The advantages of HEPA filtration

You've probably heard the term 'hepa filter' before, but maybe never understood exactly what it meant. Well, let me clear the air and tell you the facts about HEPA filters and why it makes the wall mount garage vacuum a better vacuum.

HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting) filters got their start back in the 1940's during the Manhatten project when nuclear engineers were looking for a better way to filter radioactive particulate from the air. The technology has advanced and today our Hepa and Hepa style filters remove 99.7% of particulate .3 microns in size. To put that in perspective, the average human hair is 50 to 150 microns wide. That's not to say that particles smaller than .3 micron get past the filter, both smaller and larger are stopped it's just .3 micron is the size where 99.7% are blocked. For a vacuum, filtering out the dust, allergens, and pollen is important because you want to catch those particles, not just recirculate them through your vacuum and back into the room. For allergy sufferers and people with weakened immune systems, it's vital to remove the very small pollen and yes, dust mite feces from the environment.

You may be thinking "it's just a filter, big deal". However, the Hepa filter doesn't work like a common sieve type, where there are holes of a certain size and anything bigger gets blocked. The Hepa style filter is actually a collection of usually fiberglass fibers that collect particulate through 3 different means. Interception and Impaction are methods where particulate run into the fibers and either embed into it or stick to it. The other method, Diffusion, is a result of the collision with gas molecules by the smallest particles, usually those below .1 micron in diameter, which are thereby impeded and delayed in their journey through the filter. This is called 'Brownian motion', named after a Scottish botanist named Robert Brown who happened to be the first guy to stare at dust through a microscope.

If you have allergies, asthma, or any other breathing related issues than a hepa style vacuum will clearly make a difference in your life. Even if you don't have breathing issues, don't you still want the best garage vacuum available?

Hopefully you now know everything there is to know about Hepa filtration, but if you still have questions give us a call, we're the vacuum experts! 1-772-463-1400