My vacuum cleaner’s job is to clean my carpets and bare floors. I take out my vacuum cleaner and proceed to clean my home. Once you have finished this task you look over your home and think “ah a clean home.” Or is it?

It is not clean if you are using a machine that does not have a true sealed filtration system with a HEPA filter. How is this possible? You can thank the dust and pet allergens found throughout your home. “Pet Allergens and Indoor Dust contain the highest concentrations of hazardous materials like heavy metals, lead, pesticides, and other chemicals, are found in higher concentrations in the smallest particles of the dust”, explains David MacIntosh, MD. He is principal scientist at Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E), an environmental consulting and engineering services firm based in Needham, Mass.

“The everyday habit of cleaning with a conventional vacuum cleaner results in a burst of particles in the air and then they settle back down over the course of hours,” says MacIntosh.

The solution to this potential sickening problem is to purchase a vacuum cleaner that has a sealed system and true HEPA filtration. This will ensure that no particles will escape into the air. One company that excels at producing sealed system vacuums with true HEPA filtration is Miele. When you vacuum with one of these vacuums you know our home is truly clean.

I know when I bought my vacuum it said the vacuum that had a HEPA filter that could trap 99.97 percent of the particles at .3 microns. I know my home is clean after I use my vacuum. WRONG!!! The HEPA filter does filter the air but the vacuum leaked out allergens and such way before it got to the HEPA filter due to flimsy construction.

I thought I was smart reading the specs on the outside of the box and making sure that the vacuum I purchased has a HEPA filter on it. I did not know I was misled. I did not know that the stats on the HEPA filter was only on the HEPA filter not what the vacuum cleaner was emitting. I assumed that the stats were for the vacuum cleaner and that is what the vacuum manufacturers wanted me to think.

The statistics you read on the filter such as 99.97 percent of the particles of .3 microns is a statement of just what the HEPA filter is capable of doing in a perfect situation. Yes if all the air passed just through the HEPA filter then the statistics would be correct. The only way to ensure this is happening is to make sure your vacuum is a sealed system otherwise your daily habit of vacuuming (or weekly habit of vacuuming) might make you sick.

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