How to use a UVC germicidal lamp SAFELY.
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- Опубликовано: 1 апр 2020
- It's become very clear that a lot of people have been buying UVC germicidal lamps from online sellers without really understanding how to use them or that they can cause serious skin and eye damage just by exposure. Here's a simple guide to using them safely.
To sterilise a room place the lamp in a holder that will ensure that as much light as possible falls on the surfaces to be sanitised. If you put it in a table or ceiling lamp with a shade it may block most of the useful output. These lamps usually produce a lot of ozone (active oxygen) which will permeate everything and smells a bit like bleach.
Turn on the light and leave the room immediately. Make sure no humans or pets can enter the room while the lamp is lit.
Leave the lamp running for 30 minutes or more depending on the size of the room.
Enter the room and turn the lamp off immediately. Then leave the room for another 30 minutes to let the level of ozone reduce. The smell of the ozone may linger for days at a low level.
Remove the lamp and re-box. It's VERY important that the lamp and the box it's in are clearly marked to show that it is dangerous to be exposed to or look at. Store it in a safe place where kids can't find it.
The ability to sterilise a room is dependant on the volume of the room, obstructions between the light and surfaces, the power of the lamp and time. These lamps can't guarantee to protect against infection, but can help in some instances.
If you do expose your skin for long enough you will get an irritating rash or burn like sunburn. Treat as sunburn unless it's very severe.
If anyone looks at the lamp for too long with unprotected eyes the surface of the eye will be damaged and lead to an effect called arc flash, arc eye, welders flash or corneal keratitis which is often experienced by welders. After a length of time you will feel like you have sand in your eyes. It will heal up after a few days, but if in doubt seek medical attention and explain what happened.
Wearing glasses may offer some protection to your eyes, but shouldn't be a reason to expose yourself to the light.
Ignore the misleading pictures and videos from sellers who imply that you can use these lamps to sanitise your dogs fur, show pictures of the lamp next to babies or have videos of people holding the lamps. If they are actual UVC lamps then all those things pose a serious risk.
If you want to make a sterilising enclosure then you could use a cupboard or box with one of these lamps mounted inside it. UVC can't pass through ordinary glass although you can still see the blue light also emitted by these lamps. A professional unit would have a safety switch on the door that would cut the lamp off when the door is opened. If no switch is used then everyone MUST be aware not to open the cabinet when the lamp is on.
The only maintenance required for these lamps is to occasionally clean greasy fingerprints off them with an alcohol wipe. They should last a long time in intermittent use.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of RUclips's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty. 
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Back in the 80's I found a military surplus UV lamp. I plugged it in and started using it. I was fascinated by the glows it was giving things, even window glass had a green glow to it. I played with it for about 30 minutes. The following day I woke up with itchy eyes, then I went to go outside into the daylight. The daylight was painful even with my eyes closed. I could not go outside for two weeks and it took about ten years for my eyes to fully heal.
That's the dangerous thing about these UVC lamps - They give such a beautiful and mysterious glow, it's hard not to look at them.
Even on this video you can see they ghostly aqua discharge, and the deep violet tinges around the edge of the glass.
They're like light bulb psirens.
10 YEARS! Bloody hell.
It's negligence that these UVC source lights were and are available without clear and concise warnings printed on them.
@@simontay4851 I read that with the voice of DiodeGoneWild.
@@Gengh13 i did too 😅🤣
That superstar Indian 👍
This is exactly what I love about you , you know when to have a laugh but you also know when you need to be serious. Like in this case
UVC is best used in sealed environments to prevent contact with anything you don't plan to kill.
Such as inside an HVAC system's duct work.
Personally, for UV stress testing outside use plastics, I'd vent it outside and air intake would also be from outside, to better emulate the elements. A safety interlock on the cabinet door as well, just in case I'd have an acute burst of intracranial flatulence.
I'll happily experiment with anything, even x-ray and gamma radiation sources, but with paranoid safety measures that any lab worker would find exceptional. Not a dedicated lab, shield oneself from a brain fart or get to find out whose religion, if any is right.
@@wayneneva1 Correct.
Hehe, I work for one of those companies - engineering manager
Yea
i saw that young guy on that channel "Blueprint" make up a "LIGHT-BOX" out of a box with tinfoil covering the whole inside with a lid on top to put in what you want sterilized. oh & the UVC lamp of course inside too.. you can make better ones with mirrors instead of tinfoil/alu-foil inside the box!!
These lamps are incredibly useful, but it blows me away how unscrupulous some of these sellers on eBay can be. “UV lamp proven to kill coronavirus 100%. 100% safe for pets and family.“ I wonder if I would get away with posting something like “irradiated graphite dust from Chernobyl. Proven to kill coronavirus 100%”
Worse still are the ones selling near-UV disco lights as germicidal.
@@bigclivedotcom I disagree that it's worse to sell near-UV lamps as germicidal lamps. If you decide to install a UVC lamp in the living room as an additional light source and leave it running all the time, since the seller says it's safe and the relatively dim blue light doesn't bother you too much, permanent eye and skin damage to multiple people and pets is inevitable.
Trying to use a near-UV light as a germicide just has the same effect as not using a germicidal lamp at all, like most people do. Still wrong, but not worse.
Technically, the virus stops if the host dies, so ...
@@bigclivedotcom maybe they're just planning to make the virus rave itself to death?
Report them. I am an eBay seller and every time I see someone with false claiming listings I report them. eBay does not allow this and if a seller is found to be a repeat offender they will be removed. Same with price gouging on certain items like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bleach etc. eBay will remove those sellers.
Also, if you ever get packages delivered and they used media mail for anything other than media report the seller. Because sellers like that abuse the system USPS has had to increase prices across the board because they are losing money.
