MERV filters are a type of air filter that are rated to a common standard – the MERV standard. ‘MERV’ is an abbreviation for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. This means the minimum percentage of particles the filter can capture in one pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

MERV filters are graded from 1 to 20. Higher graded MERV filters are able to capture more particles, as well as smaller particles. This table gives an overview of MERV ratings:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

MERV<\/th>\n	Min. particle size<\/th>\n	Typical controlled contaminant\u00a0<\/span>[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/th>\n	Typical Application\u00a0<\/span>[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1\u20134<\/td>\n	> 10.0 \u03bcm<\/td>\n	Pollen, dust mites, cockroach debris, sanding dust, spray paint dust, textile fibers, carpet fibers<\/td>\n	Residential window AC units<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5\u20138[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/td>\n	10.0\u20133.0 \u03bcm<\/td>\n	Mold spores, dust mite debris, cat and dog dander, hair spray, fabric protector, dusting aids, pudding mix<\/td>\n	Better residential, general commercial, industrial workspaces<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9\u201312<\/td>\n	3.0\u20131.0 \u03bcm<\/td>\n	Legionella, humidifier dust, lead dust, milled flour, auto emission particulates, nebulizer droplets<\/td>\n	Superior residential, better commercial, hospital laboratories<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13\u201316<\/td>\n	1.0\u20130.3 \u03bcm<\/td>\n	Bacteria, droplet nuclei (sneeze), cooking oil, most smoke and insecticide dust, most face powder, most paint pigments<\/td>\n	Hospital & general surgery<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Source: EPA.gov<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/p>\n HEPA filters are similar to MERV filters, but have an even higher standard for particle capture.<\/p>\n  <\/p>\n Learn more: What are HEPA filters and how do they work?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Was this article useful?<\/span><\/i>0<\/count><\/span><\/i>0<\/count><\/span><\/span><\/div> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Knowledge Base      Protecting Yourself      Air Purifiers      What Are MERV Filters? MERV filters are a type of air filter that are rated to a common standard – the MERV standard. ‘MERV’ is an abbreviation for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. This means the minimum percentage of particles the filter … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"helpdesk_category":[673,613],"helpie_tag":[262,287,804,1267,1146],"helpie_add_tag":[],"helpie_up_tag":[],"class_list":["post-5170","pauple_helpie","type-pauple_helpie","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","helpdesk_category-air-purifiers","helpdesk_category-protecting-yourself","helpie_tag-filter","helpie_tag-grade","helpie_tag-merv","helpie_tag-merv-filter","helpie_tag-rating"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pauple_helpie\/5170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pauple_helpie"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pauple_helpie"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pauple_helpie\/5170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5173,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pauple_helpie\/5170\/revisions\/5173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"helpdesk_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/helpdesk_category?post=5170"},{"taxonomy":"helpie_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/helpie_tag?post=5170"},{"taxonomy":"helpie_add_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/helpie_add_tag?post=5170"},{"taxonomy":"helpie_up_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/helpie_up_tag?post=5170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}