Count on UV Air Purifiers in the Winter
Winter season is cold season, and your home here in Manor, TX may be more vulnerable to colds and flu viruses than you realize. No one likes dealing with illnesses, especially when the weather is cold, but what can you do about it? The answer is quite a bit. A UV air purifier installed in your heating and air conditioning system can make a huge difference in the overall health of your family. Let’s break it down to show you how it all works.
Why Is Wintertime So Risky for Colds and Flu Bugs?
When the air gets cold, it gets dry as ambient moisture is forced out of it by coalescing into liquid form. That can dry out our sinuses—our body’s first line of defense against germs and viruses—and leave us more vulnerable to illness. We often compound that in the winter by keeping our homes and businesses buttoned up tight against the cold. That’s important, obviously, but it has the unwelcome side effect of allowing germs to circulate inside: passing from one family member to another without stopping.
UV Lights to the Rescue
UV stands for “ultraviolet,” a wavelength of light that exists beyond our ability to see. It appears in high amounts in sunlight, which is what causes our skin to tan and burn when we spend time outdoors on a sunny day. In lower amounts, it’s quite harmless to humans and multi-celled animals like dogs and cats. Indeed, UV lights are used at rock concerts and amusement parks to make our white clothes glow in the dark. (That’s the light interacting with chemicals from laundry detergent.)
But while we’re perfectly safe from those lights, they have an entirely different effect on germs and similar creepy crawlies: either killing them on contact or fusing their DNA so they can’t replicate. That makes UV light an excellent weapon when protecting your home against colds and flu bugs.
How Do They Work?
The issue involves how to make the best use of that power, and obviously, you can’t simply cover your home in UV lights and call it a day. The trick is to expose them to the most amount of air in your home in the least amount of space. There’s where your ducts come in, or more precisely, the apex of your ducts. As the heater runs (or the air conditioner runs in the summertime), it slowly circulates the air in your home through that choke point. UV air purifiers simply shine their light across the apex, ensuring that the air passes through the light as the system blows. That scrubs your household clean of germs and flu bugs automatically whenever you run your HVAC system. The air is cleaner and fresher, and your family is healthier and happier. Best of all UV air purifiers require little maintenance beyond changing out the light bulbs from time to time.
Trust the experts at Intelligent Air Services to install, repair and maintain a UV air purifier in your home!