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Vendor Model 3 HEPA Upgraded Cabin Filters!
- Thread starter EVTuning
- Start date
garth_angst
Member
There have been a few vendors who introduced “HEPA” filters for the Model 3, only to back off on their claims after being challenged to show testing data. Many people think HEPA is just a type of filter. It is a standard that requires the filter to trap 99.97% of all particles .3 microns and larger.
There are independent laboratories that must certify any filters that claim to meet the HEPA standard. These laboratories will publish their results and you can review the results to confirm the product meets the standard. So far none of the companies that have introduced HEPA filters for the Model 3 have provided any of this data. I am very skeptical they really meet the HEPA standard. They still may work reasonably well though. It’s hard to know without seeing test data.
There are independent laboratories that must certify any filters that claim to meet the HEPA standard. These laboratories will publish their results and you can review the results to confirm the product meets the standard. So far none of the companies that have introduced HEPA filters for the Model 3 have provided any of this data. I am very skeptical they really meet the HEPA standard. They still may work reasonably well though. It’s hard to know without seeing test data.
I got an "intelligent" rock I'll sell ya!
As OCR1 mentioned, so far there has been no "HEPA" filter for the model 3 where the company or ANYONE has provide evidence of the filter meeting the HEPA standard.
EVTuning responded to my question about it but failed to provide any evidence.
AbstractOcean responded to my question by basically throwing up their hands and saying that they trust EVTuning which is where they get the filters from. The also failed to provide any evidence for the HEPA claim.
XTechnor, failed to respond to my email, but they actively refused to allow my question about it to show on the Amazon page for their product.
There is a video around that has some guy "showing" how great they are and showing a drop in particulates but that didn't even meet EVTunings prior 2.5ppm limit claim with the reviewer simply saying that the figured it would drop further if they waited longer. That person also did not have a tester capably of testing a HEPA claim.
The only thing these companies have going for them is that the term "HEPA" is not what I call an enforced standard, meaning that just saying HEPA and not meeting the standard is not illegal. Now some of the statements some of these companies are making are close to making "medical claims" which would be illegal, but the wording is very careful.
That would only apply I think if someone was trying to claim that the whole cabin was HEPA. A filter itself can be HEPA certified without the environment it is going to be placed in meeting a HEPA standard.
Huh? No clue where you are going with that.
Look, a filter is rated by itself as to whether it meets whatever specification is being claimed. That specification has nothing to do with where or how the customer uses the filter. You cannot impart the filters specifications on the car, or anything else.
When air purifiers go through laboratory testing they receive a Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) number which measures how effective they are at clearing the air in a particular sized area. The larger the CADR the more effective they are for clearing larger areas. My IQAir Health Pro Plus can clear particles in a room up to about 1,200 square feet if I run it at the highest setting. The problem is at that setting it sounds like a tornado.
The filters being marketed by third parties can not be rated because the rating involves the combination of the fan and the filter. The fan is part of the car, not the vendor’s product. So a laboratory would have to test a Model 3 running the filter at different speeds to determine what speed would be required to clear the air in the entire cabin.
I’m skeptical that the filters are large enough to effectively clear all of the air particles in the Model 3, especially at lower fan speeds typically in use when the HVAC is set to auto.
But again, these filters will likely at least partially remove air particles from the cabin. What is unknown is whether they are any more effective than the Tesla OEM filter.
The filters being marketed by third parties can not be rated because the rating involves the combination of the fan and the filter. The fan is part of the car, not the vendor’s product. So a laboratory would have to test a Model 3 running the filter at different speeds to determine what speed would be required to clear the air in the entire cabin.
I’m skeptical that the filters are large enough to effectively clear all of the air particles in the Model 3, especially at lower fan speeds typically in use when the HVAC is set to auto.
But again, these filters will likely at least partially remove air particles from the cabin. What is unknown is whether they are any more effective than the Tesla OEM filter.
No, that is not how the certification works for HEPA. It is a penetration test. Yes airflow has something to do with it, but again that is how standards work...it is the standard of a certain penetration with a certain airflow. If I hand you a HEPA certified filter, it is still certified to the HEPA standard whether you wave it around in the air or set it on a table. Now if you do something to cause a physical degradation of the filter it will then lose it's ability to meet the standard.
Your IQAir Health Pro Plus will still operate in a 20000 sq foot space and it will not lose its CADR. It won't clean the 20k sq foot space effectively, but that doesn't mean it isn't doing what it was designed and certified to do.
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
The factory Model 3 cabin filters are of high quality and reasonably priced. No need to go to the aftermarket here.
On line tutorials make DIY changing quick and easy.
On line tutorials make DIY changing quick and easy.
This is a nitpick, but that's not quite true. The standard requires capture of 99.97% of particles at 0.3 microns. Capture efficiency of larger (and smaller) particles will be higher.
Way less expensive for sure. However, while I suspect the filter material between oem and my more expensive aftermarket filter is identical, the shell or box design is quite different. The side of the aftermarket filter that leans on the HVAC is plastic while the oem filter is fabric like. Purely speculation but I might no longer have the stinky sock smell because the microbes have a tougher time growing between the plastic and metal?!?!?!
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