The Best Vacuum Cleaner

A good vacuum cleaner can remove such potent allergens as pollen, pet dander, dust-mite droppings, mold and mildew from surfaces in your home, along with irritating, carcinogenic smoke and soot particles. "Frequent vacuuming can be essential to cleaner air," says Consumer Reports. Filters within the machines also play a key role, since the most common offending particles are microscopic, measured in microns (.0004 inches). They range from fine particulates, such as tobacco smoke (.1-1 micron) and cat dander (.5-1.5 microns), to coarse particulates such as dust (10 microns and up), dust-mite droppings (10-20 microns) and pollen (15-25 microns). Such tiny particles present a hazard because they penetrate deep into sensitive airways; for this reason the vacuums of choice for many allergy and asthma sufferers tend to be those that use high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which absorb 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns in size. "Vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters may definitely help asthmatics, as they've been shown to reduce some of the triggers in the home that may build up in carpet," says Luz Claudio, Ph.D. For those without allergies, however, other options may work just as well. In CR's tests, some vacuums without HEPA filters did an excellent job of trapping particles as small as .1 micron instead of releasing them back into the air.

And there are other criteria to consider. Bagless vacuums may reduce the number of disposable bags that enter the waste stream, but asthma or allergy sufferers shouldn't empty the dust compartments.