HEPA Vacuum

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule needs the use of equipment with a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter beneath 2 contexts:

"HEPA Vacuum" is mandatory as part of the interior act upon area cleanup: 40 CFR 745.85(a)(5)(ii) says that,

"The firm must clean all objects and surfaces in the work area and within 2 feet of the work area in the following manner, cleaning from higher to lower:

Walls. Clean walls starting at the ceiling and working down to the floor by either vacuuming with a HEPA vacuum or wiping with a damp cloth.
Remaining surfaces. Thoroughly vacuum all remaining surfaces and objects in the work area, including furniture and fixtures, with a HEPA vacuum. The HEPA vacuum must be equipped with a beater bar when vacuuming carpets and rugs."

At 40 CFR 745.83, EPA defines a HEPA vacuum.

"HEPA vacuum means a vacuum cleaner which has been designed with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter as the last filtration stage. A HEPA filter is a filter that is capable of capturing particles of 0.3 microns with 99.97% efficiency. The vacuum cleaner must be designed so that all the air drawn into the machine is expelled through the HEPA filter with none of the air leaking past it."

The necessity that all air drawn into the equipment is runs through the air filter with no escape is a hard standard. It acquires at the center of a trouble with a lot of vacuums marked as "HEPA." Placing a HEPA filter in a vacuum acts little beneficial if the air bypasses the filter. Studies bespeak that most vacuums wouldn't cope with this standard.

Unluckily, there's no sanctioned method to test HEPA vacuums to find out whether they meet EPA's definition. Without an approved process, a Certified Renovator cannot tell whether the vacuum they're using meets the definition or not.