Are Ultraviolet Light Safe For Human
UV-C light is safe for humans because it has a limited range that cannot penetrate through the outer cell of human skin or the tear layer in the eye. It will emit ozone byproducts but at an insignificant concentration level. However, long-term exposure can still damage the skin cell resulting in premature wrinkles, sunburn, acute photokeratitis, and skin cancer. UVC light can kill pathogens like bacteria and viruses because it is much smaller than human cells. A complete contrast to mold-killing detergents like chlorine bleach, ammonia that will off-gas harmful chemicals.
Besides killing and preventing mold growth, the right doses of UV rays can improve mood and boost energy levels. Ultraviolet light is also used in skin therapy by stimulating the body to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D can help treat skin disorders, regulate calcium metabolism, insulin secretion, and blood pressure.
Why Should I Use Uv Light To Kill Mold
According to HomeAdvisor.com, the average mold remediation cost reported by homeowners nationwide is $7,500, but it can easily run into the tens of thousands for major damage.
However, an even bigger concern is your health or that of your employees or customers. Thats where UV light comes in: to effectively control mold and prevent the health risks of mold, which can include respiratory infections, asthma, skin irritation, or the worsening of other existing illnesses. Here are three reasons UV light like our Handheld UV Light Sterilizer is a good addition to your toolbox.
Benefits Of Uv Light Hvac
A UV sanitizing light is a great way to keep your family healthy.
UV lights target germs that can worsen conditions like asthma and COPD. These lights can also kill off volatile organic compounds , which cause odors like tobacco smoke.
Plus, both varieties of sanitizing lights keep gunk from building up and moving through your HVAC system. This cleaning power can keep your system running better and longer.
With a more efficient unit, youll spend less money on repairs and maintenance. Thats why UV sanitizing lights can be a helpful addition to any home with a central HVAC system.
Whether you want to maximize your HVAC systems efficiency or keep the effects of allergens away, a UV light is a smart long-term investment. This cleaning tool can help your unit last longer and create a cleaner environment for your family.
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How Can I Know If I Have A Mold Problem
Before I dive into this article, I thought it would be helpful to quickly outline what you can look out for to see if you have or could have a problem with mold in your home. This list is not all-inclusive or definitive, but it could be a helpful guide.
Things that could indicate that you have a mold problem in your home:
- Vsible mold accumulation
- Discoloration on floor, walls, or ceiling
- Peeling, bubled, or cracked paint or wallpaper
Again, these arent the only things that could indicate that you could have a mold problem , but they can be telltale signs that mold is or could be a problem for you now or in the future.
Now, if youre worried about mold, then you can buy a little test kit, which you can pick up on Amazon here, and/or you can buy a neat little sensor from a company called AirThings that tells you if your home is at risk of having a mold problem, and a lot of other things too. You can use this link to check out this sensor on AirThings site, and youll be able to pick it up for less than what you can get it on Amazon usually. But, if that isnt enough for you you can use the code ape10-10off to get an additional ten percent off your purchase too! Thats a whole lot of savings there! But, if youd rather, you can check out this same sensor on Amazon here too.
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Does Uv Light Treatment Offer Any Benefits
Yes, in addition to treating mold, UV lights provide a few other benefits, such as:
- Reducing colds and flus because germs do not re-circulate within the HVAC system.
- Reducing clogs in the condensate drain lines by preventing algae growth.
- Removing VOCs.
- Reducing smells and/or odors within your home.
- Maintaining a cleaner coil.
- Improving cooling efficiency and reducing electricity costs.
Additionally, UV lights within your HVAC system helps provide an effective means for improving indoor air quality.
Worried about mold within your home and looking for help?
For any additional questions, call Snappy Electric, Plumbing, Heating, & Air today. We offer reliable home service solutions to many local areas.
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Uv Light Kills Without The Use Of Harmful Chemicals
According to the EPAs mold remediation guidelines, use of a biocide such as bleach is not recommended as a standard practice when remediating mold.
Chemicals not only have damaging effects on the people who use them, they often have to be left on surfaces for extended periods to work which can damage certain materials.
Ultraviolet light can eliminate mold without these adverse effects. Ultraviolet light creates electromagnetic energy that destroys and attacks the RNA and DNA of microorganisms, preventing their reproduction ability and leading to cell death.
UV light can eliminate microorganisms at the ideal distance and for the right amount of time to deliver the right dose.
The Alternate Ways Of Dealing With Mold
Dead mold spores can still cause allergic reactions and trigger an asthma attack. Use natural ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, or hydrogen peroxide to clean and scrub off surface mold and mildew. Keep room humidity between 30 to 50 percent is the best solution to prevent mold and mildew growth. Consider mold remediation if the mold infestation has spread to cooling coils, drain pipe, ductwork, and porous materials like ceiling, wall, wooden tiles. Using a UV light ready air purifier during mold remediation gives you an extra layer of protection against mold spores reintroduced back to the air. You will be at less risk of inhaling airborne mold that spread across rooms via air ducts or HVAC.
