As urban Indian residents, we are exposed to a lot of pollution due to extensive construction, traffic congestion and heavy industrialisation. We breathe polluted and germ-infested air not only outside but also inside our homes leading to many illnesses and allergies. Those who suffer from these come to understand the impact at a very late stage and realise that they should have done something to prevent this exposure.People who have an awareness regarding this have started resorting to different methods to get the desired result, one of which is the usage of a HEPA filterfor their homes. This HEPA filter is used in air purifiers as well as vacuum cleaners and helps to clean the air.

Why Is the Air Inside Our Homes Dangerous?

The air in the home is affected by pollutants such as dust, pet hair, mould and odours. As we spend a large amount of time indoors, the same air gets circulated inside and hence gets more polluted, especially if you have an air-conditioned home. If you allow the windows to be kept open for fresh air, you let in more dust. Other than that, the fumes from cooking, usage of various chemicals around the house, smoking and various other daily processes add various odours and pollutants to the air. Breathing this polluted air is the cause of a large number of health problems.

How Can You Improve the Air Indoors?

To reduce the incidence of health problems, we need to improve the quality of the air that we breathe. We can do that by controlling the sources that generate the pollutants, but that is not a practical possibility. Hence, that brings us to the possibility of improving ventilation in the house; this is especially important if you are making use of various chemicals. If ventilation is not possible due to the surroundings being polluted, you are left with the option of cleaning the air that is inside the house. For this, it is best to use air purifiers with HEPA filters. These remove more than 99% of pollutants, including particulate matter and organic gases.

How Does a HEPA Filter Work?

HEPA filters have a random arrangement of fibres (generally fibreglass). Their functioning is affected by parameters such as the diameter and thickness of the fibres. The HEPA filter traps the small particles on the fibres through the processes of diffusion, interception and impaction. This filter is accompanied by a carbon pre-filter, which helps it to trap the various odours and gases such as organic compounds, chemical vapours, cigarette smoke etc.

How Are HEPA Filters Used in Homes?

The air is a mixture of various gases and dust particles. The finer dust particles and organic gases are what affect our health as our body systems are not able to filter them out. A filter with HEPA technology combined with a carbon filter can capture 99.97% of the particulate matter and gases present in the air and release the cleaned air for you to breathe.HEPA filters are used in air purifiers as well as vacuum cleaners and in both instance they capture the very fine particulate matter and do not allow them to be released in your vicinity. Hence, a vacuum cleaner or an air purifier with HEPA is more efficient than any other filter.

Author

Daniel Jack

For Daniel, journalism is a way of life. He lives and breathes art and anything even remotely related to it. Politics, Cinema, books, music, fashion are a part of his lifestyle.