{"id":31,"date":"2026-02-28T19:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/?p=31"},"modified":"2026-08-04T22:36:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:36:46","slug":"what-is-hepa-filter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/?p=31","title":{"rendered":"What Is a HEPA Filter? H11 vs H12 vs H13 vs H14 True HEPA Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\ud83d\udcdd Affiliate Disclosure<\/a>:<\/strong> PureAirGuide is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We independently research, test, and rate the best products. We may get a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This never influences neither our editorial opinions nor product rankings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u23f1\ufe0f Fact-checked and updated by our editorial team in July 2026. Our testing methodology and rating formula is transparent and consistently applied.<\/p>\n

What Is a HEPA Filter? H11 vs H12 vs H13 vs H14 True HEPA Explained<\/h1>\n

HEPA filters aren’t all the same. We explain the difference between True HEPA, H13 medical grade, and why cheap HEPA-type filters don’t cut it.<\/p>\n

The Short Version<\/h2>\n

HEPA = High Efficiency Particulate Air. It’s a standard, not a brand. If you see it on a box it (by the US DOE): removes \u226599.97% of 0.3 \u03bcm particles, the hardest size capture mechanically.<\/p>\n

HEPA H11 vs H12 vs H13 vs H14: The Real Differences<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • HEPA H11: 95% at MPPS. Found in cheap car cabin air purifiers. Better than nothing, not allergy use. Barely minimum.<\/li>\n
  • True HEPA (EN 1822-2011 Grade H12\/H13 \u2192 US “True HEPA” standard: 99.97% down to 0.3 micron single-pass. Most common Coway\/Levoit\/Blueair\/Honeywell are this.<\/li>\n
  • H13 Medical Grade: 99.95% at MPPS, which is actually a tighter spec than the US True HEPA standard and captures more of the smaller-than-0.3 micron that True HEPA struggles with. Good for MCS \/ immuno-compromised.<\/li>\n
  • H14 ULPA \/ HyperHEPA: IQAir level, 99.995%+ at MPPS. Overkill for most homes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The Marketing Scams to Spot<\/h2>\n
      \n
    • ‘HEPA-Type’: meaningless marketing words with no recognized standard test.<\/li>\n
    • 99% effective \u2014 without the 0.3\u03bcm number is 99% capture. It captures everything bigger than 2 micron, basically captures 1\/100 the true claim.<\/li>\n
    • HEPA-Style \/ HEPA-Like: meaningless. Ignore.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
      \n

      \ud83d\udcdd Affiliate Disclosure:<\/strong> PureAirGuide is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We independently research, test, and rate the best products. We may get a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This never influences neither our editorial opinions nor product rankings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      HEPA filters aren’t all the same. We explain the difference between True HEPA, H13 medical grade, and why cheap HEPA-type filters don’t cut it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buying-guides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmwzl.cn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}