About Hepa Filters

A HEPA filter can be an important part of common air purifier systems to improve the air quality in your home or workplace.
But there are a lot of misconceptions about the HEPA standard, whether or not an air purifier or filter truly meets the HEPA standard and what a HEPA filter can and can’t do.

Let’s take a look at what the HEPA standard means and how a HEPA filter can deal with various types of pollutants in your home.

To understand how HEPA works, think of it as mesh of tangled fibres. The sheet is usually folded into pleats to increase the surface area and filter life. Air flows through the fibres and large enough particles get trapped when they hit the fibres. So it’s a size game which very clearly helps understand what HEPA can filter and what not.

HEPA works well and is effective at removing large enough particulate matter like pet dander, pollen and dust mites. Other particulates can be caught but continue to cause concern on the filter such as mould, bacteria, viruses or fungi.

VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are airborne chemicals that mostly derive from off-gassing of building materials or products in our homes or work place as well as cleaning products aside from other sources like beauty products.

The most concerning health effect associated with VOCs is that some are well-known carcinogens. HEPA filters are unable to remove VOC’s as they simply are far smaller in size than what can be trapped.

Viruses: Much like VOCs, viruses are also too small to be removed.

Despite this fact, HEPA based products were marketed for a long time with the claim to protect from viruses. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now regulated that HEPA filter-based products can no longer make that claim.

Bacteria: While bacteria are large enough to be trapped, bacteria are understood to release endotoxins into the air stream when dying on the air filter surface. Studies have demonstrated that endotoxins cause inflammatory and atopic responses in none-asthmatic and asthmatic participants.

Mould: Mould spores are large enough to be caught in HEPA filters but stay alive on the filter surface. Other particles that accumulate and fill the filter start acting as nutrients and allow mould spores to potentially grow on and through the filter membrane and eventually release new spores into the air.

It is important to say that frequent replacement of filters is critical since pathogens collected on the filter can include live organisms and eventually pathogens are re-released into the air.

A HEPA filter needs to be understood only to be a part of the solution in improving your indoor air quality. As you can tell above, HEPA has many shortcomings, particularly for submicron particulates such as VOCs and viruses.

What is UV Light and How Does it Kill Viruses?

UV light, or ‘Ultraviolet Light’

Is a form of non-visible electromagnetic light. The main source of UV is the sun. There are three types of UV light: UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C. They’re differentiated by the wavelength of the light, with UV-A light has the largest wavelength, ranging from 315-400nm. UV-C light has the shortest wavelength, from 100-280nm.

How Does UV-C Light Kill Viruses?

As UV-C light has the shortest wavelength, it also has the most energy of the UV light types. That means it’s the most powerful at destroy the genetic material inside viruses and other microbes.

V-C light at a specific wavelength of 254nm has been found to be most effective in killing coronavirus such as a severe acute respiratory virus (SARS-CoV) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) as well as other viruses like H1N1 influenza. More detailed data and knowledge about using UV light kill virus check ‘Common UV Lights Aren’t Great at Killing COVID-19’ and ‘UV Light Disinfects Masks, Harms Filtration Less Than 2%.

Is UV-C Light Safe?

Most of the UV-C light produced by the sun is absorbed in the atmosphere, so our bodies and skin rarely receive much of it.
That’s a good thing since UV-C light is considered harmful to the body. UV lights used for disinfection generate UV-C with wavelengths in the range of 254-265nm. This wavelength is great at destroying genetic materials inside viruses. However, that also means it’s good at Destroying Materials Inside Our Bodies.
UV-C light can cause corneal injuries to the eyes, as well as photokeratitis (a feeling of sand in the eyes). Sunburn and more serious skin cancer can also be caused by UV-C light.

Minimum Distances

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Recommends a limit of 3mJ/cm2 for UV light in the actinic range (200 nm – 315 nm), which covers UV-C light. For a typical 0.7W UV sanitizer lamp, that means the exposure times at varying distances are shown in the attached pdf:

Direct Contact

With UV-C light should be avoided. If working with it, it should only be dealt with when using protective gear such as protective glasses and clothing.

Remember, GermXit is safe to use, easy to install and proven to work!

