The disinfecting power of UV lights has been a proven scientific fact since the early 20th century. Today, ultraviolet lights are commonly used to sterilize hospital facilities and clinics, disinfect municipal water supplies and keep food processing equipment germ-free. A component of safe, natural sunlight, ultraviolet light rays of certain wavelengths have a powerful germicidal effect on microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, molds and other pathogens. Exposure to ultraviolet deactivates these contaminants, destroying their capacity to multiply.
The sterilizing power of UV lights can also be put to work in your home HVAC system. While the system air filter removes most inorganic airborne particulates from the airflow, many harmful microorganisms are too small to be filtered out by standard filters and continue to circulate in household living spaces, degrading the indoor air quality of your home. Here’s how a typical HVAC system installation works:
- One or more UV lights–they’re the size of small fluorescent tubes–is strategically mounted inside the ductwork of your HVAC system where it continuously exposes the passing airflow to disinfecting ultraviolet rays. Because the total air volume of your house is circulated through the ductwork many times per day by the HVAC blower, the germicidal effect of repeated UV exposure is optimized.
- Another target location in home HVAC systems is frequently the A/C evaporator coil located in the indoor air handler. Always wet with condensation while the system is running and exposed to microscopic mold spores circulating in the air, the coil provides favorable conditions for toxic mold growth and may become a source of spreading mold contamination throughout the house. One or more lights continuously exposing the coil to germicidal UV wavelengths sterilizes coil surfaces and inhibits mold growth.
Ask the air quality experts at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning for more information about the disinfecting power of UV lights to keep your indoor environment healthy.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 440-201-2959.
Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area