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UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

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Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#11

Post by colechristensen »

wesapien wrote: post #9
a1371 wrote: post #4

When you talk to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) most are uncomfortable with UV. Reason being that while you can get rid of viruses, you can also create volatile compounds. Our homes' air is like a soup of natural and synthetic chemicals. From your flooring wear to your decor off-gassing to cooking, there are elements in your air that may be safe as they are, but they can completely change when they hit something volatile l…

My uncle has ozone generators in his home. One of them is industrial strength and he only runs it when he is leaving his house for awhile. Does ozone produce by products? I vaguely recall hospitals used ozone to clean n95 masks.

Ozone itself is the main culprit.

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#12

Post by colechristensen »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #10

If this is used inside homes and offices, how does one train their immune system, which requires constant low level exposure to foreign entities?

The problem is enclosed spaces build up pretty high levels of exposure you just don’t find in natural environments. There also tend to have much less of the harmless diversity that outside has.

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#13

Post by yummypaint »

wesapien wrote: post #9
a1371 wrote: post #4

When you talk to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) most are uncomfortable with UV. Reason being that while you can get rid of viruses, you can also create volatile compounds. Our homes' air is like a soup of natural and synthetic chemicals. From your flooring wear to your decor off-gassing to cooking, there are elements in your air that may be safe as they are, but they can completely change when they hit something volatile l…

My uncle has ozone generators in his home. One of them is industrial strength and he only runs it when he is leaving his house for awhile. Does ozone produce by products? I vaguely recall hospitals used ozone to clean n95 masks.

I think it's pretty well established that ozone can interact unpredictabily, especially with chemically complex modern building materials.

Here is one anecdotal example: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeowners/comments/d2rjsb/ozone_ge...

N95 masks actually seem like one of the few use cases that make sense, as their composition is well known and they can be easily enclosed. Even when ozone generators work as expected, they can take months to remove odors from spaces.

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#14

Post by solarist »

wesapien wrote: post #9
a1371 wrote: post #4

When you talk to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) most are uncomfortable with UV. Reason being that while you can get rid of viruses, you can also create volatile compounds. Our homes' air is like a soup of natural and synthetic chemicals. From your flooring wear to your decor off-gassing to cooking, there are elements in your air that may be safe as they are, but they can completely change when they hit something volatile l…

My uncle has ozone generators in his home. One of them is industrial strength and he only runs it when he is leaving his house for awhile. Does ozone produce by products? I vaguely recall hospitals used ozone to clean n95 masks.

See here: https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/ozone-generators-...

At the end I decided against the ozone generator for my home and went instead for an air purifier with filter.

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#15

Post by slimsag »

wesapien wrote: post #9
a1371 wrote: post #4

When you talk to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) most are uncomfortable with UV. Reason being that while you can get rid of viruses, you can also create volatile compounds. Our homes' air is like a soup of natural and synthetic chemicals. From your flooring wear to your decor off-gassing to cooking, there are elements in your air that may be safe as they are, but they can completely change when they hit something volatile l…

My uncle has ozone generators in his home. One of them is industrial strength and he only runs it when he is leaving his house for awhile. Does ozone produce by products? I vaguely recall hospitals used ozone to clean n95 masks.

Ozone is very dangerous. The EPA concluded it poses serious health risks back in 2013 (causes asthma and respiratory harm, short and long term exposure is linked to likely early death, and even linked to cardiovascular problems.)

Cleaning air is simple; you don't need to look to obscure Ozone/UV devices.

For gasses/VOCs, you need a carbon filter. The larger the filter and more air that moves past it, the better. You can grab industrial ones used in greenhouses for ~$150, some brands (LAYOND on Amazon) have cases that make them look alright and make them quiet.

For particulate (dust), a carbon filter works OK but a HEPA filter is better. Get a name brand one (Honeywell) so you're not getting ripped off.

None of that will replace the lack of oxygen, though-so open a window.

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#16

Post by clumsysmurf »

a1371 wrote: post #4

When you talk to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) most are uncomfortable with UV. Reason being that while you can get rid of viruses, you can also create volatile compounds. Our homes' air is like a soup of natural and synthetic chemicals. From your flooring wear to your decor off-gassing to cooking, there are elements in your air that may be safe as they are, but they can completely change when they hit something volatile l…

Interesting, does this also apply to far-UVC (222nm)? Its not surprising that UV would be a catalyst in some undesirable scenario. I'm thinking about toxic residues left by cigarette smoking reacting with household surfaces.

Research suggests that rooms facing the sun (with blinds open) have less bacteria and viruses because it is a disinfectant. I would have to imagine in many homes, UV is somewhat pervasive anyhow.

https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186...

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#17

Post by [deleted] »

wesapien wrote: post #9
a1371 wrote: post #4

When you talk to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) most are uncomfortable with UV. Reason being that while you can get rid of viruses, you can also create volatile compounds. Our homes' air is like a soup of natural and synthetic chemicals. From your flooring wear to your decor off-gassing to cooking, there are elements in your air that may be safe as they are, but they can completely change when they hit something volatile l…

My uncle has ozone generators in his home. One of them is industrial strength and he only runs it when he is leaving his house for awhile. Does ozone produce by products? I vaguely recall hospitals used ozone to clean n95 masks.

[deleted]

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#18

Post by joe_the_user »

Animats wrote: post #5
joe_the_user wrote: post #2

I don't understand why there hasn't a lot of resources put into approaches like this.

It works, but it's hard to do. * The far-UV lamps cost way too much. * There are a sizable number of fake ones out there. * There aren't standards and inspection tools for this. A useful tool would be a UV detector on a stick. You touch it to the ceiling, and it reports on whether there's enough UV in the right wavelengths to kill viruses. The idea is to have emitters which radiate horizontally, with most of the UV u…

All that makes sense - for an ordinary product in an ordinary market.

But this seems like something that could make a serious dent in the covid situation and so government mandates and money could flow and get these much more widely deployed with strong standards.

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#19

Post by beebeepka »

colechristensen wrote: post #12
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #10

If this is used inside homes and offices, how does one train their immune system, which requires constant low level exposure to foreign entities?

The problem is enclosed spaces build up pretty high levels of exposure you just don’t find in natural environments. There also tend to have much less of the harmless diversity that outside has.

Open doors and windows to create a current. Do it on a daily basis

Re: UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses

#20

Post by Auracle »

beebeepka wrote: post #19
colechristensen wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is enclosed spaces build up pretty high levels of exposure you just don’t find in natural environments. There also tend to have much less of the harmless diversity that outside has.

Open doors and windows to create a current. Do it on a daily basis

That’s not an option for most climates.
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