HEPA Filters - Are they all the same?

HEPA Filters - Are they all the same?
13 Reasons why Not all HEPA filters work at a HEPA level and why Not all Air Purifiers work at a HEPA level.
Many people think that all HEPA filters filter the same and many people also think that all HEPA air purifiers perform at the same levels, as well, just because they see the word HEPA associated with the units. Unfortunately, this is absolutely not the case - so today we are going to explore why not all HEPA filters are the same and why not all HEPA air purifiers filter at the same levels. We’ll talk a little bit about how HEPA filters actually filter particulates and then I will provide 13 reasons why I think over 90% of the HEPA air purifiers on the market don’t actually perform at a HEPA level. And there is a surprise finding towards the end with one of the more popular HEPA filters which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that not all HEPA air purifiers filter at a HEPA level and I ran into that evidence by accident. So let’s get started.

1) No independent body is required to test or verify the HEPA claim.
Due to its high efficiency, reliability, and proven track-record, HEPA technology has become the industry standard for particulate filtration in critical environments, such as laboratories and hospital operating rooms.
Therefore, Most so-called HEPA filters are never tested!
There is no requirement that household air purifiers are tested to meet HEPA standards. Recognizing the great marketing potential of the term "HEPA," many manufacturers use the term “HEPA” to project a high-performance image onto their room air purifiers. The problem is that there are no regulations regarding the use of “HEPA” in testing and labeling products. In other words, no independent body is required to test or verify the HEPA claim. Therefore, most so-called “HEPA” filters are never tested!
2) Many manufacturers use the term “HEPA” to project a high-performance image onto their room air purifiers.
To confuse consumers further, there are more and more types of HEPA claims entering the market. Some of the HEPA claims include:
HEPA-type, HEPA-like, HEPA-style, and 99% HEPA, but they are all subpar versions of what truly constitutes a HEPA air filter and may never have been tested. Aside from doing your own testing, there’s no way to know how efficient – or inefficient – a filter using one of these terms is. There are no regulations regarding the use of the term “HEPA” in testing and labeling products.
The “True HEPA” claims are not required to be tested either. Again, true HEPA refers to HEPA filters that claim to capture 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns. “True HEPA” is a marketing term designed to assure customers that their HEPA filters actually stand up to HEPA standards. However, the use of this term is also not even regulated. HEPA Filters - Are they all the same?

3) Even Wikipedia even says, “Some companies use a marketing term known as "True HEPA" to give consumers assurance that their air filters meet the HEPA standard, although this term has no legal or scientific meaning.” Now, I have told many people in the past that anyone can basically start an air purification company in their garage and strap a HEPA filter to a fan and market it as a HEPA Air purifier even without any significant 3rd party testing to back up the claim. The Air Purification industry is kinda like the wild west in this regard.

4) Also, HEPA filters are somewhat fragile, so there’s no guarantee a filter that passes HEPA standards will perform after manufacturing. Some even many HEPA filters can get damaged in transit but customers won’t be able to know by merely looking at them.

5) The Quality of the HEPA fibers: Some so-called HEPA filters are made of ordinary synthetic fibers. Synthetic fiber media is known to be a far less dense structure and is much less efficient at trapping particles than media made of fiberglass or specialty synthetic fibers. But consumers won’t typically recognize the difference.

HEPA Filters - Are they all the same?

[MrCollindpyle]

I'm not sure how you don't have more subscribers but extremely glad to have found you. Thank you for your videos.

[keithcharles]

I agree on 50%. I have a high air flow vacuum cleaner and I clean my pre filter and main filter every 4 to 7 days. I’m getting a quarter of a cup out of the main filter. Pretty substantial. This is a bedroom with it set at 80% speed. No way it would make it to 6 months.

[oppressorable]

This kind of content is invaluable. That's extremely useful knowledge.

Thank you for making it and i hope that your channel will have the success it deserve.

By the way, what air purifier would you recommend to filter cooking odors?

[Jeff]

thank you very much for your research and the time it took you to put this video together!

[blakenator]

Yeah, a lot of this makes sense. Also makes me feel a bit depressed - are there any real-world solutions for ensuring the air I am breathing is actually safe? i.e. what's the good news, if any?

[applisense]

I've been watching this channel ever since you commented on one of my videos and I have got to say that this channel has been nothing but an eye opener! As hobbyist/nonprofessional, I was thinking about starting off the the IQAir GC Multigas. However the filter replacement seems to be somewhat of an intimidating process so that led me to the Aeris and the Austin air on your channel. I'm kind of torn between the two to start off with and I was thinking of getting one of those for the bedroom. Then eventually graduating to the IQAir GC Multigas for the main kitchen/living/dining room area which is about 500 square feet as there is some kind of odor/chemical smell that I notice after returning home after an extended period of time. It seems like Austin has been around longer than the Aeris when watching one of your other videos and i'm curious on what your suggestion would be for a good starter quality air purifier. Maybe I should take the money spent on the IQAir GC Multigas and just get both the Austin air and Aeris to get my feet wet and obtain some experience with them. Keep up the outstanding work!

[gaiusgracchus]

Excellent. We were about to buy Filter Monsters and we see that is not a good idea.

