If you’re looking for ways to make the air in your home cleaner and with fewer allergens, a HEPA air filter is just what you need. HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters are designed to remove 99.97 percent of pollutants from the air you breathe. These air filters can be used in air purifiers, vacuum cleaners, and air filtration systems designed for your entire home. A HEPA filter isn’t a brand of filter. For a filter to be called a HEPA filter, it must meet a certain level of requirements.
What is a HEPA Filter?
The High-Efficiency Particulate Air filter was designed back when atomic bombs were first created. In 1940 scientists needed to keep nuclear workers safe, so they designed an air filter that could keep the air clean of even the tiniest particles. A few years later, hospitals started using them in their air filtration systems to capture virus particles.
A HEPA filter is made of fiberglass and other synthetic materials. Its specific design makes it possible to filter the air of even the tiniest particles. They can catch allergens, pollen, PM2.5, viruses, mold, and bacteria. This specific filter is an integral part of any air purifier.
How Does a HEPA Filter Work?
You may think of a HEPA filter as a tiny mesh net that catches anything that is too big to fit through the tiny holes. While it makes sense to think of it that way, HEPA filters work far more effectively than that.
Particle sizes are referred to as PM (Particle Matter) followed by the size ( PM2.5 or PM10) and are measured by microns. For example, human hair is 50-70 microns in diameter. A particle of pollen or mold is a PM10, which is 10 microns in diameter, while a combustion particle is a PM2.5.
When it comes to filtration, some particles are just too big to fit through the holes of the “net”. However, smaller particles do fit through the hole but become trapped inside due to the filter’s design.
Anything larger than 10 microns gets “strained,” as scientists call it. Something as small as bacteria which is 0.3 microns, can fit through the “holes” in the filter but are intercepted. The particle will follow the air in the filter but is too heavy to get pushed back out and get stuck. And then, we have the particles that are under 0.3 microns. These can easily fit through the “holes” in the filter, but they don’t because they fly in a zigzag. Even the tiniest particles will get stuck in the fibers of a HEPA filter.
HEPA filters, in scientific terms, clean the air by straining out the largest particles. The medium particles are cleaned out of the air through interception and the tiniest ones through diffusion.
Air Pollution in Your Home and the Necessity of Air Filtration
If you don’t already know that the air in your home is 2-5 times dirtier than the air outside, you do now. Houses and apartments are being made more and more efficient. This is great for our electric bills but not so much for the air quality in our homes.
The air outside has plenty of pollutants itself, but when trapped in our homes and unable to get out, they accumulate. Pet dander, combustion from appliances, allergens, and bacteria all live in our homes and, unless filtered out, end up in our lungs.
When we think about our health, we often only consider drinking enough water, the food we eat, and getting enough exercise. However, one of the simplest things you can do for your health is breathe fresh air. An air purifier with a HEPA filter can remove all of these pollutants, including viruses, from the air in your home.
Air Purification with HEPA Filters
At Pinnacle Group, we specialize in your indoor air quality. The benefits of quality air purification with HEPA filters are too good not to tell our customers about. Our Whole Home HEPA Air Cleaner System can remove pollutants from your home, most of which are microscopic. With 85% of contaminants being 0.3 microns, you need a HEPA filtration system to catch them. Our Whole Home HEPA Air Cleaner gives your home and family the gift of fresh air in your lungs.
For more information about our air quality services or UV Lights, give us a call at Pinnacle Group today!