Hepa Home Air Filters - Discover How Air Cleaning Technology Makes a Difference

HEPA filters are the way to tackle damaging indoor air pollution. Keep your family safe with a home air purifier.

When you think about air pollution, the last place you expect to come across it is in your family's home. However, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air pollution could be two to five times higher - and some of the time more than a hundred times as high - than outside levels. That means below par indoor air quality is one of the top five risks to better health. Since we spend 90% of our time inside our homes, that's a dilemma.

HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting) filters are one possible strategy for better indoor air quality. HEPA filters have been used since the 1950s when the US Atomic Energy Commission considered it important enough to remove tiny radioactive particulates from the air.

HEPA filters work along these lines: think about one sheet of HEPA paper (in fact it's made of a paper-like fiber or polymer) with very tiny holes that filter out pollutants. In view of the fact that the surface area is restricted, only tiny amounts of air are able to pass through. If the size of the sheet was doubled, it would be possible to get 2 times the airflow and two times the filter life.

A larger surface area would make a more productive filter. So instead of increasing the dimensions of the sheet itself, the surface area is increased by being folded back and forth many times. Some filters have as much as forty sq feet of filter material. HEPA material is actually a rather incredibly thin bond of fibers.

Air is forced to go through this sophisticated network of fibers and in the process, particles hit the fibers and stick. HEPA filters naturally filter out the larger particles like dust, however they also work very well against mold spores, viruses and bacteria.

All types of air purifiers say that they clean 99.97% of the air that goes through the HEPA filter - but what they don't disclose is that some air doesn't flow through the filter. If the air doesn't go through the HEPA filter then certainly it isn't filtered. That makes the issue of 99.97% efficiency somewhat questionable.

The best quality HEPA filters don't have a problem in this particular area because their designs include fans that in fact push air through the filter - the more air that flows through the filters, the better the air becomes.

The size of the room is an important matter when determining the size the air purifier needs to be. Evidently the bigger the room is, the larger the filter ought to be. A further possibility is to have two smaller filters. They can divide the work - and allow double the amount air to make it through the filter.

Remember that HEPA filters do not filter out chemicals, gasses and odors. That's because these molecules are much too tiny compared to HEPA's 0.3 micron holes. In order to filter out these destructive molecules, some type of substance is vital to absorb them - activated carbon is mostly used.

Take time to ask questions before deciding which air filter to purchase for your family's health. Reputable business owners know about their brands and can best suggest which size of filter is necessary to guard your home and ensure it's as healthy and clean as it can be.

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