EPA-Approved HEPA Vacuums

HEPA Filters

• HEPA filters are made to capture particulate matter from .03 microns with 99.97 percent efficiency, and all HEPA rated filters do that. These filters are so efficient they capture the most common allergens and pollutants, trapping them within the filtration medium of the filter. Health care providers, scientific research centers and pharmaceutical labs are main users of HEPA filters. Vacuuming with a HEPA filtration system in your home has been shown to reduce allergens and pollutants.

HEPA Filtration and Vacuums

• HEPA filters are placed in the exhaust airflow of a vacuum cleaner. As the exhaust air leaves the vacuum, it passes through the HEPA filter, where the filtration medium catches the particulate matter before it is exhausted back into your living space. Most of the exhaust air is funneled through the filter, with the resulting exhausted air being cleaner than it was when first pulled into the vacuum cleaner. The filter must be cleaned regularly to maintain its HEPA-rated performance, and in most cases, the filters are soaked in a dishwater solution, rinsed and dried before being reinserted back into position.

Non-EPA-Approved HEPA Vacuums

• Virtually every consumer-grade department-store household vacuum cleaner is a non-EPA-rated HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner. The vacuum may have a HEPA filtration system, but the filter boxes are not airtight and leak airflow that does not pass through the HEPA filter medium. These vacuums can be advertised as a HEPA vacuum cleaner, and the filters themselves may conform to EPA standards for HEPA filtration, but the vacuum cleaner, as a whole, is not EPA certified and approved.

EPA-Approved HEPA Vacuums

• An EPA-approved vacuum cleaner has a HEPA filtration system that is sealed. That means all the vacuum cleaner exhaust air must pass through the filter medium. Only sealed canister vacuums, most of which are considered commercial-type vacuum cleaners, have the EPA seal of approval as a genuine HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner. Although there are household-grade manufactured HEPA filtered vacuums, unless they are stamped specifically as "EPA Certified," they only have HEPA filters and are not fully sealed.