Posted on 12/20/2020 6:39:36 AM PST by jcon40
Sick of Covid. Then KILL IT !
Outside the box thinking for what goes on inside the box.
Place holders: The Dot, the O, and the Box
Let’s imagine a picture where Covid viruses are “Dots” inside a square, the “Square” is a room and you are an “O”, a person in a Box trying to avoid Dots
Fear is awful. Especially when you can’t see what’s trying to kill you.
“O’s” wear masks and stand apart from each other but dang it, no one’s killing the dots! And you can’t even see them. You’re virtually blind and have no idea if the precautions you’re using are really working.
Imagine we take a leap here and imagine there is a way to kill 2/3’s of the Dots in that room every 5 minutes ? (Murder rates may vary)
Then, in the next 5 minutes 2/3 ‘s of the 30% that had survived are killed off. And in the next 5 minutes 70% more. And so on.Soon the air has gone through the system so many times you start getting into the 99% clean air category.
Is this possible ? Yep.
Is it cheap to do? Yep.
Are there ways to kill 99% of Covid in rooms and buildings? Yep.
Why aren’t we doing this ? Well, some of us are.
For decades UVC light technology has been used in hospitals, clean rooms, labs and many other places where having the air quality free of pathogens is critical.
Keep in mind there is a difference between surface and airborne contamination. Dirty little buggers like both places. A toilet seat is a handy surface for a virus to sit, but the most prevalent way to get this Covid virus is from the air. The air in a room is a great environment for a virus to just float around. Heavy droplets fall usually within 6 feet; the dangerous dots just float around, waiting for a new home, you.
So more masks please…. They can help in this regard.
Over the decades of using UVC radiation light technology you can imagine the amount of testing that’s been done. The regulations and standards allowing for its use have been proven in our most sensitive Box areas like our hospitals.
UV of course has its dangers, but we know what those dangers are. Many of you already use UV protection for your sunglasses, sunburn cream and by wearing hats and long sleeves. Some of you older folks, the ones most at risk, may have laid under a black light in smoke filled rooms? That was UVA light, mostly harmless.
UV light is generally broken into 3 types, UVA, UVB and UVC. A great one page read on UV Radiation by the FDA can be seen here:
https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/tanning/ultraviolet-uv-radiation
Now let’s get back to killing lots of Dots. There is a safe, but powerful way to do this. You can’t go around like Darth Vader swinging a UVC light saber. There are exacting ways to use these weapons.
So everyone knows what an HVAC system is right? That is (H) Heating, (V) Ventilation (just the fan) and (AC) Air Conditioning. Your central HVAC unit in your house usually has both a heating and air conditioning unit in it. The fan is the driving force and blows air across the heating or cooling coils then through ducts to the air grilles on the floor or the ceiling. When that air is forced into a room is has to have a place to go. Other larger grilles “return Air registers”, help the air back into other ducts that lead the air back to be heated or cooled again. Really, it’s a beautiful thing. This process even works without having heating or cooling on by just running the fan.
HVAC systems are usually designed to change all of the air in a business / house or large room 8 to 12 times an hour. So, every 5-8 minutes the fan has pushed all the air into and out of the room (or quite possibly your whole house)!
The filter for that system gets a lot of air traffic in the couple months before you change them. You are changing your filters right? And the higher quality air filter the better. MERV 13’s are better than MERV 8’s for our dirty Dots. This is another relatively inexpensive way to fight the Covid battle.
Here’s how I Kill Covid. An approved UVC light hiding inside the return air duct of your fan unit. I run mine 24/7 on the fan setting. Imagine thousands of little Covid dots that have to pass by my UVC light 10 times an hour of 240 times in a day? Remember with each pass you’re killing about 70% of them.
There are many quality UVC lights on the market that kill about 70% of viruses in the first pass of air (1 minute).
These killing machines could be in our schools, super markets, restaurants, churches or novel idea, the offices of our health professionals. UVC is not the only technology that can accomplish this, but has one of the best documented histories. Most importantly it is an inexpensive alternative to proactively destroy the dots..
Here’s a couple of cool links worth looking at. This one is the FDA publication on UVC light and specifically Covid 19 (June 2020)
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/uv-lights-and-lamps-ultraviolet-c-radiation-disinfection-and-coronavirus
In that publication is another good link (Page 5, paragraph 1.3 1.4) very short (see below)
https://media.ies.org/docs/standards/IES-CR-2-20-V1-6d.pdf
Here’s an example, with link, for one of the UVC lights to install inside your return air duct (that you promise to get a professional to install). It took me about 45 minutes to install each of my lights. I installed one on every (HVAC) fan unit. Now my kitchen and dining rooms are probably cleaner than the offices of the health officials.
My wife’s a teacher. I wish the schools had this type of units installed for her and the students.
