Some air purifiers have washable filters. Electrostatic air purifiers are known as a low maintenance cost air purifying solutions because you can wash filters over and over again and you will not need to spend a dime on a new filter. This feature may save you some money over a long run, but we know that today’s standard is HEPA filtering system that removes 99.97% of airborne particles. Because of that, we will focus on HEPA filters in this topic.
So the question is if you can wash HEPA filter and save money. Many of you already know the answer, but if something needs to be replaced then you just need to replace it and not clean it, and bellow are three most important facts why you should replace filters that are replaceable and not wash them on your own.
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Vacuuming Filters is Not a Good Idea
Vacuuming filters is a good idea. All the dust and particles that are caught with a filter can easily be vacuumed. You just get the filter out, and instead of replacing it with a new one, you use the vacuum and suck all the particles.
In theory, this sounds like it may work. But HEPA filters have very strong fiber that is made in that way to caught 99.97% of airborne particles. And that means once the particles get caught in all that fiber these particles are not moving anywhere, and there is no way just to suck them out through all that tight thread. If you ever had a HEPA filter in your hand, then you know that there is no vacuum on this planet to suck all the dirt from HEPA filter.
Playing With Filter May Damage It
For example, in the previous reason, we wanted to use a vacuum cleaner. And you probably got an idea if you would use extremely powerful vacuum cleaner all that dust in that tight filters need to come out. And maybe some really powerful vacuum cleaners may pull all the dirt out, but in the processes, it will destroy the HEPA filter and the HEPA filter will no longer work properly and will no longer catch 99.97% of particles. The reason why filter has HEPA standard is that it is tested and confirmed that it caught 99.97% of airborne particles, so the buyer knows if he buys this air purifier that this air purifier will do the job. Because of that touching, playing with filter is not recommended because filter may get damaged and will no longer provide security in your room.
Washing The Filter May Create Mold in Your Home
Washing the filter sounds like a good idea. Water can clean even the worse dirt. But water is also the problem that is linked to creating moisture. Many people bought air purifiers to kill mold in their homes, but if you wash the filter with water, you could actually help mold to grow. The moisture in the filter may be a good spot for mold to grow. Once mold grows inside the filter, then it will release spores. And all of the air purifiers have some kind of ventilation. With that ventilation mold spores may be thrown in the air and without a problem spread through the house. Because of that, cleaning a filter that is not recommended to clean with water is not a good idea because your place can turn into a mold home.
Also, water may damage the filter. Even if you have all the plans to dry the filter with whatever method, washing the filter with water may damage the fiber in the filter. And the filter will no longer work properly. Why pay for expensive and 100% workable system just to save few dollars and not knowing if your air purifier is really working at its best performance.
Conclusion
If the filters are replaceable and cleaning them in any way is not recommendable then please just replace the filters. There are reasons behind that. But some replaceable filters come with pre washable filters. So read the manual carefully because if you have washable filters, then it is crucial that you wash those filters regularly. These washable filters are used to save real filter from getting too dirty too fast. Just keep in mind that before you put the washable filter back inside the air purifier, you dry it thoroughly.
Don’t buy expensive air purifier if you know you will not have money for replaceable filters. HEPA filters need to be replaced every 12 months and sometimes even sooner. Also at buying air purifier check the filter price, occasionally expensive air purifiers are having really affordable replaceable filters and sometimes low-cost air purifiers are having extremely expensive replaceable filters. So keep that in mind when you are searching for the air purifier.
