Everything old is new again - The reemergence of UV light

[mattl]

If you're old enough you recall the blue germicidal lights in washers and dryers. Now they are finding a resurgence in  applications to kill virus and bacteria in  the  air.  Far UV is being explored to kill Covid and other viruses in public spaces.

 

Here is  great article on the possibilities far UV might offer.

Ultraviolet light can kill almost all the viruses in a room. Why isn’t it everywhere?

Can special lightbulbs end the next pandemic before it starts?

www.vox.com

 

[tolivac]

UVC lamps installed in return HVAC vents could solve issues esp during the COVID.The air is moving slow enough in the vents so the UV lamps can destroy the virus and bacteria,spors thats going thru them.This can be effective in homes and commercial places.This was done in hospitals and healthcare places years ago.Needs to comeback.The sligh ozone from the bulbs is not much of a problem.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

It would help if hand dryers in restrooms had them too, just to help sanitize the air blown and give assurance your hands are germ-free…

— Dave

 

[parunner58]

We have had HVC bulbs in our HVAC system here in Florida for about 5 years now. Our system has two sets of bulbs, one set in the return duct opening and one set above the cooling coil. They need to be replaced every two years at about $540.00. They have helped with allergy symptoms and we were told that also help to prevent mold growth in our hot and humid climate.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

UV in laundry

I would like to see UV in laundry again.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Yes if ozone lamps in dryers can return the scent of sunshine to your washloads and eliminate the acrid smell of the mechanics of a dryer, I'd be for it, too...

-- Dave

 

[tomturbomatic]

By "we" are you talking about your personal domestic system or are you talking about HVAC systems in general? I remember going to a restaurant in Sarasota years ago and there was a funky smell in part of it and the HVAC friend in our group explained that it was mold in the ducts.

 

[qsd-dan]

Weren't these discontinued decades ago because it's harmful to breath?

I remember seeing one operate in a Taco Bell about 15-20 years ago. It was mounted on a wall behind a scone.

 

[petek]

I think the ones you see in some restaurant/kitchens hidden behind a panel/sconce are for insect control.

 

[mattl]

If you read the article they are talking about far UV, a shorter wavelength than older UV lights. It does not harm skin of eyes,but does produce ozone. The issue is how much ozone and how to mitigate that.

 

[firedome]

UV back in the Olde Days....

back in the '50s and early '60s, in the "Hot Shoppes" (?) rest stops (iirc?) on the NY Thruway, or was it the New Jersey TPK? when you folded up the rest-room toilet seat it went into a housing on the wall with a UV light in it and a switch inside turned it on, on the theory it'd kill the bacteria on the seat... not a bad idea actually, but imagine a lot of maintenance was required, all of them are long gone nowadays.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Firedome, I remember those types of toilet seats in the pay toilet booths in the Atlanta Airport in the 60s, I think.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I remember science lab having cabinets that florescent lights which were actually those germicidal lamps were in, used to keep safety goggles, which a work place also had to make safety goggles safe to use in not carrying germs from others wearing them previously...

 

Barber/Beauty/Hair Salons also had those for equipment and towels...

 

Surely those memories of those kinds of applications are what we need today...

 

The workplace I'm at has these hand-held computer type devices I often see finger prints all over, and I'm forced to take these quizzes on (which I routinely try to get out of) every day! So there's definitely for sanitary reasons why just in the places where they're stored we could use something like that in this century!

 

 

 

-- Dave