Sun Kool recommended installing ozone air purifier/UV light in air handler
 

Today Sun Kool came out for the first maintenance after joining the Kool Club (I bought pre-owned). The house / air conditioner is 6 years old. The technician showed me there is "environmental gunk" (white color) inside the air handler and inside the blower fan. He recommended they install a "PROformance High intensity DUAL twin tube UV germicidal air purifier with odor control" for $2200. He says if I don't take care of it, the gunk will keep building and can lead to allergy and worse problems for the household. This is all new to me (being from California and Arizona with low humidity). For now I told him no and just clean it the best they can manually this time but I would do research. Any insight on this or are they just pushing products on me?

Thanks,

Cindy

I would not buy the ultra violet light. I think SunKool pushes it to make money. My system is 10 years old and I don't have those problems. Buy a humidity device to measure the humidity in your house. About 10 dollars from Amazon. I have 3 of them and my humidity is about 40 percent, with a temperature setting of 79. No issues with the air handler.

It's amazing that Florida has been air conditioned for 50 years and all of a sudden, you need to add UV treatment to be safe.

Here is an expensive one on Amazon that a handyman could install if you are determined to own one. https://a.co/d/57us9GF.

This should give you some idea of the markup as this one is $250

Every A/C rep will recommend a U/V system. They earn a massive commission....

Might get your ducts cleaned to……LOL

Agree!! Biggest scam going in TV.:1rotfl:......Let's also mention if the ducts got that bad, imagine how the duct work of your car would clog up with pollen, dust, and everything else. Never ever heard someone say they needed their car's ducts cleaned. Just the occasional cabin filter change. And since your closed up in a car for sometimes hours on end, no UV needed there either.

SunKool seems to be the worst about this right now!! The reps are being commissioned to push these systems. You can open ANY air handler in Florida and show "environmental gunk". If you are in a retirement community, you are going to have greater success in scaring the elderly into spending the $2K. A year or so from now, it will be another scam they concoct. The rep that tried to push in on me mentioned he had sold 250 of these in the very recent past!!! I cancelled my annual maintenance contract with them.

So seen dust?

I use to work for a company that sold UV systems. UV only works where its light reaches and it isn't an instant process. The thought of air being "sanitized" by UV light when its moving at several feet per second is laughable. This is a snake oil unit.

If you want to have your air ducts cleaned, by all means do it. That is actually something that has tangible results.

My recommendation is every time you clean or replace your air filter - pull the filter out, turn the AC on, and spray half a can of Lysol into the air intake.

Let's see some evidence.

Sun Kool told me I needed that when I joined the Kool Club as well.

Hearing that SunKool is recommending a UV light, and also doing flexible duct cleaning has caused me to remove them from my call list for HVAC repair or installation. My list now includes Munn's, Sunshine, and Chuck Farrell. I have never used an HVAC company for routine maintenance.

If you are a member of the Kool Club, I would suggest that you make a copy of their 21-point tune-up list from their website. When they show up, follow the technician around and make sure he does all 21 items on the list, especially the one where he washes and "waxes" the outside unit. It is interesting that the most common reason for an HVAC failure is the capacitor, but it is not even mentioned on their 21-point list.

ASHRAE, EPA, PMC studies etc disagree with you. Good systems actually do work to kill organics. I don't know what Cheeseball units Sunkool installs, but a quality unit can reduce airborne pathogens well in excess of 95%. Hospital operating rooms take it to a whole nother level, but UV-C light inactivates pathogens quite effectively.

I don't know about shining a UV light onto a fixed coil, but shining a light for less than a second through air that is moving through an air handling unit has no chance to sanitize an entire house. For that purpose, it is worthless. But that is what people who sell these devices will claim. To clean mold or other contaminents on an evaporator coil, I would rather use a chemical that is designed for that purpose. Even if the UV light works, there is no way for it to reach the entire coil.

We use UV-C Lights in Sewerage Treatment Plants. Yep, they can neutralize pathogens.

ASHRAE does not have a blanket recommendation to use UV-C in residential applications, unless unusual and identifiable pathogens are present.

Does the average person need one? One should wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle. Clearly, wearing a motorcycle helmet while driving your golf cart, would enhance your personal safety.

Wouldn’t that be dust removed from air ducts? IMO in 6 years how much dust can be in them unless ran system without filter?

For people who are still using the standard MERV 8 filters, consider upgrading to MERV 11 filters. They cost a little more, but they remove a lot more dust. I have been using MERV 11 filters for a few years and I have noticed a significant reduction in the amount of dust in the house and the HVAC system is quieter. I buy mine from FilterBuy on Amazon, and change them every 6 months. The decarded MERV 11 filter is much dirtier than the old MERV 8 filters.

Here's a previous thread on the same topic.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...une-up-359424/

You are speaking with the guy that put the UV-C systems into the VA Hospital system. We did that for a pilot project to see how effective it would be and installed units in about 30 hospitals and clinics.

They ONLY work where the light reaches. In hospitals, that means they don't reach many touch surfaces. They also need to be sitting in that room for about 20 minutes to be effective.

The project was a failure, and they went back to chemical cleaning.

I would hardly call that evidence. It was a outside "study", that tested 8 houses, using 3 different protocols. The conclusion? "cleaning procedures were effective to some extent."

