"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
. uk...
Will wrote:
My vacuum cleaner does not have a HEPA filter and I would like to get
a cleaner that does.

Why?

Can someone who understands the physics of HEPA filtration help me
understand HEPA a bit better please. Google is not much of a friend
for this info!

HEPA stands for High Efficency Particulate Air. It's simply a finer mesh
so it traps smaller particles, typically 99.95% efficient in removing
particles down to 0.3 micron. A human hair by comparison has a diameter
of 60 -90 micron.

Is HEPA a registered trademark?

Not as far as I know, more an internationally agreed performance standard.
Vacs for asbestos work to similar standards.

is the HEPA filter on a vacuum cleaner likely to need replacing more
often than non-HEPA on account of the greater dust it traps?

Yes sort of. HEPA's are more commonly found as final exhaust filters, the
main filters trap the majority of the dust, leaving the HEPA to filter
only the finer particles.

Can a HEPA filter be washed or otherwise cleaned so that it can be
reused? Or is the life of a HEPA filter so long that this is not a
consideration.

You can't wash then, but they last a reasonable time (see above).


Never say never (or can't)!

The Dyson range includes some which have a 'Lifetime HEPA' filter in the
exhaust air stream. The filter is intended to be hand-washed. It seems to be
composed of a foam, which for what it's worth it's blue and 'squidgy'. Dyson
recommends that the filter is washed 'at least every six months' and it
should be air-dried (they recommend placing it under a radiator). Spare
filter assemblies ( a yellow plastic cage containing the blue foam filter)
are purchasable - (most folk keep one spare and one in use). I exchange the
filter about every six months (honest ) ... the filter is quite black when I
get araound to exchanging it and requires vigorous squeezing to restore it
to its natural blue colour.


Considerable benefits if you suffer from asthma, but they also reduce
airbourne dust to almost zero, so you don't have to dust so often.

--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

--

Brian