Question

What is a (true) HEPA filter? Why is the True HEPA designation so important? What does the number next to the filter mean?


Answer

What are (true) HEPA filters?

The abbreviation HEPA comes from the English and stands for High Efficient Particulate Air, which means ‘highly efficient particle filter’. HEPA labels are awarded to HEPA filters, which are used in air purifiers, hoovers and air washers, among other things. HEPA filters consist of randomly arranged glass fibres with a size and thickness of between 0.5 and 2.0 micrometres. A class H13 HEPA filter removes up to 99.97% of respirable pollutants or contaminants from the air.


HEPA filters essentially work in 4 ways to capture the particles:


Source: Wikipedia 


  1. Inertial separation - This is where the heaviest or largest particles are captured. Since these particles are heavier than the air and other particles around them, they move in a straight line, while the others can snake through some of the initial fibres in the filter. Ultimately, these fibres are the first to be captured and held.
  2. Interception - Medium sized particles are caught by interception. This simply means that the glass fibres in the filter intercept the particles and they become trapped.
  3. Diffusion - The randomness of the fibres in the filter causes the particles to co-mingle with each other and with the fibres.
  4. Sieving - The particles are trapped between two fibres in the filter.


Why is the True HEPA designation so important?

HEPA filters are labelled to indicate the standardised filtration efficiency of the filter.  A high filtration efficiency is important because many of the most dangerous particles are so small that they can easily slip through most filter systems that are not properly certified to provide the minimum percentage of filtration. True HEPA class H13 filters (European classification) filter 99.97% of particles from indoor air.  


What does the number next to the filter mean?

The classification is based on a standardised filter standardisation, which is divided into 17 filter classes. The numbers H12 and H13, for example, are standardised designations. The standardisation of filters is used to classify performance. Basically, the higher the number, the higher the maximum filtration. For optimum filtration in the home, ecofort recommends HEPA filters of class H13.


Further reports on the subject of HEPA filters:



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