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Ultraviolet Light Disinfects Everywhere The Light Touches
Ultraviolet Light is a proven technology that has been killing mold, fungus, bacteria, and viruses since the beginning of time. Think about a sidewalk and the shaded areas where you find mold thats because the germ-killing power of sunlight isnt reaching those areas. Ultraviolet light brings this same power of the sunshine indoors allowing you to kill mold wherever the light touches, but not just on the surfaces of a room. Ultraviolet light can kill mold in air and on surfaces. Its effective at treating the mold you know about, and can help kill mold, including airborne spores that you cant see.
How Does Uv Light Kill Mold
UV light is able to effectively kill mold because the electromagnetic radiation that it produces is able to work as a disinfectant and can penetrate through organisms. When this light is placed in a lamp and sent out in short wavelengths, these wavelengths will kill most of the mold cells while making sure that the remainder of the cells are unable to reproduce until they die out. Because of how quickly mold can spread, using ultraviolet light can be very effective at keeping mold from spreading and killing it at the same time.
Manually getting rid of mold is ineffective because even one missed spot of mold can reproduce and cause mold to spread at the same rate that it was before you cleaned the area. When using ultraviolet light, the entire area that the light is spread over should be rid of mold in a short period of time. When the ultraviolet rays come across mold cells, they damage the nucleic acids that are a part of the mold.
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Safety Tips For Using The Uv
- Avoid looking directly at the light without wearing protective glasses since the UV light is powerful enough to damage your eyes. Therere specially designed goggles you can wear which reflects the ray without harming your eyes. Bear in mind that the regular glasses are ineffective when it comes to shielding the eyes from these powerful rays.
- Wear hand gloves when handling the bulbs just as with other light bulbs, the UV light lamp also gets pretty hot, so wearing a glove protects you from burning yourself.
- Unplug the lamp before working on them.
Does Uv Light Actually Kill Mold & Bacteria
Yes!
There is plenty of research to prove UV light kills mold and bacteria. Places like hospitals rely heavily on UV light in their HVAC systems to prevent the spread of airborne contaminants and lower the amount of infections.
So the product itself isnt the problem. Its the installation.
To understand why, first you have to know that UV light needs whats called dwell time to kill mold and bacteria. The specific UV dosage required to kill different types of mold and bacteria varies. This dosage is measured in microwatts a second per square centimeter .
Your average residential UV light puts out 50-200 µW/cm2. This means it needs a dwell time of 1,650-6,600 seconds to kill a mold spore. Bacteria and viruses, however, only need 50-200 seconds to die.
In other words, it essentially takes UV light 66 times longer to kill mold than bacteria.1
This equation is key to answering our question of why UV lights installed by HVAC and air duct companies almost never work.
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What Is The Between 405 Nm Light And Uvc Light
405 nanometer light is safe for human exposure, UVC is not. UVC light can damage the eye and cause a flash burn.
405 nm provides continuous disinfection, while UV-C provides episodic disinfection. UVC completely kills viruses whenever you run an ultraviolet disinfection device, say at night when people have left for the day, while 405 nm provides a much slower, but continuous disinfection that can be run all day since it is safe for human exposure. Again, keep in mind, UVC kills viruses and bacteria, while 405 nm has only been proven to eradicate bacteria.
405 nm light works on a much slower molecular process than UVC. In lab tests with 405 nm light, it took 16 hours to kill Staph and E. Coli under lab conditions. On the other hand, it would take seconds for UVC light to do the same.
In a study done by Vital Vio, a 405 nm product retailer, 405 nm lights were installed in an active trauma room. The lights were left on 24 hours non-stop. It took 110 days to get bacteria colony counts down to zero.
Other differences between the two:
Is It Safe To Use Uv Lights To Kill Mold & Bacteria
Lots of great tech has come out to the modern market in order to solve rapidly growing indoor air quality and environmental issues. But as with all new technology, one big question is always on everyones mind: Is it safe? No system comes under more scrutiny than UV light air purifiers, and today the experts at Schneller Knochelmann Plumbing, Heating & Air are here to discuss the issue!
Interested in learning more about whether UV light purifiers are your ideal IAQ solution?
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What Type Of Uv Light Do You Need
There are several types of UV light bulbs on the market they range from short waves to long waves and low-pressure lamps.
The most effective type of lamp is a low-pressure mercury-vapour lamp that produces long wave UV radiation at 253.7 nanometers . This type of bulb is highly effective at damaging the DNA of microbes like bacteria and viruses, which causes them to die or become inactive.
Other types of lamps do not kill mold effectively because they dont produce enough UV radiation or their wavelength isnt effective against mold and mildew.
Doesn’t Replace Mold Remediation
Unfortunately UV lights don’t replace the need for mold remediation. In HVAC systems, if there is mold growth inside the furnace or ductwork, it needs to be cleaned first. If the powdery mold isn’t cleaned first, the UV light will still kill the mold, but the mold will turn into a toxic dust and may get blown throughout the entire home.
