Indoor air quality plays an important role in determining comfort in your Southeast Michigan home. Indoor air quality can also affect your family’s health. There are many contaminants lurking in your home which can have negative side effects if left untreated. UV lights are an efficient solution which work to keep the air in your home clean and your family healthy.
UV lights can be used to control contaminants which lurk in your central heating and cooling system. The damp, dark areas in your duct work and near your coil can become a perfect breeding ground for contaminants, as these conditions can promote growth. When contaminants are present in your indoor air, they can aggravate health conditions such as asthma, allergies, COPD, and other respiratory diseases. These contaminants include:
- Fungus
- Mildew
- Mold
- Germs
- Viruses
Your UV lights require maintenance just as your heating and air conditioning systems do. Proper maintenance ensures your lights are working properly and you’re still receiving the benefits you expect. Changing the lamps is essential to system performance, and bulbs should be changed regardless of whether or not they are completely burnt out.
How frequently you should change the bulbs depends on how you are using the UV system:
- Change bulbs every year to maintain the highest level of performance which will benefit family members with sensitivities to certain contaminants and respiratory conditions.
- Change bulbs every two years if you’re using the UV system to simply keep your HVAC coils clean. Bulbs have a lifespan of approximately two years, so this schedule can help you take advantage of their service life.
Don’t leave bulbs unchanged for three or more years. By this point, bulbs can begin to use excess power, causing unnecessary energy expenses. Plus, these old bulbs are simply no longer effective. If you haven’t replaced your bulbs by the three-year mark, shut off the UV lights to save energy until the new bulbs have been installed.
UV lights can be very beneficial to the health of your family when properly maintained. For installation of new bulbs, contact Aladdin Heating & Cooling— we’ve been serving Southeast Michigan homeowners for decades!
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Detroit, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about UV lights and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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