How To Embed Glass Fiber In Air Filters

HEPA filters accept acquired controversy over concerns that they might shed tiny fibers and be harmful to health. Simply the latest scientific studies have shown HEPA filters are safety and found no evidence of harm.

Possible shedding fibers have fabricated some people afraid of HEPA filters and question "are HEPA filters safety?" There's a controversy over whether fiberglass particles can cause lung illness and crusade cancer. Some people are worried that fibers in HEPA filters will suspension off, enter the air, and enter people'due south lungs.

Are HEPA filter fibers dangerous? Permit'southward break the question of whether HEPA filters are harmful to human wellness into two parts:

1. Can The Fibers from HEPA Filters Suspension Off and Enter Our Body?

A team of scientists looked into whether or not commercially available filters shed fibers in both the lab and real-world conditions. They tested a fiberglass filter and a filter made from plastic fibers (polycarbonate and polyester). Both filters tested were rated to capture 95% of particles in the air (H11 HEPA filters or MERV 16).

In the lab, they blew clean air at each filter for 6 hours. While they did that, they captured and measured the number of fibers breaking off the filter and traveling downstream.

Simply expect, fibers breaking off from HEPA filters could be tiny, right? And then how do the scientists know that they tin actually find fibers coming off of the filter?

To make certain they could find the fibers, the scientists used a tiny filter with gaps that were only 0.4 microns big. That works because the fibers that broke off the filters were on average 1.five microns in bore and 24 microns in length. That's over 50 times bigger than the gaps in the capture filter.

And indeed, they were able to capture fibers coming off the filters. They captured 300 fiber particles per cubic meter of air from the constructed filter and 700 for the fiberglass filter.

Comparing Fibers Shed From HEPA Filters With Everyday Air

Seven hundred fibers sounds like a lot, but let'south compare it to something we know more about: PM2.five. HEPA fiber particles are in the size of range of PM2.five, and PM2.v is in the air nosotros breathe every mean solar day.

The World Health Organization sets a PM2.5 annual limit of x micrograms per meter cubed. Using a elementary formula, that's equivalent to 25,225 PM2.5 particles per meter cubed, or 35 times what the filters were shedding.

Let'due south compare that to some of the cleanest cities in the world, similar Bredkalen in Sweden or Sinclair in the The states. In those places, PM2.five averages two micrograms over a whole year. 2 micrograms is equivalent to 7 times more than tiny particles than what would come up off a HEPA filter.

In brusk, air purifier filters do shed fibers, only the number of fibers is negligible. What's more, the researchers also found that the number of fibers shed reduced over time.

2. Are Tiny Microscopic Fibers That are Inhaled Into our Body Harmful to our Health?

OK, so HEPA filters simply shed a small-scale number of fibers. But to bear witness HEPAs are safety, nosotros need to ensure these fibers are non really harmful to our bodies in the case we do exhale them in. Mayhap they're harmful considering they're so long, sparse, and brittle? Perchance the fibers tin can get trapped in the our wind pipe or lungs, causing leading to serious health impacts? For example, asbestos fibers are more than harmful than the average particle.

Research showing fibers unlikely to cause irreversible damage

Many researchers have studied the health impacts of fiberglass on the body, yet there's still no understanding on whether fibers are harmful or not. One written report by the American College of Chest Physicians looked at the effect of fibers on the lungs of animals and humans. After analyzing over thirty studies, the physicians concluded that glass fibers could exist irritant to lungs. Nevertheless they besides found the fibers are unlikely to cause irreversible harm or cancer. They concluded that fiberglass be classified every bit a nuisance dust.

Research showing elevated risk of respiratory cancer due to fibers

Despite this, other reports [i, 2] take found some evidence of the impairment from fibers. I study analyzed 32,110 workers in the US. They looked at the effects of fiberglass over a long flow of time (more than xxx years). The results weren't conclusive, merely the study found there could exist an elevated take a chance of respiratory cancer for people who work with fiberglass on a daily ground.

The NIOSH Exposure Limit for Fibers

Despite the harms of small-scale fibers on the body, the National Institute for Occupational Condom and Health (NIOSH) in the Usa recommends a cobweb count of no more than 3 fibers/cm³, averaged over a 10-hour piece of work shift. NIOSH suggests that people may experience irritation to the optics, skin, nose, throat or difficult breathing.

Hither's how that compares to the number of fibers shed from the HEPA filters in the study above.

Of class, with many things, we probably desire to breathe fifty-fifty less than the workplace limit, but the number of fibers is far less than the NIOSH exposure limit. The departure is from a few hundred to 3 million.

Lesser Line: Are HEPA filters safe?

Bottom line: HEPA filters shed very few fibers over their lifetime, with the highest rate of shedding when they're new. Although some studies take linked fiberglass to cancer, a summary of research suggests that the fibers are no more harmful than other dust in the air. Fifty-fifty for new HEPA filters, the number of fibers shedded are less than one thousandth the occupational limit.

Information shows thatglass cobweb filters can shed more fibers than synthetic filters, while the number of particles shed by both types of filter is very small, Smart Air chooses to apply constructed fibers to lower the hazard. Smart Air uses PP+PET fabric in all our HEPA filters.

Learn more: what are medical course HEPA filters and how tin they protect me »

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