As an example (please know, I’m not trying to endorse any individual product or manufacturer) the product I selected was a Honeywell 100E, 36 watt UVC, single bulb, rated for 2000 cfm (cubic feet per minute). My units are actually 1500 cfm units so I’m actually killing more than estimated. Why I liked these units is their design has an indicator light and easy way to remove, clean or replace bulbs (recommended clean every 3 months, replace once a year for about $80 a bulb) Really, not much, if it keeps my staff and customers safe (Or my wife and her students safer)!
Link to the units I installed: https://customer.honeywell.com/resources/Techlit/TechLitDocuments/68-0000s/68-0262.pdf
Techy Stuff, but delicious.
For those of who like better writing than mine here is a website run by a very enlightened group of experts you’ve probably never heard of but who have affected most every house, school, church, hospital, office you’ve been in our country. Their website is enormous, too daunting for a mere mortal to consume but below are some publications I found interesting and relevant.
ASHRAE (founded 1894) is made up of engineers and other professionals that have tasked themselves with making the interior environments for all types of buildings (the Squares) safer and more comfortable. They are the lead experts for where us O’s and Dot’s reside. Inside buildings is where almost 99% of Covid infections result.
Keep in mind, this website is for design engineers that are addressing highly critical uses. In their statement link you will see they qualify their comments at various levels. Also, keep in mind, that these engineers are directing an industry of other experts, the mechanical contractors, in the field, that do the actual installation, repairs and maintenance for area of expertise.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) They are an organization devoted to the advancement of indoor-environment-control technology in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry.
This is their home link (kind of confusing for us non-engineers at first look):
https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/resources
Follow links on Covid 19. Don’t bog down here and not look at the other 2 important links below. This is a very rich website.
Keep in mind these engineers are covering a wide spectrum of needs from hospitals (high level) to buildings such as schools, restaurants and then down to the mud huts us commoners live in.
From this link ASHRAE provides their statement: https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/about/position%20documents/pd_infectiousaerosols_2020.pdf
While much of this document is really for hospital grade situations it still address more common methods of dealing with Infectious Aerosols.
Page 5 shows how they rate levels of effectiveness for various types of equipment from level A to E (interesting).
Page 9 - Ah, the disclaimer ! - “ 3. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR BUILDING OWNERS, OPERATORS, AND ENGINEERS”
Short read… equipment and their designs are not perfect.. Ha, ha. What is?
Page 11 - in this paragraph …. “The entire ultraviolet (UV) spectrum can kill or inactivate “microorganisms…
Mentions UVC light as a Level A solution and goes on to the CDC acknowledgement of same
Page 12 - see 3.3 Temperature and Humidity Lists 3 ways humidity can help fight Covid Regulating Temp and humidity, a Level B solution
The next link also deals with the benefits of controlling humidity.
https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/healthcare#maintainrh
Google Scholar provides excellent links to research on the subject of Humidity/ Temperature and Covid 19 here
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=humidity+covid+19&btnG=
OK, So I know you’re anxious for me to be done, but here’s a little more practical info on Humidity Control.
While whole house humidifiers aren’t serial killers like the UVC lights, they are also inexpensive, effective against Covid and easy to maintain like UV lights.
Here’s one of the products (About $140) I’ve installed on my HVAC system. (The Aprilaire 600) Note: Get a professional to install. The professional may have other products they recommend.
https://www.aprilaire.com/whole-house-products/humidifier
Earlier this year, when I learned about keeping my restaurant and home safer by controlling the temp and humidity I purchased some quality counter top style units. After a few days of running them it became apparent they were unable to reach and hold the 40% humidity minimum level for my location in the foothills of California. (Where you live matters when considering Humidifiers) I had purchased some digital humidity meters for about $10 each, set them up side by side to first make sure they were reading consistent, then used them to measure how effective the humidifiers were. The whole house units have done much better. They were more difficult to install than the UVC lights but my restaurant and home are now not just Covid Killing Machines but environments that help your body’s respiratory system achieve a better level of health. I’m hoping someone with clout will read this and try to help us all along with other things we can do besides wearing masks, hiding from each other, waiting for big pharma and letting our minds worry about an invisible killer that’s stalking us. Please know the solutions I’ve offered here are not the only ways to mechanically fight this Covid attack. The products I’ve used were based on my opinions after researching for effectiveness, cost, product availability, relying on science that’s been around for decades and my personal frustration trying to keep my restaurant open when I know there are solutions are available.
Jcon40 Retired mechanical and general engineering contractor
Your comments on the content, editing, possible additions, errors, my selection of links, or just whatever hits you.