Their methodology was pretty sketchy and that wasn't an EPA study, it was just submitted to their database.

The results show higher concentrations during the process and immediately after the process. Then the checked in 2 days and there was marginal improvement of some particulates ... then they went home and forgot about it. 2 days. When they've already proven that undertaking the process, created higher concentrations.

This is what AI says that EPA recommends.

It may not sterilize a house, as the air typically only gets turned over 2-3 times an hour.

It does however work. Even whizzing past the UV light at high speed. Also, the light is on the coil itself, sanitizing surfaces. I'm sorry that you don't believe it. Don't take my word for it, look it up yourself. Independent, lab tested and proven results. It does inactivate organics, even blowing past at speed. I have no dog in this fight, I don't sell, install or otherwise care what someone believes or doesn't believe. I do believe that that true is true. They actually work, at least quality systems by reputable companies. I don't have one in my house, I'm not justifying a purchase either. I'm just a data nerd and the data is in. It works.

So, you don't have one in your house like more than 95 percent of homeowners, including me. I think the largest benefit to UV light systems is to the people who sell them. In my opinion, they are a waste of money. That is why I advised the OP not to spend $2,200 on it. What would you advise her to do?

I guess it would depend on her. If she was immunocompromised or otherwise at risk, consider a system. I wouldn't spend $2,200 on it. A decent system can be installed for much less than that.

It does help keep organics off coils, it does help inactivate pathogens. Most houses don't really have an issue with this. Most people aren't especially sensitive to these things in the air. If someone living in the home had active TB, you can bet I'd recommend it.

Poison is in the dose. If it improves the air quality enough, it's enough. It does not hurt the air quality. If someone is having issues, a high quality hepa filter in each room will work. Cost matters, $2200 is bogus.

They are pushing unneeded products. I fell for this from 15 years ago. Not only was it expensive but also needed added maintenance when the bulb burned out. No change to air in the house.

The air that goes through the air handler comes from your house and outside. The inside air has already been precooled so is most economical to recycle. All of the air is filtered and then run through the condenser where excess moisture is removed. That moisture is drained from the AC. The environmental gunk is likely calcium deposits. They make it sound like pathogens but they can't prove it. If your AC requires it UV wouldn't all units require it".

The environmental Gunk is BS.

I have one that SunKool installed. I asked for it AFTER having one in my place in St Pete Beach for about 7 years. It made a huge difference in SPB, and I am happy with how it performs here. Do the systems solve all problems, no, no one claims they do. Do they help keep the front end of the system from growing things.....Yes, science says so, as do my personal results. And if the front is clean, it is not spreading growth downstream, so at a minimum helping prevent growth in vents.

People will tell you that you do not need termite treatments in the Villages also. I went to Street of Dreams in Eastport and the 3rd house I walked in I saw 3 swarming termites on the walls. The agents were surprised when I shown them to them, since we "do not have termites here.......". We dont have alligators either.........

UV can help as a preventive measure, so IMHO I felt a worthwhile investment.

Hate to break this to you, but Sunshine also recommends the UV light. Just had service and was offered to have it installed for $1,999 with UV light replacement every year for only $199.

Why would they not recommend it? They're getting paid $1999 for 2 hours labor and $200 in parts. Highest profit % on their entire menu of services.

I had one installed in a home on the east coast due to allergies. I saw and felt no difference after installation. I would not do it again in my home here in The Villages.

Every company is trying to install these. I have Sunshine and was offered the UV light. No talk about "gunk" because I didn't have any. The tech was honest and said he has to offer the light but no pressure then moved on.

Pushing

That’s what I thought as well. Our hvac/furnace guy up north and the hvac down here both said to use Merv 8 after using 11’s. They both said they’re not worth it. FWIW I change ours quarterly

I had Sunshine out to service my unit in July. The technician offered me the UV light, two different surge protectors and ionizer. If I did all of it then the cost was about $2,200. The UV light was much less expensive than others are mentioning. See attached offer that he sent to me. I didn’t take them up on any of it.

So, Sunshine is one of the reputable HVAC companies. They are not out to rip you off but just to give you the options. I didn't see the surge protectors in the estimate but that is something you should get if you don't have them.

"PROformance High intensity DUAL twin tube UV germicidal air purifier with odor control" < ———- Now just pause and look at that. LOL. When you see a product description like that you just gotta know that the only “gunk” is in the sales pitch. You can’t trust these people.

I’ve attached the surge protectors estimates.

Not necessary, Cindy.
IMHO: the velocity of the air in any entrapped particles, bacteria and dirt are moving too fast past the beam of light to have any beneficial treatment from this device.

Just change your filter on a regular basis. The 4" filters are good for about 6 months I recall. You can buy them online.

I used a UV system in North TX because of my son's substantial allergy issues. We noticed a difference. We punted on installing a system for a year in TV until I noticed what appeared to be mold or some non-dust contaminate on the air filter on the 1st couple of changes. We put the UV system on and now only see modest dust each change. The higher the MERV rating the more you restrict air flow, increase energy cost, and wear on the blower motor. Here's a site the explains: MERV 8 vs MERV 11 vs MERV 13 Air Filters: Complete Comparison Guide
– Atomic Filters