an ULPA filter.

Standard Vacuum Filters:

A lot of vacuums use micro-filters in one, two, three, or five layers and can be matched with an electrostatic filter that draws in certain particles. By definition, a micro-filter must trap 99.5% of all particles that are 2 microns or more in size. Compared to 2 microns, grime, dust, dust mites, bedbugs, sand and hair are immense. Lots of these particles do not even get to to the exhaust filter as they get trapped in filters sooner in the cycle. The largest things, like dust, are caught in the vacuum cleaner bag or dust bin.

You will still have to clean or replace a standard vacuum cleaner filter from time to time, however, as the mesh is some what larger, it is less likely to balk the airflow and put pressure on the vacuums motor.

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