
The smaller particles cause the most problems to your respiratory system as well as allergic reactions. This is what you breathe into your lungs. The light weight of the small particles allow them to suspend in the air for long periods of time. The purpose of the HEPA filter is to remove both large and small particles from the air. HEPA Filter Use – Large versus Small Particles That’s why we began to test different models with a particle counter. It’s hard to tell how well it’s working since you can see it. The challenge with assessing air purifiers is that most particles are too small to see. Although you can see some of the larger dust particles or pet dander if the sun shining in your room is just right. Most airborne particles are less than 1 microns in size and too small to be seen. Dust mites are often sized in the 1-10 micron range although finer dust can be smaller. As a reference point, a grain of pollen is about 5 microns. A micron, also known as a micrometer is one millionth of a meter.

The unit of measurement for particle size is called a micron. Let’s start with what it means to be a true HEPA filter, how filters are measured and the purpose or use. Although, in marketing we see HEPA as a term to mean in general a high efficiency filter. A true HEPA filter removes 99.97% of all particles that are 0.3 microns in size or larger. This is a pleated filter that traps airborne particles as they pass through an air purifier. HEPA is an acronym that stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air. To begin, a HEPA air purifier is simply an air cleaner with a HEPA filter but as we see in our testing, not all HEPA filters perform the same. The top ranked air cleaners use HEPA filtration.Īt the bottom of this page is the listing of popular HEPA filter air purifiers. Not sure what to buy? Go here to see the best air purifiers from our testing.


You will see the advantages and disadvantages along with some surprising findings from our testing. In this article we will explain how a HEPA air purifier works.
