How high of a priority is staying healthy for you? At this time, probably pretty high. When you are doing everything to stay healthy you may be overlooking a big factor, your home's air quality. Remember your home's air cycles through your HVAC system and ductwork throughout the day. Dust, mold and bacteria can accumulate in your HVAC system and easily affect your air quality. That's where Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) products, specifically UV lights will help greatly. Here some ways UV lights improve your home air quality.
UV lights have been proven to provide sterilizing benefits. Think about a sun burn, the sun's UV rays damage your skin cells. Given longer period of exposure the burn becomes more extreme, damaging the cells further. Installing a UV light in your HVAC system has the same result on any type of growth. The most common and important area of your HVAC system to treat is the indoor cooling coil or evaporator coil. Your homes air passes through the coil no matter if your system is in heating or coiling mode. During cooling season the coil is where the most moisture is found in your ductwork as your the humidity in your home's air condenses on the cooler coil. Shining UV light rays on this coil not only sterilizes your home's air as it passes by, but provides constant exposure to the surfaces most likely for growth.
The benefits of UV lights are also supported by the wide use in the medical community. With the COVID-19 pandemic at large our health care providers are treating so many patients yet needing to stay healthy themselves. Many hospitals sterilize their tools and masks by utilizing UV lights systems. COVID-19 is not like any other virus we have seen and although it has yet to be confirmed if it can be killed by UV light, along with hand washing and social distancing UV light is one of our best options in reducing the chance of spread. A search can find multiple reputable sources siting discussion with science professionals who feel it is likely that UVC rays, utilized in many UV lights, would kill the COVID-19 virus .
For mold to grow there are 3 major requirements; moisture, oxygen and food. These could all be found in your HVAC system at, guess where, the indoor evaporator coil. The food comes from the dust that either makes it through your air filter or from poor filter changing schedule and lack of maintenance. Keeping your coil clean is a must to keep mold from growing. Installing a UV light in or above the coil will keep any growth from happening and keeping your air cleaner to breathe. Reduce the amount of dust in your ductwork with an air purifier like the Air Knight which produces what is call Ionization Particle Gathering or IPG. The IPG is a fancy term for causing particles in the air to clump together by charged ion state. When the small particles in the air that might pass through your air filter clump together when going through your ductwork they become larger in size and as a result will be caught by the filter. Keeping dust from reaching the moisture found on the evaporator coil lowers the chance for mold growth greatly.
Unpleasant odors in your home can stem from what is in your ductwork. Think about the points we covered above and the growth that cause a musty odor. By eliminating mold and bacteria growth with UV light will keep unpleasant odors from continuing and without any harm to you. Increase the odor elimination with an air purifier. The Air Knight PX5 or Active Air not only has a UV light, but carbon metals which when used in combination of the UV light produces oxidizing properties that will eliminate not only odors like mold, but VOCs from new paint, new carpet for example.
If someone in your home struggles with allergies an air purifier would be a useful investment. Think of a day when seasonal allergens like pollen are high, but when you return from home your allergies seem as though it's in the middle of frost season! Air purifiers utilize odor reduction and particle gathering to reduce the allergens in the air and surfaces in your home. Customers that have installed an air purifier will tell you about the noticeable difference they have experienced.
By reducing the growth of bacteria and dust accumulation on your evaporator coil air will pass through freely. The heat or cooling process will be as intended by your air conditioner or heat pump. Your furnace's blower won't have additional restriction of air flow causing greater wear and tear on the equipment. Not that the installation of IAQ products will replace regular maintenance but it will only improve the life expectancy of your system by helping keep it clean.
If you are interested in having Bryant provide you options that would help your home's air quality complete our online contact form or give us a call at 402-470-8162.