GermXit is part of a total air purifying solution designed to reduce the risk of airborne contaminates smaller than 2.5 µm being present in HVAC systems. HEPA and ULPA filers cannot stop contaminants below 3 µm, bacteria, viruses, mound and fungi are generally smaller than 2.5 µm.

GermXit has been proven to kills bacteria and viruses such as but not limited to the following: –
MRSA – MERS – SARS – Influenza A – Swine Flu (H1N1) – E Coli – Legionella and others.

Information Taken from
Paddy Robertson
Paddy is the CEO of Smart Air

We Have Ionizers  !

Are they effective? The short answer is yes — however, an air purifier likely won’t remove or neutralize all aggravating particles in your home. This is due to the fact that many particles can sit on soft surfaces, such as furniture, bedding, and carpeting, as well as hard surfaces, such as your walls.

Disadvantages of Using An Ionizer

Despite the potential benefits of using an ionizer, the device has some drawbacks. It’s important to keep these risks in mind before purchasing an ionizer.

Here Are Some Disadvantages:

Ineffective for asthma and allergies
Ionizers are unable to remove large particles from the air, including those that trigger asthma and allergy symptoms.

These Includes Particles Like:

Dust
Dander
Pollen
Using an ionizer might not be helpful if you have asthma or allergies.

Ineffective For Odors And Gases

Ionizers don’t destroy odors and gases, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are released from products like paints, cleaning supplies, and adhesives.

VOCs are considered to be indoor pollutants and may cause health problems. Unfortunately, ionizers are ineffective for reducing VOCs in the air.

Emits Ozone

As mentioned earlier, ionizers produce ozone. This happens when negative ions electrically charge airborne particles.

Although ozone may work against microorganisms like viruses, it’s also a lung irritant. Inhaling small amounts of ozone may cause short-term effects like:

Throat irritation
Chest pain
Coughing
Shortness of breath
Difficulty breathing

In The Long-Term, Ozone Might Cause Health Effects Like:

Reduced lung function
Worsening asthma
Higher risk of respiratory infections
Lung inflammation

Taken From

https://www.healthline.com/health/what-does-an-ionizer-do#what-it-does

Symptoms of Mould Infection or Exposure

Black Mould Symptoms

Are even worse if the black mould exposure is severe, has lasted for a long time or if the individual has a mould allergy. Symptoms could include nausea, vomiting, cognitive dysfunction (memory loss), immune system dysfunction, as well as bleeding in the nose and lungs. Studies have also linked household mold exposure to depression.”

Other experts have linked mould infections to increased incidences of asthma and other serious lung and breathing conditions.

And, of course, systemic mold infections are common in people with impaired immune systems, such as those who have HIV/AIDS, or who are taking immunosuppressant medication.

How to Get Rid of Mold in Your HVAC System

Despite regularly inspecting your system, you are still getting complaints about the smell (mold starts to grow in as little as 48 hours), here are some tips you can share with your HVAC contractor for cleaning it up:

1. Turn off your HVAC system.
2. Everyone involved in this cleaning should wear at least an N-95 respirator
3. Replace anything porous, such as filters or insulation, that has become wet.  Double-bag the waste using 6-mil or thicker plastic bags.
4. Use wet vacuums to clean out any standing water. If vacuuming “dry” coils, use a HEPA vacuum.
5. Use Zeffer Coil and Duct Cleaner for HVAC use to clean non-porous surfaces (Ductwork, coils, plenums, pans, etc) of mold, mildew, and other dirt. Zeffer Coil and Duct cleaner will instantly kill and remove mold, mildew, and odor-causing bacteria.
6. Clean the HVAC evaporator coils using a mechanical coil cleaning system to remove any solid debris.
7. As an added measure, isolate each section of ductwork you clean with bladders so the spores you stir up during cleaning don’t spread to other parts of the system or the building. Fog the area with an EPA-registered disinfectant.
8. Apply Zeffer Coil and Duct Cleaner to all components of the HVAC systems. Again, to limit risks associated with using the wrong chemicals and cleaners in HVAC systems.  Zeffer Coil and Duct Cleaner is registered for use in HVAC systems to control mold and bacteria growth. 
9. Remember Zeffer is an all Bio Friendly Product, No Nasty Chemicals.
10. As a final step, HEPA vacuum anything that you cleaned up.

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