UV Lights: Your Ally As Cold And Flu Season Sets In

UV lights can be a helpful addition to your arsenal against colds and the flu.
As more and more homes are sealed tightly — which is good news for energy savings — the germs that do get inside your home have nowhere to exit. Add to this problem the fact that homes are now manufactured with synthetic materials that can aggravate allergies and asthma, and homeowners are almost required to develop a strategy to combat indoor air quality problems and germs.

UV, or ultraviolet, lights are a great solution to your home’s indoor air quality concerns.

• UV lights can be installed in new homes or as retrofits: Connected as part of your home’s HVAC system, UV lights target germs as air moves through your system.
• UV lights are the only effective method of eradicating germs: As germs pass through lights they’re hit with powerful UV rays, which get inside the cell and reaches the DNA. At this point, the bonds at the molecular level are broken, so the cell is essentially no longer capable of reproducing itself.
• UV lights can address several types of airborne contaminants: This includes bacteria, viruses, molds and mildew.
• UV lights not only rid the air of these contaminants so you don’t breathe them in, but their air-cleaning abilities also extend to your heating and cooling equipment. UV lights help to keep coils clean, buildup-free and operating at peak efficiency.

One thing to keep in mind about UV lights is that they are not a catch-all solution to poor indoor air quality. They are best used to combat the pollutants listed above, like bacteria and viruses, but they are not an effective tool against particles like dust. Therefore, homeowners often choose an air-purification strategy that combines UV lights with other technologies for a whole-house solution to indoor air quality concerns.If you think your home is a good candidate for UV lights, give the home-comfort experts at Rinaldi’s Air Conditioning a call today. We have served Orlando-area homeowners for more than 40 years.