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DeHart Plumbing, Heating, and Air Inc. Blog

How Can an UV Air Purifier Help My Home?

UV-air-purifier-light

We offer several types of air purifier in Modesto, CA to help our customers improve the quality of their indoor air. Many purifiers target chemicals, smoke, molecule odors, and the insidiously common volatile organic compounds. We can help homeowners determine what pollutants are moving through their HVAC system and install the air purification system that will remove them, often up to 99%.

When it comes to dealing with the many biological pollutants that can roam through the rooms of a home, a house may need a special dedication purifier: a UV air purifier a.k.a. UV germicidal lights. These biological hazards include toxic mold spores, viruses, germs, bacteria, and many other microbes. You probably don’t need us to tell you these are undesirables—but you may need an explanation for how a UV air purifier can help you win the fight against them. 

Ultraviolet Rays at Work

At the most basic level, a UV air purifier is a lamp that emits ultraviolet light (UV radiation). You’re probably familiar with UV rays, since you want to protect yourself from them with sunglasses and suntan lotion whenever you’re in direct sunlight. This is because UV rays are harmful to organic tissue. That’s why you get a sunburn from lengthy exposure to direct sunlight. 

What UV rays do to organic tissue is disrupt the function of the cells. This either kills the cells or renders them inert and unable to reproduce. Around a century ago, medical scientists discovered that concentrated amounts of UV radiation could be used to treat patients with illnesses such as tuberculosis, since the rays killed off harmful cells, and if used in small enough quantities wouldn’t harm the patient. 

The UV Air Purifier at Work

You may already begin to see how UV lights can be used for air purification. The UV lamps in an air purifier are installed into the HVAC system so they shine onto the evaporator coil of the air conditioner, which is a point where all the air moving through the ventilation system must pass, and also a point where mold is most likely to develop because of the moisture on the coil. The ultraviolet radiation kills or makes inert the cells of the biological contaminants. The UV rays will eliminate mold spores, microbes, and bacteria. They will also help the AC/heat pump coil last longer and prevent the dreaded “dirty sock syndrome” that can come from mildew and mold growing in the HVAC system.

The UV rays are at a low enough power that they will not harm people or pets. (Well, you’d get a bit of a tan if you left your arm under one for an hour, but the lights are installed into the HVAC system so they aren’t easy to get to.)

Our UV Air Purifier Installers at Work

For a UV air purification system to work correctly and do the best job possible, it must have a professional install it. We’ll see you have a solid installation so the lights will help your house for many years. UV air purifiers only need occasional maintenance, and we can assist with an eventual replacement or upgrade.

Call on Greenhart for the best in indoor air quality and energy savings in your home. Live Green, Save Green!

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