Fine Print · a phrase that travels with the numbers
HEPA
2 of the 50 listings in this catalog use it · 4 percent
What the phrase states
That a filter meets a defined efficiency specification for retaining particles of a stated size.
Who defines it
This is a filtration specification with a published definition. The Environmental Protection Agency publishes a plain description of what the term means and a companion page on air cleaners and filters in the home. Both are linked below, and this site quotes neither beyond saying that the definition exists and concerns particle retention.
A published document stands behind at least part of this phrase
What it does not state
- It is a specification about particles, and about nothing beyond particles
- It does not state that the filter in a given machine was tested to the specification
- It does not say how much of the air in a machine passes through the filter
- It is not stated by any listing here to be the same thing as a washable filter
The one phrase here with a real definition
Most of the phrases on this site are seller vocabulary. This one is not. It names a filtration specification, published and describable, which puts it in a different class from the counts on the rest of the site.
Two listings in this catalog use it. Both are vacuums, and both use it alongside a dust cup figure, so the two most checkable claims in that category arrive in the same sentence.
What a specification is and is not
A filtration specification describes what a medium does to particles passing through it. That is the whole of it. This site says nothing about what that does for a person in a room, in either direction, and it has no source that would let it.
One product URL in this catalog contains a marketing word about sensitivity. This site does not reproduce that word as a characteristic of any machine, and the word does not appear in any of the fields recorded here.
How the listings use it
As a noun, attached to a filter, with nothing else attached to it. Neither listing states a test, a rating body or a date. Both are recorded here as using the phrase, which is a fact about the listing rather than about the filter.
The listings that use it
| Listing | Category | Quoted from the listing |
|---|---|---|
| Shark NV360 Navigator Lift-Away Upright Vacuum, Blue | Upright Vacuum Cleaners | listing states a HEPA filter, a Lift-Away pod, swivel steering, brushroll shutoff, a 0.9-Qt dust cup and upholstery and crevice tools |
| Shark NV501 Rotator Lift-Away Upright Vacuum, White and Red | Upright Vacuum Cleaners | listing states a HEPA filter, a Lift-Away pod, a 0.9-Qt dust cup, swivel steering, LED headlights, a wide upholstery tool, a dusting brush and a crevice tool |