Best HEPA Vacuum Cleaners at Amazon

If you have allergies and/or asthma, you already know that one of the best ways to control your symptoms is to keep your home clean. Dust mites, pollen, pet dander, and more come into our homes on a daily basis. It takes a concerted effort to keep our living areas and work spaces clean. One of the best tools for keeping your house allergen-free is a HEPA vacuum. HEPA vacuums use a HEPA filtration system to help keep your home cleaner.

HEPA Filtration and Certification

What does HEPA stand for? HEPA is short for “High Efficiency Particulate Air,” and is a filtration system that works by trapping particles in a sophisticated filtering system. The filtration system is made up of mats made from several layers of fibers. Air flows across these mats, and the fibers catch dirt, dust, and other debris. HEPA vacuums make use of this mat/fiber system, and help to cut down on the amount of asthma and allergy triggers in your home. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, certified HEPA filters must remove at least 99.97 % of airborne particles down to a size of 0.3 micrometers.

Choose the right HEPA vacuum. Before choosing your vacuum, it’s important to consider a few details first. What is the size of your home? What types of flooring will your vacuum need to clean? And do you have pets in your home?  Each of these questions will help you to choose the best vacuum for your home.  If you have a large home with a pet, you might choose a canister vacuum. Canister vacuums typically hold more than an upright vacuum, and might be a better choice if you have bare wood floors and pets in your home.  An upright vacuum offers more suction than a canister, and would be best for homes with carpets.  Other details to consider are the length of electrical cords, on-board tools, and whether the vacuum uses bags or is bagless.  Longer electrical cords will mean will keep you from having to stop vacuuming to unplug and re-plug your vacuum in order to reach areas to be cleaned.  On-board tools are very helpful for cleaning areas above the floor (door frames, drapes, furniture).  Bagless vacuums suck dirt and debris into a cup inside the vacuum, while other vacuums use a bag to capture dirt and dust.  You'll need to decide if it would be better to have the dirt in a bag, or if you will be able to handle a debris cup in order to dispose of the dirt. 

Certified HEPA Filtration. The last, and most important feature to consider when buying a HEPA vacuum is what type of filtration the system uses. The best HEPA filtration systems will have about at least 4 filter layers to clean the air before it exists the vacuum. Regular vacuums clean up dirt only to pass the smaller particles back out into the room. True HEPA filtering systems are supposed to clear up to at least 99.97 % of all dirt and debris out of the air before it passes out of the vacuum and back into the room. It’s important to look for vacuums that use a certified HEPA filtration system. Avoid vacuums that advertise they use a “HEPA-like” system. This type of vacuum will pick up dirt, but is not certified to clean the air that passes through your vacuum, and will release more dirt back into the air.

This is an enhanced picture of some of the particles we breathe in each and every day. These allergens are allergy and asthma triggers, and can make vulnerable people very sick. A certified HEPA vacuum cleaner cleans up to 99.97% of these particles from our homes, helping to keep down allergen levels so we can feel better.

HEPA Vacuum Cleaner Brands 

Following are three of the best-selling HEPA vacuums at Amazon.com:  Hoover and Dyson.

Specifications

Dimensions: 16 x 12 x 32.5 inches

Weight: 16.5 pounds

Amps: 12

Model Number: UH70120

Warranty: two-year limited warranty

Average Customer Rating: 4 stars

Features at a glance:

Five carpet-height adjustment settings make cleaning all floors—from carpets to bare—easy and efficient.

Bagless: dirt, dust and other debris are trapped in a dirt cup.

Onboard accessories include: 8 ft. flexible hose, 12-inch extension wand, crevice tool and an upholstery/dusting brush for drapes, furniture, lampshades and vents. This unit also includes a powered hand tool to remove pet hair.

Permanent HEPA filter is both cleanable and re-usable. The filtration system has an indicator to let you know when it’s time to clean the filter.

This vacuum also comes with a quick re-wind retraction electrical cord.

Specifications:

Dimensions: 15 1/2 x 13 x 45 inches

Weight: 11.6 pouds

Amps: 12

Warranty: six-year limited warranty

Model Number: UH30010COM

Average Customer Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Features at a glance:

Handle has illuminated fingertip controls, and two speed selections, and a check-bag indicator light letting you know when the bag needs to be changed.

Edge-cleaning channels to clean near baseboards, and an LED headlight. This vacuum also offers an auto height adjustment feature to let you go directly from a carpeted floor to a bare-wood floor without stopping to make adjustments in vacuum head height.

Bagged dirt collection: self-sealing bag made from HEPA materials to trap 99.97 % of dirt, dust and pollens down to 0.3 microns in size. Self-sealing bag prevents dirt puffs from leaking into the air when the bag is removed from the unit.

35 ft. power cord

Canister: This Hoover vacuum includes a portable canister, with a shoulder strap, stretch hose, telescoping extension wand and on-board tools for cleaning above-the-floor, including light fixtures, furniture, and more.

Specifications:

Dimensions: 11.7 x 11.4 x 38.9 inches

Weight: 16 pounds

Amps: 11 amps

Warranty: 5-year parts and labor warranty

Model Number: DC Ball All Floors

Average Customer Rating: 4 stars

Features at a glance:

Dyson Ball technology makes the unit easy to swivel around furniture and other obstacles.

Certified asthma friendly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Bagless: dirt, dust and debris are captured in a 1/3-gallon bin, easy to empty with the touch of a button.

Fingertip controls

24 ft electrical cord

On-board accessories: a combination tool and a stair tool, quick-draw telescope reaching wand.

This is unit is safe for all types of floors.

These are three of the best-selling HEPA vacuum cleaners at Amazon. Each of these vacuums offers excellent cleaning and HEPA filtration, with the Dyson DC25 being certified as Asthma Friendly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA).

HEPA vacuum cleaners will definitely make a difference in the indoor air quality of your house or apartment, while making your home healthier for you and your family.

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's Asthma Friendly Program: here you can find more information about this program, and a list of certified products.