Vacuum Cleaner Filter

There are usually always 2 types of filters in the same vacuum cleaner.

There is usually a motor filter in the same compartment as the vacuum cleaner bag. This is a coarse filter, which essentially has no filtering significance. It can often be removed and vacuumed. The other filter is the vacuum cleaner's most important filter, and it is called an exhaust filter. This is the filter that retains dust particles etc. so that they do not re-enter the room.

This filter has a limited lifespan and needs to be replaced, typically somewhere between 1-3 years depending on how much the vacuum cleaner is used or how fine the dust is in the home. On some models and brands, these exhaust filters can be rinsed and/or washed, but you should read more about this in the instruction manual.

HEPA is an abbreviation for High Efficiency Particulate Air. In short, a HEPA filter is a special filter that captures even the microscopic particles found in a vacuum cleaner's exhaust air. They ensure that the air blown back into the room from the vacuum cleaner is clean and free of allergens.

The HEPA classification is an industry standard, so you can always be sure that the term means the same thing. HEPA filters are available in 5 filtration classes from EPA 10 to HEPA 14. Their filtration efficiency indicates how many particles they are able to capture per liter of air.

If you move up to HEPA 13 and 14, the filters are able to capture even the microscopic particles from tobacco smoke and dust mite feces, which are triggers for dust allergies. This means that the purified air is actually cleaner than before when it is returned to the room.

The 5 filtration classes

Here you can see how many particles remain in one liter of air that has passed through different filters:

• HEPA 14: 5 particles per liter of air
• HEPA 13: 50 particles per liter of air
• EPA 12: 500 particles per liter of air
• EPA 11: 5,000 particles per liter of air
• EPA 10: 15,000 particles per liter of air
• Microfilter: 50,000 particles per liter of air

On some machines, a HEPA filter can be installed, even if it wasn't there from the start.