The question on using Ultraviolet light to desinfect air, water and items that dont do so very well with alchohol, bleach, boiling and heath has been dsicussed here.
This nice hackers have made a UV breadbox with a DIY guide. Their intention was funny reasearch, but it functons well. Note the end of article about UV light saftey etc. Easy to build, and would probably work better to desinfect those last disposabel masks in stock than any other technik…
Building a UV air system would be simple but virus exposure time as the air flows through the box needs to be adressed. How long does it take UV to kill a virus.
Would this be something to use to disinfect mail? If not, does anyone have an idea on making paper coming into the house virus free?
I have had a UV water filtration system for many years - but it needs electricity to run!!! Will be SOL when TSHTF!!!
I also have a UV whole house water filtration system for my well. Since my well is in an area of ponds, streams and a hangout for local birds and ducks, I plan to dedicate my one generator to keep my system up and running. I am concerned over recent news that H5N1 seems to be adapting better to living in water at warmer temperarure and for longer periods.
I have seen UV lamps on EBAY. You have to be extremely careful with your eyes with these.
Udar and no-name: The problem with using UV is that there is a time and intensity requirement for killing pathogens. This is a very hard thing to monitor, especially in air or moving water, and if wrong you will have live pathogens.
For disinfecting paper (and other things) use heat. There is a time and heat requirement to kill pathogens too but it is easy to measure the heat and time. While I do not have any data on the relationship to kill pathogens in the air, I have detailed information on heat pasteurization of water in my (free and I am not selling any thing ) water report that is currently 115 pages and almost finished. Send me an e-mail if you’d like a copy pfwag@lycos.com
gharris: It is relatively easy to have backup power for operating the UV lamp but when the power is out for any considerable length of time ultimately you will not have any water pressure either. Another problem with UV disinfecting is that most do not have a lamp-fail circuit that shuts off the water flow. Without that live pathaogens come zipping through. Bad enough with crypto but a whole different ball game with H5N1.
A very new water filter is the Watts Premier WP2-BVC, an NSF approved filter that will kill bacteria and virus. It is brand new technology and hardly anybody carries it but you can find it at http://tinyurl.com/kwgz5
I have asked the owner of the company, Mark, to test the system at a low head (pressure) similar to his low pressure filter offerings (http://tinyurl.com/efaaa). Note the low pressure filters and all the pertinent info for having pure water in an emergeny situation. Mark told me he would have an answer on Tuesday. Ideally you would want the Watts biological catridge preceded by Argoncide’s Nanoceram http://www.argonide.com/ filter. The Nanoceram is also brand new filter technology. It is not NSF approved like the Watts biological filter but it makes for one serious pre-filter to protect the Watts biological filter cartridge. For some real interesting stuff on the Nanoceram see http://tinyurl.com/rbm9m and http://tinyurl.com/rh4rg
If you are serious about having pure water, with or without electricity, get one of Mark’s engineered systems. Great prices and no Far-East junk. As far as I know, Premium Water Fiters is one of the few if not only water filter company that carries the Watts WP2-BVCand Nanoceram.
Since this isn’t about UV Disinfection and the info is very pertinent for preppers I’ll post it and some more info I just recently discovered under a different thread.
when it comes to water, and there is no electricity, use a ceramic filter like Doulton and bleach, its just that easy. But I beliwe that blackouts will not be a single one lasting for a long period, but rolling rations just like they do in every part of the world with energy shortness and breakdowns. This could mean that electric technolgy also should be a part of a plan for coping.
I googled a chart on time and intensity for UV C light and killing pathogens, its a science that would be very easy to be in range of if there is a single objekt like paper, maks etc. Just give it more time and exposure than the charts say… Of course the questions of UV shadow has to be dealt with.. A object like a wool sveater would be easyer to boilwash than to UV radiate right trhu.
If its a flowing medium like air or water its different… In water I would leave the math to the producer of a complete system.. In air I would jugde a system to be “ a % reduction” of any virus in a sirculating system over time, not a bulletproff 100% safe risk free life (nothing in this world is 100% riskfree…)
A good old heathfan has been proposed as simple and effective wirus cleaner of air in sickrooms etc.. But UV light need less energy, and is then very interesting in batterypowered systems, or when to much heath is a problem..
Remember that the hospitals dont use UVC to disinfect skalpels etc, they use autoclaves and then places the equpiment in a UV box to keep it clean over time..
And a small warning. Some products claim to disinfect surfaces with UV, like a flashlight.. If soo, the light has to be very strong,, and you could not practicaly use it whitout protective glasses and full coverage of skin.. maybe the lamps reducses the number of pathogens, but not a near 100% in my opinion.. but I am no expert :)
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