HEPA filters are now standard on most Oneida systems.

Why Choose Oneida HEPA? Oneida uses GE H12 Certified HEPA Media (Click Here for Specs): - 99.977% at 0.3 to 0.5 microns efficiency - MERV Rating: 16+ - Click Here - Wide pleat spacing for faster and more efficient cleaning - Industrial Grade - Teflon-like coating for easy dust release - Custom designed and built, not off the shelf - Equipped with Flame Guard Arrestor Technology to make your shop even safer!

Industrial hygienists advise that the smallest dust particles 1 - 10 microns in size are unhealthiest to breathe. They call this the (PM 10) range. They say that the PM 10 range enters and traps readily in the lungs and is very difficult for your body to expunge.

Oneida filters manufactured with a certified HEPA (H-12 ) GE filter media are designed to capture upwards of 99.9+ % of particles in this size range and larger.
(Click here for independent filter Oneida H-12 HEPA efficiency tests )
This means that for every 10,000 particles entering a HEPA H-12 filter, on average 0 or 1 particle would migrate through the filter.

Compare this with frequently used MERV 15 rated filters (click here for MERV chart) where of 10,000 (PM 10) size particles, 1000 particles on average could migrate through the filter back into the air.

The dust coming through the filter can very quickly accumulate and increase the airborne dust levels in the breathable air zone. Good industrial hygiene practices teach that when dust particles are collected that they are retained in the filter system and not returned to the air in the workspace.

ASHRAE 52.2 MERV rating system is a filter test designed for HVAC or heating and air-conditioning filters. These ratings although frequently used for are not specifically designed for wood dust collection systems, but rather HVAC systems. Wood dust collection systems process orders of magnitude more dust than HVAC systems. Also some wood dusts are toxic or carcinogenic. The filtering efficiency must be of a much higher order for wood dust systems . An ASHRAE 52.2 MERV 15 rated filter rated at only 90% initial efficiency on PM 10 sized dust.