In this video, Derek Cole explains how ultraviolet (UV) lighting installed in HVAC systems combats germs, bacteria, and viruses. He describes a "kill zone" directly around the UV lamp and a surrounding "control area" where airborne microbes have their DNA disrupted, preventing reproduction. Cole highlights the challenge posed by fast‑moving air in HVAC ducts, emphasizing that UV must either kill or incapacitate pathogens as they pass through. To illustrate UV’s effectiveness, he uses everyday analogies: moss grows on the north side of trees and houses where sunlight (UV) doesn’t reach, while sun‑exposed surfaces stay clean and dry, such as a mat left in direct sunlight. He concludes by noting that an estimated 72 trillion allergens enter a home each day, underscoring the need for UV treatment to improve indoor air quality.
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That is an old blower motor and wheel we took out of a house. This individual did not have the power of UV. UV handles germs, handles bacteria, and handles viruses. None of these can survive when they hit UV. So the challenge in our industry is air is moving pretty fast, uh, when it comes through your system, it's moving very fast. So to control these germs, bacteria, viruses, it needs to either be killed or it needs to be disrupted. So, uh, on our UV lights that we install in systems, we have what's called a radius around it, which is the kill zone. We call it the kill zone when it's near the lamp, and we also call a spot around it the control area because when that bacteria or the virus or the germ flies through the UV space, it disrupts its DNA so it can't reproduce. That is really the main challenge when you look at any of these is it's always reproducing. So you want to, you want to kill it, disrupt it so that doesn't happen anymore. So regardless of if it's in the kill zone or the control area, we can take care of it with UV. To prove this, if you want to go outside, if you're ever in Scouts or have you ever heard anybody talking about the north side of a tree has moss on it, Well, it has moss on because there is no direct UV sunlight to it. So if you think about the north side of a house, it's usually— if they have brick, they have things growing on the brick. If they have siding, it's probably greenish in that area. It's because UV doesn't hit that spot. It doesn't kill it. If you go to the other side of the house where the sun does shine,, you won't see that happening because again, those things can't grow when UV is present. It's not possible. Um, you know, we all have that, that mat that's wet at the front or the back of the house, that little mat you put your feet on. Uh, if you want to prove my point, go to the middle of the yard where you have good sunshine, stick that mat in the yard, and it will be dry. And it'll be free of the green stuff because it cannot grow when UV is present. So when you have a damp, dark place like your HVAC unit, the only way to control what is coming out of that space is the power of the sun, the power of UV. 72 trillion allergens enter your home daily.
