What's a HEPA Filter? | Are HEPA Filters Effective? | HEPA Air Purifiers

There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to HEPA filters – short for high-efficiency particulate air filters – especially when seeking a sound solution to improve indoor air quality. The hefty HEPA has earned bragging rights, offering top-of-the-line protection when it comes to capturing a majority of tiny airborne contaminants and keeping occupants safe in an indoor pocket of space.

Premium HEPA mechanical air filters have been around for decades. And particularly today, the multi-layered component maintains a stellar reputation as an effective, proven clean air solution for viruses, bacteria, and other air borne contaminants.

In fact, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and ASHRAE recommend improving indoor air with in-space HEPA units to protect businesses, schools and day care centers with clean, purified air. Specifically in schools, the CDC ventilation guidance recommends portable air cleaners engineered with HEPAs to safeguard students and teachers in classrooms, around high-traffic spaces such as gymnasiums and lunchrooms, and the nurse’s office.

The HEPA’s multi-layered filter design – a medium of fiberglass or synthetic matted fibers – traps microscopic particles invisible to the human eye. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states a HEPA can remove at least 99.97% of airborne viruses and emerging variants as well as bacteria, mold, dust, pollen, and other airborne contaminants.

A detailed HEPA filter diagram illustrates the complex innerworkings of the high-efficiency particulate air filters, the preferred workhorse of many COVID combating in-space air purifiers. All commercial ISO-Aire models, ranging from 300CFM to 2000CFM, are equipped with a medical-grade HEPA to deliver clean, healthy, and safe air to classrooms , day care centers , fitness studios , senior living centers , business offices , and more.

According to Kevin Albers, developer of ISO-Aire, the 12-inch deep HEPAs deployed inside the line of powerful commercial-grade air purifiers takes it up a notch. “ISO-Aire is engineered with a medical-grade HEPA which captures 99.99% of potentially harmful airborne particles. This is the same type of clean air technology installed in hospital surgical rooms or clean rooms,” Kevin noted. “HEPAs are effective, reliable, and require minimal maintenance with a two- to four-year life cycle. When we add a pre-filter that also helps extend the HEPA’s longevity. Economically this saves on HEPA filter replacement and maintenance costs.”

Albers explained HEPA is the first line of defense serving as the workhorse of clean air technology. “They’re the preferred filtration solution because almost nothing can pass through. The HEPA is the most important component to understand when researching air purifiers. When comparing one HEPA with another, focus on the rating, the amount of filter media, and the lifespan.”

[thecarman]

I used to work in a lab that used a HEPA filtered vacuum, and when I asked what it stood for I was told (by the company's rep) that it stood for ...
H - High
E - Efficiency
P - Particulate
A - Attenuation
And that makes much more sense than High Efficiency Particulate Air. Who wants particulate air? You know -- air -- with particulates in it. Attenuation means to withhold or reduce, as in having the filter withhold particulates in the filter media. Are people that ignorant of what attenuation means?

[davidshevchuk]

I was with you until you said size matters, I tell my wife all the time, it's what you can do with it.