People with allergies are those with asthma, mild respiratory conditions and allergic to certain pollens, dust, pet dander and smoke. Unfortunately, allergy attacks disrupt work and social life. If you are one of these victims of polluted indoor air, you need to install an air purifier with a HEPA filter.

Generally, air purifiers can effectively capture allergens. HEPA purifiers filter a large volume of air and send it back to the room clean through its filtering mechanism that removes airborne particles.

But does high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter really help with allergies? What do we know about HEPA filters and how can we tell if a HEPA air purifier is recommended for people with allergies? Let’s find out.

Will Air Purifiers Help with Allergies?

Whilst the main function of air purifiers is to ‘clean’ the air, people with allergies can absolutely benefit from it. As a device that improves indoor air quality, air purifiers filter or trap airborne allergens and push out clean air in return.

What Air Purifier Is Best for Allergies?

Air purifiers with HEPA filtersare helpful for the well-being of people dealing with allergies. These types of filter are able to capture the majority of allergy-triggering airborne particles and pollutants that have settled on your furniture walls and floors.

HEPA air purifiers have a remarkable potential to eliminate common allergens, such as dust, pollen and pet dander.

Pet dander, for example, is one of the most common allergens. And the best air purifier, the HEPA purifier, efficiently traps animal hair and other smaller particles and helps boost the overall air quality in your indoor air, making you breathe comfortably and healthy.

How Effective Is a HEPA Filter?

The key component of air purifiers is the filter. Different filter types would matter in size and number of microscopic particles they can filter. The filter’s design is made of multilayered fibreglass threads that are effective in trapping miniscule particles.

A HEPA filter eradicates 99.97% of particles as tiny as 0.03 microns in size from the air that passes through it. Relatively, microscopic particles are measured in microns. For example, the period at the end of this sentence is around 400 microns in size. Now a pollen or particle with a size of a punctuation dot is way larger than 0.03 microns. Imagine the capability of HEPA filters in doing its job!

Most advertisements provide wrong information that a HEPA filter can clean the air in the room of more than 99% of airborne particles.

The reality is that the amount of air in the room that’s cleaned by an air purifier will depend not just on the filter but also on the amount of air moving via the filter. This metric is expressed as CADR or clean air delivery rate.

What Does CADR Mean?

CADR measures the number of particle-free air delivered into the room. It measures the actual cleaning capacity of the filters.

The CADR rating of a particular air purifier is dependent on the following equation:

• Size of the room x duration x type of pollutant (pollen, smoke, dust, dander, etc)

Higher CADR rating means the wider the space the air filter can effectively clean. However, it is hard to tell how efficient a HEPA filter based on the CADR alone. This is because the latter depends on the mentioned variables and that such variables change depending on the type of room tested.

Some flaws found in CADR tests:

• CADR tests don’t include particles less than 0.03 microns.
• The test runs only for the first 20 minutes.
• HEPA filters have a high efficiency rate of up to 1 hour of running.

The choice of air purifiers against allergies does not rely on CADR alone. That’s why other considerations are being laid down to help you achieve an informed decision.

Does Size Matter When Buying an Air Purifier?

Absolutely yes. Whilst the filter serves as the air purifier’s heart, it is only as efficient as the size and quality of its filter.

Your air purifier will only work best if the unit size is compatible with the size of the room. This concept is intuitive. Obviously, you wouldn’t place an air purifier intended for a car to a much wider space area.

The Ozone Question

Ioniser air purifiers work mainly by generating the charged particles or ions, which in turn cause other airborne particles, including allergens, to settle on solid services. However, such ionisers produce ozone, a form of oxygen that exacerbates allergy and asthma symptoms.

Although people with allergies should avoid air purifiers with ionising features, HEPA type air cleaners incorporated with a small amount of ozone confined to a machine can boost the effectiveness of a HEPA filter. This negligible amount does not release ozone into the room's air and is generally safe.

Will a HEPA Air Purifier Remove Coronavirus?

The coronavirus measures around 0.06 to 0.14 microns, way smaller than the capacity of HEPA filters in capturing 0.3 microns of nanoparticles. In a sense, a HEPA air purifier isn’t that effective against COVID-19.

But banking on the science of droplets that stay airborne, in one way or another and due to the fibreglass threads interwoven finely in the HEPA filter, a HEPA air purifier can still capture saliva droplets suspended in the air through sneezing, coughing and even talking.

Whilst these droplets land on walls, floor, furniture and skin, the air purifier is a strong addition to trap those droplets. Even if these microscopic COVID particles do not die in the filter, eventually they will as long as they aren’t disturbed before they lose effect to become viral.

XPOWER: The Best-Selling Air Purifiers

Cleaning the floor, carpets and upholstery is one way to maintain a clean indoor environment. Installing HEPA air purifiers in Australia is another step you can take to fight indoor air pollution. Air purifiers capture a high percentage of airborne allergens and irritants that flow through the filters. In doing so, these devices sanitise and cleanse indoor air quality.

Control pollution levels in your home and get rid of allergens fast, including airborne viruses. Shop for the best air purifying products only from XPOWER. You’ll get the best performing HEPA air purifiers for home and industrial use. Contact us now.