[Amybnuy]

Ugh just got a vital 200s based on rtings… the filters are expensive!

What do you think of the washable winnix carbon filters tho? My vital is sadly glued

[rtcurtis]

Hello Doug. Does the Austin come up short on Ultrafine particle filtration because of media reasons only or bypass issues as well? I currently have one HPP, and it has a good odor elimination quality, but am also looking for additional particle filtration. Was looking at the IQAir AtemX. I called them today for info and they said it was about 530 CFM on high and draws about 85 watts per hour. It uses three HyperHepa. Any thoughts on that unit, Doug? It’s $$.

[josephk.]

Do you have any toughts on permament and washable filters? Like the ones in the Honeywell Air Genius 5 (which for some reason costs 90 eur in Europe and 180usd in the US).

I was checking some Coway / Levoit products. All looked good, until I learnt I need to spend 50 eur every 6-12 months. I have enough subscriptions in my life and I hate most of them!

[middleway]

I bought filters on Amazon for my Winix 5500-2 and boy did it smell for a while after running... I'm curious to what chemicals they used to make it. Thanks for the deets!

Any chance in doing the filter tests with the washable metal filters? Or maybe some plasma type gimmicky filtering systems.

After watching a few videos on how they make hepa filters...
- the metal they use, don't they still have residual chemicals from the processing?
- the sanitation processes are hugely different.

The ugly side of business... well hidden to those that don't look.

[RRR]

I tested a one year old filter for Xiaomi air purifier 4, whose filters use "electrostatic charge".
The old filter captured only about 10-20% of particles 0.3-1 micron size in a single pass through the filter, compared to a new one that captures close to 100% as advertised.

Do real HEPA filters (that don't use electrostatic treatment) have degradation of filtering efficiency or they just have reduction in airflow?

[Kai-wwhx]

Couldn’t you just tape the edges so that air doesn’t go around the filter in the winix machine? Also why does it matter if dirty air gets past? Couldn’t you just run the fan at a higher speed to compensate? If you clean all the air in the room at 90% the first pass, you’ll be at 99% the second pass, 99.9% the third, etc. I’m probably missing something.

[SALOALBERTO]

Hi, thanks for sharing all the info! it is very confusing out there, so much information or sure i say misinformation, that makes it difficult to choose. Im looking for a air purifier for my bedroom, that means nothing to crazy on size or coverage, any good suggestions? ive head good things about the Winix, Oransi, blueair, rabit air, dr. air etc. any good reliable recommendation? thank you alot

[marcus]

I'm not convinced a Hepa filter will lose 50% of its efficiency after 2 months. Dont forget usually the Hepa filter is protected by a pre filter and a carbon filter, so i think that is a bit exaggerated 😊 But i agree with most of what you say. The latest Winix filters do have a better seal around the frame not like the filter in your video which has no seal at all. You could test these Purifiers exhaust with a particle counter, that would give you some idea of how well they are performing. Test the filter when its new and after a few months of use. I still believe that Winix and some other brands do a better job at filtering the air than you are suggesting in this video and are very good value for money but im open to be proven wrong 😊. The Aeris looks like a very good unit although long term reliability is yet to be proven. I dont know about the US but here in the UK very few people will pay $239-$299 every year for replacement filters so it could be a very niche product unless they significantly reduce their prices. Thank you for the info Doug, very interesting 👍

[kumaravel-xpmp]

what about the mi air purifier 4 are stating that High Efficiency Filter
99.97% elimination of 0.3μm particles* is it real or just a marketing gimmick ? . How come air purifier manufacture doesn't have any guidelines and without even testing research or certified with standard how can they launching the product ?

[JayRocka]

Laser particle meters exist. Why are you not using these????

[VenturaIT]

Even if filters have a leak, that doesn't matter, what mattes is the air moved through the filter... zero air filters have a perfect seal, so it's just a minor side topic... even a Merv 11 will do about the same as a IQ Air, and if you get a much bigger fan and multiple Merv 11, it will do better than an IQ Air... .3 is the size that is hardest to filter, at lower sizes it becomes easier to filter (including ultra fine particles) and at higher than .3 microns it becomes easier to filter, that is why .3 microns is used as the benchmark... IQ Air's testing/certs don't really prove that it's better than any others... One thing IQ Air is better at is that their machine is so quiet, but it's not much better than a house fan with a Merv 11 on it and it's not any better than a common Honeywell machine... VOCs can only be filtered to about 9% reduction by carbon, even the IQ Air or the huge Airpura carbon filters only remove about 9%. Just some facts for you. The rest is a lot of hype and marketing catch-phrases for people who don't understand much about filtration. The main thing about filtration is the size of the filter and the volume of air the fan can move through the filter per unit time, only after that can you start to talk about filtration media which is more or less the same from a tshirt up to a ULPA and is just 10% of the equation. Also using carbon will actually clog the HEPA filter and carbon only works for a short amount of time and you never know when that is because it depends on the amount of toxin in the air, the temperature, pressure, etc.

[johngreen]

you show winix is not well sealed but you havent shown the same test for austin air - so u didnt demonstrate that austin air is any better; it seems a bit as if you had upfront thesis in mind

[marcus]

My comments seem to disappear. Thanks YouTube. 🙄