Does anybody have experience with a UV air treatment system like the one from swordfish? I looked at other brands before that were about $350CAN, this Swordfish sells at HD in Canada for $169CAN. My question is: Did you see an improvement in your indoor air? How does it compare with other brands? I don’t want to buy this Swordfish light and 5 years from now I have trouble finding replacement bulbs if HD doesn’t sell them anymore. I don’t have AC in my house but will install HRV in the near future.
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You won't see or feel a difference in the air no matter what they say. From the limited studies so far there has been a reduction of the spread of colds etc, in some larger buildings that re-circulate a large portion of the air through the HVAC system. It kills viruses and bacteria that may be speading the air borne ilnesses.
Years ago I was working at a hospital. They had a large bone marrow transplant program. Because of some unscheduled issues they had a couple more patients than special 'clean rooms' to hold them. The transplant doctors where aghast that their patients would be unprotected. They brought in the hospital's head expert in disease. He assured them the amount of protection provided by the hugely expensive rooms, each having a self-contained HEPA filtration and UV recirculation system that occupied a whole wall, was actually minimal. At best a UV source will only keep disease from spreading within the household without preventing if from coming in. If the disease is in the general population and you touch a contaminated surface and then rub your eye all the UV lamps in the world won't help you. Also UV radiation of an airstream is not without cost. The energy use is substantial. A dozen or two watts, not too much short term, but this burden is is 24/7/365 so the costs add up. Also the bulbs need to be replaced regularly. Every six months or year at a cost of $100 to $300 plus service call. All this for a benefit of limited, if not dubious, value. My understanding is that one of the few major benefits is that a UV source in the evaporator coil does serve to keep the coil free of mould and crud. But here again a properly designed and regularly maintained system shouldn't have much of a problem.If SARS and bird flu have you scared wash your hands, stay away from crowds, don't touch your eyes or nose and avoid the duck blood soup. Most of the bird flu victims have been young boys who plucked chickens. A situation which exposes them to fresh blood in large quantities.