FULLY HEPA Compliant - Festool Dust Extractors just certified....

[Sean7a]

Below is the blurb on Festoolproducts.com.  The long and short of it is that an independent lab, after some serious time and a long drawn out process, has certified Festool Dust Extractors as FULLY HEPA COMPLIANT.  This means more than just any old HEPA filter in a vacuum.  A unit must be fully sealed and certified HEPA to be RRP compliant.  Festool now meets that certification.  Ask questions like wild and I'll do my best, and I'm sure Shane will chime in to.  This stuff can certainly be confusing

Festool HEPA dust extractors have been evaluated by an independent laboratory and are now considered to be Full Unit HEPA Certified.

What does this mean?

HEPA certification, a full HEPA sealed unit, HEPA filters and a certificate of compliance will let you work as a fully compliant RRP contractor.  Festool Dust Extractors, starting at less than $400, now stand alone in an arena where previously a vacuum of this caliber would cost a user $2,000 or more.  Certain Festool Dust Extractors will soon begin shipping with HEPA certification, stickers, filters and certificates.  Select Festool dust extractors will qualify for retroactive certification once they have received their, free of charge, updated HEPA filter replacement.

Festool Certified HEPA Dust Extractors @ Festoolproducts.com

 

[Sean7a]

Visit Festool's New RRP webiste for more information:  Link

 

[peter halle]

Awesome News!  Somehow I see some dust extractors being shipped and contractors getting off of the fence post.

Peter

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

I'd like to add a little commentary of my own to this.

What's significant is not that our vacs have HEPA filters, the larger ones always have been and recently the MINI/MIDI are standard with HEPA filters. The important tidbit for those who do RRP work is that the regulation calls for the vac to not have any bypass leakage. After all, the filter is only as good as its seal with the vac. Our CTs have been independently certified to meet that requirement. Something that, as far as I know, none of our competitors in the same price range can claim. There are some vacs available for upwards of a couple of grand that may meet this qualification.

Furthermore, the EPA has officially finalized its ruling on the RRP regulations effective October 4th, 2011. So, the expectation is that enforcement is going to become more commonplace.

More info is on the website Sean referenced and will be in a special edition of SysNotes and on our blog in the coming days.

Shane

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Got mine today.  If you haven't ordered yours, do it soon.  It's free for a while.

[attachimg=1]

Whoever packed mine was in too much of a rush and the certificate wasn't in the box.  That's why it looks all messed up.

 

[Julian Tracy]

Funny thing is - that says the exact same thing my CT22 manual says - HEPA vac!

Julian

 

[fdengel]

While I doubt they'll go back and certify the older ones now, I'm curious as to guesses on whether or not the CT22 / CT33 would have passed if tested?