powdery mold

[Polar Bear]

question...........i am in the heating and air buisness. In this buisness we see a lot of what is referred to as ultra violet air stairalizers that kill mold.mildew and fungus as well as bacteria........can any body comment on thier use for stopping powdery mold or mildew?

[Ares]

UV kills bacteria and fungus, as does Ozone. Depending on your situation you can use either or both of these things to kill any nastys!

There are pro's and cons to both obviously, allot of UV light can be bad for plants just like it is for us, so exposing yourself and your plants to allot of it isn't a great idea, sunburn and eye damage for example. For this reason it's mainly used in water tanks and pond filters to keep water clear of bacteria, algae, fungus and parasites etc.

Ozone is your main option for air airbourne attack on bacteria, fungus, parasites, pollen, bad smells, and other nasty things in the air like pollution and toxins. Sounds great and it is, think of that clear fresh air smell after a thunderstorm and lightning storm, thats the effect of ozone "cleaning" the air. But there is always a downside, Ozone has 3 Oxygen atoms and is unstable, it wants to loose 1 of the atoms to become Oxygen and will react and oxidize with the easiest thing available to it, usually the crap in the air is enough but if you the production level set to high you can have too much in the air which will start attacking things like your plants, rubber pipes, moulds, other organic materials including you. i.e. when ozone comes into contact with water and it reacts it creates O2 and H2O2, Oxygen and Hydrogen Peroxide. So if the levels are too high and your beathing it in your gona end up with a burning throat and bleaching your lungs!

As with anything do your research and you will be fine. I personally use an Ozone generator to catch any leaks of odors. This however is in a room where people dont go in often, mainly me for a few minutes at a time. If I'm going to be in there for longer than 5 minutes I turn it off. The room is also very well ventilated, 3 inline fans, carbon filters and pedastal fans so the air is constaly moving. The ozone that gets pulled through your filters can also help extend the life of the carbon as it "cleans" i.e. oxidizes the crap thats caught up in it. I also have the generator on a timer. Its constantly on when the lights are on and 15 mins every hour when they are off. This seems to keep things fairly under control.

Hope this helps.

Ares