An RGF PHI™ Technology Professional Installation Required
The goal of air purification is to remove contaminants from the air we breathe. Considering we breathe 36,000 times a day and move around 435 cubic feet of air, this is a major concern. Indoor air pollution is now considered by the EPA and Congress a major environmental health problem. Mold once considered just an unpleasant product of nature is now believed to be the cause of many respiratory diseases. Most colds and viruses are caught indoors by airborne germs. Indoor air pollution, left unchecked, can lead to sick buildings. With today's technology, indoor air pollution is no longer a necessary evil of today's tightly built, energy saving buildings.
The main advantage...
Guardian Air does not need the pollutants to travel to the air handler for UV treatment or filtration. Guardian Air is proactive and sends
ionized aggressive advanced oxidizers into the room to destroy the pollutants at the source, in the air and on surfaces, before they
can reach your family, clients or employees.
PHI™
With a Guardian Air HVAC Cell Advanced Oxidation System, micro-organisms can be reduced by over 99%. Gases,
VOCs and odors can also be reduced significantly. Advanced Oxidation Plasma will be carried throughout the ducts
and rooms for a continuous purification process and a quick kill of newly introduced odors or microbials.
UV-C - Germicidal Lamps
These are rapidly becoming very popular as an easy fix for the air conditioner coil mold problem. This is one of the most
prevalent cause of the mildew smell you get when you enter an air-conditioned sick building. UV-C (254nm) lamps are basically
similar to sun lamps and are typically only effective on microbials that pass by within a few inches of the lamp or areas
where the light is shining directly on for extended periods of time, such as the air conditioner coil (see article in HVAC News
- June 30 2003 and associated press 11-24-03). Excerpt from article:(The biggest questions from contractors are on placement,
Pharo said. For instance, should UVGIs be installed in the return or supply?
For air stream coverage, the study "Defining the Effectiveness of UV Lamps Installed in Circulating
Air Ductwork," from the Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Technology Institute (ARTI),
recommends placement in the return side, with six lamps for optimum effectiveness, Pharo
pointed out.
Due to space and financial constraints, however, "Most homeowners won't have that many
lamps installed. So we recommend the concurrent installation of a really good filter, with the
UV lamp placed over the indoor coil," Pharo said. "Air conditioning systems are great inventions,
but the moist environment (at the coils) creates a microbial breeding ground."
Additionally, when UV lamps are shining directly on the coils, they are hitting a stationary
target. When moving targets (VOCs and microbes) pass UV lights, the more sensitive microbes
may be damaged, but the hardier ones will pass unharmed. UV lights, for instance,
have been found to be better applied to shine on the indoor coil, not to try to clean the air
stream, particularly In residential and light commercial applications; air stream use requires
intense UV saturation.)
Pros: Low cost, easy installation, and effective on suppressing mold growth on the coil that has the light shining on it.
Cons: Not effective at killing airborne microbials unless numerous lamps are used (see article). Only effective on the surface
of the coil that is in direct light. This leaves much of the coil with no treatment. Does not provide ongoing room protection.
Most UV systems install a glass UV mercury bulb without protection from breakage. A broken bulb could release mercury,
a potential environmental and health hazard.
Minimum of two lamps must be used to cover at least one-quarter of the coil surface (the upper half of the outer coil). For
one-half coverage, three to six lamps must be used. 100% coverage is not practical. For a 90% kill rate of airborne microbials,
30" lamps would have to be placed every 2' in a 95' duct, calculated with a 24" x 24" plenum at 2000 cu ft per minute.
A 95 foot lamp is not very practical and as reported in the HVAC News article "UV lamps are for coil surface mold". They are
not effective in an HVAC system for virus or bacteria kills. Some UVc light companies state their UV systems can kill 99.9%
of MRSA on a single pass and then reference an EPA study. This is very misleading as the test was conducted on a test unit
of five UV high-energy lamps, each 50" long in a reflective tunnel, which burns 1,100 watts of electricity. This is the equivalent
of running a hair dryer in your A/C 24 hours a day. This obviously generates a lot of heat in addition to burning a lot of electricity,
and the units cost thousands of dollars. This system is not something the homeowner would install. We make similar
industrial UV systems. However, we specify those for industrial, very expensive heavy duty systems for food processing or
medical applications. A standard 12" HVAC UV light system installed in an A/C coil will destroy mold growth on the coil that
the UV light shines on. What sections of the coil the light does not hit will grow mold. To cover a coil with UV light would take
four to six lights. The lights used on an A/C coil will provide little, if any, airborne microbial kill as the UV energy and dwell
time is not nearly enough to kill fast moving, airborne microbials. Air passing through an A/C coil is doing so at about 1,200
cfm or 30 inches per second; in layman's terms-"very fast."
