{"id":8232,"date":"2025-02-07T20:32:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T12:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/?p=8232"},"modified":"2025-02-07T20:32:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T12:32:51","slug":"air-purifiers-kill-dust-mites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/do-air-purifiers-kill-dust-mites\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Air Purifiers Kill Dust Mites?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dust mites look scary.  So you might ask, “Are their air purifiers for dust mites? Can air purifiers kill dust mites?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Apparently these creatures are probably in my home since they\u2019re in most people\u2019s homes. A survey found dust mites in 84% of US beds<\/a><\/span> and 68% of European beds<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet it\u2019s hard to know for sure whether they\u2019re in our homes or not because they\u2019re mostly too small to see<\/a><\/span> with our eyes. The more I write, the more OCD I\u2019m becoming.  Can a purifier for dust mites come to our rescue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Will  Air Purifiers Kill Dust Mites?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I should say I\u2019m NOT an expert in air pollution. I\u2019m just a dedicated data nerd who was doing psychology research in Beijing and then got (kind of) forced into building DIY air purifiers<\/a><\/span> to fight the crippling air pollution I was breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During that process, I started testing air purifiers with HEPA filters<\/a><\/span>\u2014these guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Most air purifiers use HEPA filters, so let\u2019s start there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These fiber filters capture over 99% of particles 0.3 microns and above. That\u2019s good news for my probably-dust-mite-infested home because dust mites are 200 to 300 microns long<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s easily in the range that HEPAs capture. Now, I\u2019m not sure if getting stuck in a filter would kill <\/b>a dust mite. They die in environments with low humidity<\/a><\/span>, and getting constantly blown by air might<\/b> do the job, but that\u2019s speculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom line: <\/b>Most air purifiers will capture dust mites, but may not kill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait, Dust Mites Need to Be in The Air<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hang on, dust mites need to be in the air for an air purifier to capture them. The problem is they don’t fly and live in carpet, bedding, and upholstered furniture<\/a><\/span>, so they\u2019re not usually floating in the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out dust mites do<\/b> get thrown into the air. When we walk on carpeting, sweep the floor, dust our homes, and change our bed sheets, dust mites get thrown into the air. And because they\u2019re so small, they stay suspended in the air for 20 minutes to 2 hours<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That means purifiers can capture dust mites if you have the purifier on while dusting, changing sheets, or even walking around. If you\u2019re trying to target dust mites, you might want to scuff your feet along the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dust Mites Create Even Smaller Allergens<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But the picture gets more complicated for people with allergies. Dust mites create allergens by ejecting poop particles and \u201cpartially digested enzyme-covered dust particles<\/a><\/span>.\u201d In other words, their waste is smaller than their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These particles are as small as 1 micron<\/a><\/span> or even 0.1 microns<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We\u2019re in trouble now, because HEPA filters capture particles 0.3 and above<\/b> (according to websites like this one<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fortunately for us air-breathers, this is a common misconception<\/a><\/span>. This misconception would lead people to conclude that HEPA filters and air purifiers DON\u2019T capture dust mites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll see purifier companies use this myth to try to justify when you need their \u201cproprietary technology\u201d instead like Molekule does<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A glance at the Wikipedia page for HEPA filters<\/a><\/span> (or the data I share in this answer<\/a><\/span>) reveals that HEPA filters capture lots of particles below 0.3 microns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heck, even pollution masks like the one I\u2019m wearing capture tiny 0.007 micron particles<\/a><\/span> (1<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bottom Line<\/div>
Bottom Line<\/div>
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Air purifiers with HEPA filters will capture dust mites and the smaller dust mite allergen particles they create.<\/div>

Smart Air<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

View the original article on Quor<\/span>a here<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dust mites look scary.  So you might ask, “Are their air purifiers for dust mites? Can air purifiers kill dust mites?” Apparently these creatures are probably in my home since they\u2019re in most people\u2019s homes. A survey found dust mites in 84% of US beds and 68% of European beds. … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1035,"featured_media":35250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"11826,7830,11976,6631,22029,25621","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[259,260,264],"tags":[272,401,403,402],"class_list":["post-8232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-filters","category-air-pollution-health-effects","category-indoor-air","tag-air-pollution","tag-dust","tag-dust-mites","tag-pollutants","resize-featured-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8232"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35252,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8232\/revisions\/35252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}