HEPA Air Cleaner

Air purification has gathered so much attention these days. It places into limelight how humans value life by trying to clean the air that everyone takes in. Air purification makes use of air purifiers to clean the air, which are especially made to sieve through the air that circulates inside the rooms where we stay and removing pollutants like small particles and other debris including even unwanted odors. Here, a review is given on one of the popular cleaners, the HEPA air cleaner.  

Air filters were also designed to be handy and user-friendly. Apart from removing debris and small particles, air filters also lower the occurrence of airborne allergens and irritants.  These devices clean the surrounding air in one of these manners: filtering (mechanical or electronic), ionization (release of negative ions to attract other particles down to a collection plate, or a combination of these methods. When choosing a cleaner one should consider the following: Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) where it should be high; size of the room where it will be placed; and specific purpose for installing an air cleaner whether for removal of foul odor or for eliminating possible allergens that can trigger allergic attacks.

Hailed as the most popular and scientifically acclaimed cleaning units is the HEPA air cleaner. HEPA is not a brand but is a kind of filter attached to cleaning and purification equipment like air cleaners, air purifiers and vacuum cleaners of high quality. HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor, which was not actually new but was developed during the World War II. It was designed during that time as equipment that will trap radioactive dust particles in the surrounding air where research on radioactive chemicals was done. In fact, its design was specially crafted to shield the human respiratory system.  

A HEPA air purifier works by drawing the pollutants towards it with the aid of a fan and traps the particles within a filter. The air that is released back to the surrounding is therefore clean. Filters in these devices have the capacity to filter particles of up to 0.3 microns in size, which include allergens like dust, smoke, pollen, dust mite and animal dander.

In contrast to other air purifiers, ones with HEPA are the most effective filter that can capture particles of 0.3 microns with efficiency rate of about 99.97%. If the air has passed the HEPA filter more than once, air quality is expected to be even cleaner than passing it once to the filter. A HEPA air cleaner however can effectively clean one room at a time only. When placed inside one’s bedroom, it cannot clean the air in the neighboring room or in the living room. This is because it cannot pull the air through walls or doorways and so it is effective only on the room it is operating. 

High quality brands of HEPA air cleaner allow 15 air exchanges per hour while others provide 8 air exchanges. For low quality brands, air exchange is between 2-4 air exchanges per hour.  True HEPA filters are those recognized by OSHA/EPA and are regarded as the best and proven method in cleaning your surrounding air.

© 2008-2009 purifiedhomeair.com: hepa air cleaner