Thanks for your time.
jcon40
Nicely done
Probably won’t be published. A tad long for newspapers these days
Imagine we take a leap here and imagine there is a way to kill 2/3’s of the Dots in that room every 5 minutes ? (Murder rates may vary)
Then, in the next 5 minutes 2/3 ‘s of the 30% that had survived are killed off. And in the next 5 minutes 70% more. And so on.Soon the air has gone through the system so many times you start getting into the 99% clean air category.
—
You’re generating statistics without a basis, then building a solution based on a supposition. That is most definitely not scientific.
Well, since you asked...I’d get rid of the dots and boxes analogy. I found confusing to the point that I almost stopped reading the rest of your post.
Perhaps a good starting sentence would be your “Are there ways to kill 99% of Covid in rooms and buildings? Yep.”
Just my two cents. Good luck here.
Well, it looks like some agencies and resort areas are already doing this. The draw back is they describe it as only another layer of protection.
There is even “UVD” light, shortwave UV that is so energetic it is absorbed by the very first few microns of skin, having a wavelength of less than 220 nm. This light is utterly destructive of DNA of all sorts, but can’t get to the DNA of living human cells because it is absorbed so strongly by overlying dead cells. So, as energetic as it is, it isn’t that dangerous for exposed human skin. But viruses have no such protection. That said, it only kills viruses on surfaces and doesn’t do anything for internal infections.
You might try mentioning UV lights within the first paragraph or two (early thesis). Something like, “Here are some ideas for using UV lights to easily and effectively kill the virus.” Or tell the folks at the Bee, that you’ll be willing to rewrite and make it more concise if needed.
But I read the whole article, and it’s a great idea! You might add a bit more of a clear caution against exposing people to the lights, though.
Look into bipolar needlepoint ionizers that can be installed into a HVAC system. We had one installed at our home to kill the little bugs.
UV lights work for water treatment, so why not air treatment? There are also corona discharge treatment devices, but something would need to be done to be sure that overly high levels of ozone didn’t get into spaces occupied by people.
Tell the world that there's a cheap, effective solution to the crisis the libs created and want to perpetuate.
Tell them we don't need big-gov't billion-dollar solutions, which are wrong-headed anyway.
Tell them that the individual is more than capable of making his own choices and ensuring his own safety.
Then see what happens to you.
Can’t we just kill the communists instead?
One problem...
Why would I be concerned about killing something that we can survive at 99.8% rate?
We should be concerned on many, many other matters.
Hmmm.. Does it kill ALL of the bugs or just the bipolar ones??
It’s an excellent idea and will kill more than Covid. It could also stop the spread of flu and the common cold. It’s well worth looking into.
They're certainly easier to spot than a virus.
It is interesting and I am going to consider it, but I would caution anyone interested to research the safety issues.
Doing so will make a cautious person want to have any installation work done by an experienced tech.
Insist that the installer have extensive experience working with hospitals or research labs.
There is a significant fire hazard as well as the health hazards.
1. Too long.
2. Lose the reference to murder. May send thd wronv message.
3. As already noted, the “dots” analogy might not be the best.
Mistakes ::::::::
So everyone knows what an HVAC system is right? That is (H) Heating, (V) Ventilation (just the fan) and (AC) Air Conditioning. Your central HVAC unit in your house usually has both a heating and air conditioning unit in it. The fan is the driving force and blows air across the heating or cooling coils then through ducts to the air grilles on the floor or the ceiling. When that air is forced into a room is has to have a place to go
..forced into a room IT has to have a place to go.
The filter for that system gets a lot of air traffic in the couple months before you change them
Filter - singular.
Them - plural.
Make up my mind.
Here’s how I Kill Covid. An approved UVC light hiding inside the return air duct of your fan unit. I run mine 24/7 on the fan setting.
Similar scenario, mine or yours? Make up my mind. Should kill have a capital? I would go with MY fan unit. If it were me.
Here’s an example, with link, for one of the UVC lights to install inside your return air duct (that you promise to get a professional to install). It took me about 45 minutes to install each of my lights. I installed one on every (HVAC) fan unit. Now my kitchen and dining rooms are probably cleaner than the offices of the health officials.
Same idea, you say have a pro install, then admit you did your own. One way or the other. Make up my mind.
Here’s one of the products (About $140) I’ve installed on my HVAC system. (The Aprilaire 600) Note: Get a professional to install. The professional may have other products they recommend.
Once again, singular or plural. Make up...oh you know...
My version might be:
The professional may have other recommendations.
or:
The professional may recommend a different product. (just stick with either singular or plural, don’t switch in one sentence)
I may have missed a typo or two, double and triple check. Most publications these days have editors with the literary skills of 3rd graders, they are not likely to find and correct half your spelling and punctuation glitches. I didn’t even try to get into punctuation.
Rewrite til you can say it in 300 words, max., if you want people to read and understand it.
Step into the light!
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