Living in Louisiana means dealing with high humidity as well as high temperatures, and that can lead to all kinds of unwelcome additions to you home. Germs, viruses, mold spores and bacteria seem to be everywhere during the humid summer months, and it can be a chore keeping them from gaining a foothold. Luckily, there’s an excellent means to keep those biological contaminants at bay: UV air purifiers to stop germs and mold.
UV Stands for Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light exists beyond our ability to see, but we can feel it every time we go out in the sunlight: it’s what causes our skin to tan, and to burn if we spend too much time unprotected. UV lights emit much lower levels of ultraviolet light, and are often used at rock concerts and amusement parks to make our white clothes glow in the dark. (That’s the light interacting with the chemicals in our laundry detergent.)
At those levels, they’re harmless to human beings and multi-cellular organisms like pets. Germs, mold and bacteria, however, react in a much different manner: the light with either kill them outright or render them incapable of replicating, which amounts to the same thing. You can probably see how useful that can be in keeping your home free of germs and mold.
Installed in your HVAC System
The question becomes how best to use that ability. You can’t simply put UV lights all over the home; you need them to go in a spot where they will do the most good in the least amount of space. That spot is the apex to your centralized heating and air conditioning ducts. As the system runs, it cycles through the air in your home: heating it or cooling it and then blowing through your ducts with a fan.
By setting the UV lights up in a sheet across the apex of the ducts, the germs in the air will be forced through the light as the system runs. That not only allows the air to be cleaned efficiently, but it will keep working whenever you run your HVAC system: dealing with new germs and bacteria as they come into the home as well as covering germs and bacteria that are already there.
UV air purifiers are more effective than screens because there’s no room for the germs to squeeze through, as they can with even the finest screen. They have few moving parts, which means that upkeep won’t take much beyond replacing the lightbulbs, and with proper installation, they can last you many years.
UV air purifiers work well for any home, but they are especially suitable for:
- Homes with newborns and young children, who may be vulnerable to illnesses.
- Homes with one or more elderly residents.
- Homes with residents suffering from asthma or similar conditions.
- Home with residents who work in industries that may expose them to germs, such as hospital workers.
If you think a UV air purifier will be a good fit for your Covington, LA home, call A Professional Heating & Air today!