HEPA Air Purifiers

Posted by Admin on October 2, 2009 · Leave a Comment

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HEPA air purifiers are a popular choice for many. "HEPA" stands for High Efficiency Particulate Arresting air purifiers; they are used to remove minute particulates suspended in the air. Thus they help in purifying the air of all kinds of particles, many of which may be harmful and cause allergic reactions in certain individuals who inhale them.

The material used in HEPA air purifiers is made of fiber or polymers. It traps the microscopic particles that are present in the air. Apart from trapping dust, HEPA air purifiers are also able to contain mold spores, many types of bacteria and viruses. There are many brands of HEPA air purifiers available in the market and most of them claim to be 99.97% effective in filtering particles as small as 0.3 microns. However the truth is that HEPA air purifiers can only filter air that flows through it, so this claim may not be true in the case of all HEPA air purifiers. This is because many of them are not well designed and allow the airflow to pass around the filter and return to the room without being cleaned.

For absorbing gases, odors and chemical, HEPA air purifiers generally use activated carbon based material. They can be of different kinds like a thin mat in the Air-O-Swiss filter or many pounds of activated carbon as present in Austin Air Purifier.

HEPA air purifiers are commonly used in vacuum cleaners, they have beneficial effects on people who suffer from certain kinds of allergies, like asthma because they can trap pollens and dust mite feces which are known to cause allergic reactions in susceptible people.

Though these air purifiers can be extremely helpful, consumers should be careful while buying them, because several such products in the market are advertised as HEPA-like, HEPA Type and even 99% HEPA. Now these products would never even come close to giving results that could be obtained from true-HEPA filters. True-HEPA filters are designed in such a way that they do not let any air leak out while passing though it. They are also called ‘Sealed HEPA’.