I recently wrote a guide you may find interesting on the signs of black mold on air vents which shows you how to identify mold inside HVAC systems.
For HVAC systems, UV lights should be installed only after you clean the ducts and remove any visible mold. And if you use an ultraviolet light to kill black mold in a basement, crawlspace, or other area you will still need to physically clean or remove the mold after it is killed. If you just leave mold in place, it will eventually re-grow if it can get enough moisture.
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Understanding The Difference Between Sunlight And Uv Lamps
The sun emits powerful UVA and UVB light that damages human DNA. For that reason, too much sunlight can harm your skin and eyes, ultimately causing cancer in an unfortunate few. Its best to stick to UVC lamps that emit a wavelength too short to make its way between the lamp and your skin. Far UVC light is benign. The light it emits has a narrow range, so its not absorbed by living tissue.
What Kills Mold Instantly
In such cases, a solution of diluted bleach provides the fastest way to kill mold on walls or flooring. Prepare the solution by adding one cup of bleach into a bucket that contains about a gallon of warm water. Then proceed to scrub the mold vigorously with a stiff-bristled brush you’ve dipped in the bleach solution.
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How Do Uv Lights For Hvac Work
UV light for HVAC systems is installed either in your air handler or in your ductwork. When germs move through the central air system, they eventually make it to the sanitizing light.
Once the germs are exposed to the light, they absorb the lights UV rays. The UV rays disrupt the DNA of the germ. When bacteria or molds DNA is damaged, it will either die or become unable to reproduce.
There are two varieties of UV sanitizer lights. Coil sanitizing lights sit near your evaporator coil. Air sanitizing lights are placed in your return vents, which are part of your ductwork.
Uv Light For Killing Mold: Does It Work
Ultraviolet light has a proven track record for killing harmful microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses. What many people do not realize is that UV light also works on fungi such as mold and mildew.
Some people use UV light bulbs in their refrigerators because they destroy the growth of bacteria in meat and other foods, extending their shelf life. The same principle applies to mold spores in your home. In fact, sterilizing rooms with UV light is one way that hospitals ensure that infection does not spread from patient to patient or room to room.
Hospitals have been using heavy-duty UV lights for decades with great success. However, these lights are not practical for use in the home because they require special equipment and training to operate safely.
Fortunately, there are now portable UV lights that are specifically designed for mold removal. These lights are much smaller and easier to use than the industrial-strength UV lights used in hospitals.
Portable UV lights emit a high intensity of ultraviolet light that is strong enough to kill mold spores. The light is focused on an area where mold is present, and it will kill the spores without harming people or pets .
UV light can be used to treat large areas of mold growth, or it can be used to target specific spots of mold. It is a safe and effective way to kill mold, and it does not require the use of harsh chemicals.
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Sunlight Is Already A Natural Disinfectant
Mold loves darkness, and it simply can’t grow in direct sunlight. Have you noticed that you only see fungus growing in shaded areas?
And even though fungus dies in sunlight, it is actually the invisible portion of the light spectrum that destroys the mold. This is known as ultraviolet light which has a shorter wavelength than the light humans can actually see. In fact, mold destroying UV light from the sun will also destroy bacteria, viruses, and other types of fungi.
I remember watching a television show called Man Vs. Wild where the host disinfects stagnant water by placing a clear water bottle in direct sunlight. Over a matter of hours, the water became sterilized and safe to drink. Sunlight is a great natural disinfectant that has been used for hundreds of years.
Is Vinegar Or Bleach Better For Killing Mold
Vinegar truly is better than bleach at killing mold. … That means the mold will grow back. In fact, recognizing the bleach as a ‘threat,’ the mold will grow back even stronger. When bleach is used on porous surfaces like drywall or wood, mold membranes will move deeper into the surface to avoid the chemical.
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How Uvc Combats Powdery Mildew In Cannabis Grows
An adequate dosage of UVC light will act on Powdery Mildew, and Bud Mold, just as it does on other DNA-based microorganisms it will damage its DNA such that it can no longer replicate, and therefore will no longer be viable. If a less than adequate dosage of UVC light is applied, you’ll instead get what you get with every other UVC application not resulting in a zero survival rate a reduction. Too little UVC won’t reduce Powdery Mildew enough. Too much UVC can burn the cannabis plants. The proper amount depends on the intensity of the light source, the amount of time it’s exposed to the light, and how close to the plant the light is located. In many applications, a 3-log or 4-log reduction of bacteria is the goal, and anything beyond that is a bonus. So, even if you don’t completely eliminate Powdery Mildew and Bud Mold, UVC treatment will still reduce it in some capacity.
Most cannabis growers who have already used UVC to protect against Powdery Mildew, and Bud Mold, and have been disappointed with the outcome, have done so with a form of a handheld unit. These units vary widely in their intensity, and quality. And, because a human being must use their own judgment as to how far away to hold the fixture, and how quickly to move it, rather than using applied math and science, it is more likely that a less than adequate dosage was applied.
