UV light installed in HVAC system

The post on Duct works got me to thinking about something that a HVAC repair person mentioned while chatting with him during a recent Inspection / Repair. He said for households with people who have allergy issues, Installing a UV Light is really helpful. he said a lot of newer homes are being built with them installed. He said it was not all that expensive to do at the time of a initial build. He said its a little more $ to do at a later time. Doing a quick search on the subject here is something I found:

Germicidal or UV lights for HVAC systems are used to kill the DNA of germs, viruses, mold spores, bacteria and fungi as they pass through the air handler system.

A strategically placed UV light is very effective at killing close to one hundred percent of these harmful pollutants. Installing a UV HVAC system in your condensing unit — the air handler — provides a cost-effective method to clean all the air as it passes through the system.

Energy-efficient homes are constructed today with an emphasis on sealing every crack and crevice to prevent conditioned air from escaping. Unfortunately, this has created the perfect environment for these microorganisms to thrive. Installing a UV lights for HVAC systems helps to control or even eliminate these harmful contaminates.

I’m curious if anyone here has installed a UV light system and what your thoughts are on it.

I’ve heard mixed reviews on them, but completely understand why someone would give it a shot. Allergies suck, there’s no other way to put it.

I still would put more stock in getting animals out of the house, ditching carpet, changing filters in HVAC equipment regularly, and managing humidity levels before then going to the UV light option If everything else has been tried, it cannot hurt though.

My work sells a UV disinfecting light robot made to clean Hospital/clean rooms. The unit stays on for 15-25 min depending on the size of the room. Clinical Studies show they do work. My concern in the HVAC set up is the amount of time the germs are exposed to the UV light moving fast with the air flow in a return vent. They do not talk about that in there sales pitch.

buckybadger wrote:

I’ve heard mixed reviews on them, but completely understand why someone would give it a shot. Allergies suck, there’s no other way to put it.

I still would put more stock in getting animals out of the house, ditching carpet, changing filters in HVAC equipment regularly, and managing humidity levels before then going to the UV light option If everything else has been tried, it cannot hurt though.

We are animal people and my dogs are looked at just like the rest of the family. If you have a dog that needs to be out side 100 percent of the time I feel you don’t deserve a dog. Other then that I agree with all said.

Bearcat89 wrote:

We are animal people and my dogs are looked at just like the rest of the family.

I share that feeling and most of the people I know that have dogs do too. I understand what Bucky is getting at though. Dogs are animals that have fur and many of them shed hair. Its just part of having a dog. The benefits far outweigh their shortcomings IMO. All you have to do is scroll through the thread titled “The dogs of IDO” and you’ll see the pride in dog ownership on this forum.

my experience in commercial hvac work is when new rooftop units or air handlers came with them we would use them until they quit working. when they quit working we wouldnt fix them and never noticed a difference. i worked at a very large casino with smoking so the air was filthy and had to change 2″ and 4″ pleated filters every month and sometimes more. we would change over 1000 filters a month on all the equipment.

filter replacement is huge to keep your coils clean and proper airflow. i have 3 dogs at home and change my filter every month. now days with the air tight houses bringing fresh air inside is a bigger benefit than uv lights imo

We are animal people and my dogs are looked at just like the rest of the family. If you have a dog that needs to be out side 100 percent of the time I feel you don’t deserve a dog.

Guacamole agrees.

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Wife would put me outside before our dog, as I would her also. Don’t get a dog if you don’t want it in the house.

They are for killing the bacteria/germs on the surfaces of the coil and drain pan vs treating the air bypassing. It doesn’t hurt to add it, but a good yearly cleaning would probably do the same and be better. Anything upstream of the coil won’t be touched.

The UV-C lights can only deal with viruses and bacteria and you do have to expose them to enough light to weaken/destroy them and I would guess most systems would need multiple lights. Good furnace filters will help some but there are also air purifiers that have HEPA filters and ionization and no dust, dog hair, bacteria, virus, or pollen should be able to escape that

Pass on the UV light. The bacteria/viruses need to be exposed for minutes, not seconds to be affected.
When I got my younger lab as a pup I started getting stuffy nose/sinuses and some eye irritation. I was so bummed out and was thinking I might not be able to keep him. When I took him in for his first check up the vet said many people who are allergic to dogs are allergic to proteins in their saliva. Their saliva gets on everything, dries, then goes airborne. She said wait about 3 more months when his mouth bacteria will change. She said puppies have a certain type of bacteria and it changes when they get older. That’s what puppy breath is. A few months later my allergy symptoms went away.
With my older dog, my wife and kids cared for it when it was a puppy, because I knew I was allergic to dogs, so I didn’t experience any symptoms with that dog.

Feathers wrote:

To say you don’t deserve a dog if they are an outside dog is ignorance. I have had labs my whole life that have been outside dogs. They have a coat that keeps them warm and a nice insulated dog house to keep them warm on cold days and nights. Go outside when it is negative 30 and stick your hand in the dog house through their door and it is toasty. An outside dog without a proper house is not okay. We take our dogs in during the winter for short periods just to spend time with them and often times they will stand at the door wanting to go out. I am the biggest dog lover in the world and I find the comments about outdoor dogs to be completely incorrect. Sounds like comments from city folk.

To us, dogs are animals. We love them, care for them, but feel they enjoy life outside far more than sitting in a house. We also don’t enjoy the mess. They ride in the plow truck, chase squirrels, catch gophers and raccoons, and swim in the pond whenever they feel like it. Any dog we’ve had has always had access to a heated garage when they chose and acres to patrol. Anything less than that type of freedom and you don’t deserve a dog.

You’ll have better airstream performance with bipolar ionization vs UV light in an HVAC system.

I was Hotel water park owner, they been trying to sell UV lights to pool operators for 20 years. 10% swear by them 90% say they are a hoax/voodoo science. I’m part of the 90%. Of coarse these aren’t official numbers but close I bet.