Please, always report sellers who make false claims. They make us all look bad.
I remember as a kid watching my dad weld from a few meters away, for a duration of 2-3 hours. Boy oh boy did that hurt. Spent the whole night sleepless crying my ass out with the pain of pine needles in my eyes. Lesson learned the hard way with UV stuff. Thanks for this video, helps shed some light to those who don't know!
Been there done that with the welding flash burn. 35 years ago and ever since cannot read reflective road signs clearly as there is a drop shadow of the speed down and right of the actual speed.
Not worth the need to weld up a crack in an engine header during a race when the hood was locked up and I didn't have the key.
I'm a decent welder and can weld by feel, but even a quick look to spark the bead can give you a bad result for life.
Not to mention that the sand in the eyes feeling is something you definitely want to avoid even if you manage to not suffer the lifetime problems
I agree about how little it takes. I was in a really tight spot trying to weld a split in a Side by Sides lower control arm. Only looked long enough to make sure I struck a good arc, but now even weak lightbulbs can give me headaches and I probably shouldn't drive at night. I've always made sure my hood was down since then.
Newer cars can read speed signs and display the legal speed for that portion of road on your dashboard
I remember my Uncle copping a welding flash, and from memory he had to wear sunglasses, because his eyes were very sensitive to light. This was over 30 years ago but I do remember him telling us.
@@verliebt3465 I know Google Maps at least in the US in many places can now do the same thing on your phone screen, and will even tell you roughly how fast you are going based on GPS, and other data.
Yeah I got welding flash in a welding workshop as a young man and I wasn't even welding. The welding booths had curtains, but they still allowed some light to escape, and walking past them over the course of a day built up my exposure until the pain began and I had to leave work early and take a couple of days off to recover. That first night was agony, it feels like your eyes are full of sand along with a blinding headache.
I got a pair of these (20 watt) lamps and I managed to get a minor case of welder's flash (watery eyes and blurred vision for 24-48 hours) from probably just about a minutes worth of *indirect* exposure. Also had dry peeling skin a few days later. If you need me to spell it out for you: these things take *much* less exposure than you actually think to cause damage. I now use an RF remote to turn them on and off after I have already left the room. This is *not* overkill.
@timemachine_194 And I on the other end just found a *working* (!) 11W one in the bin at the supermarket and tested it by looking directly at it, then switching it on and litterally a split second afterwards turning it back off while moving away from it as quickly as I could.
It "only" gave me mild eyestrain a bit like what you get for watching a screen for extended periods of time or not having enough sleep.
Next day it felt like nothing ever happened.
Now that I know it's working fine I use a RF remote control as well to turn it on and off from outside the room with the door closed.
And to tell if it's indeed off before opening the door I carefully listen for the click of the relay of my remote control outlet.
Even though glass is supposed to block UV radiation I still got mild eyestrain for looking through the window of the room where the germicidal lamp was from outside the house.
Try an unshielded 400 watt mercury lamp. Good times.
I put in two in my bathroom on a timer. 30 min each day while im not home.
No mold and the toilet doesn't even get a ring.
These are built into our virology and microbiology labs. They turn on automatically at 2 AM and turn off an hour later. The labs are all tile and stainless steel. The UV radiation will yellow and damage plastics, cause finished wooden surfaces to crack and generally destroy anyting but tile and stainless steel. These are really not suitable for normal living spaces, even when used judiciously.
Good to know!
Sounds like my kind of lamp!..... kidding, No need to destroy things over a virus 🦠
We use them in Grow rooms to sterilize them
Interesting, i was literally checking on here, again, just before i was about to buy one. I think i may not now, even though i work in a supermarket and mum works at a hospital, i think to use this round the house may just be gettign a little bit paranoid if, as you say, itll destroy stuff around the house. I did sort of have an idea that the UV lights gotta not just kill the "Bugs" but the "good stuff" as well. Dont really feel like having to replace everything in the house cause ive burnt the fuck outta everything.
@@thehodge168
It's not like that the main issue is that it's cancerous the human skin and you kind of left that part out
In high school shop class we had safety glasses that were stored in a steel cabinet. When the door was closed, one of these lamps illuminated and disinfected the glasses between uses.
Crap, I just remembered that my school did the same thing!
Our Auto Shop class did, as well.
I'm looking at working with a local VR arcade to set up a similar system(once everything settles down and they can re-open). I'm feeling like I might end up discouraging the owner from going with this particular plan, though, as it's likely to damage the headset as much as disinfect it.
@@ClokworkGremlin you should figure out if the lenses of the headset can block UVC. If not you could set up some way to cover them. It should be fine.
@@ClokworkGremlin Bro this sounds like a bunch of BS, as a pc technician, I never heard of PCBs, plastics, or LCDs being damaged by direct UV (A,B,C) exposure (you do have screens in them VR head things right ?) Our skin is sensitive to UV B,C radiation (AFAIR, type A can't penetrate the skin?) Because it penetrates deeper than the visible layer (something to do with wavelenghts i think, im not a dermatologist) and into the cellular levels (basically, alter your DNA in a cell, that is called cancer.)
I dont think VR headsets are biological beings and maybe one side effect I can think of IN THE LONG RUN (2+ years) is that maybe you will see some plastic color fading. LCDs should be protected (you can never actually touch the liquid crystals, you always touch a plexiglass like barrier that protects it) and hence should be fine, especially if not directly exposed if you are worried about pixel burning.
Thank you!!! So glad you made this video especially in these times everybody's buying these but probably don't understand what they're getting
I’m glad you made this informational video. I have the exact same bulb, 25 watt, everyone in the house knows what it does. I have it on a timer in the kitchen, is comes on at midnight and off one hour later, by the morning the ozone has completely depleted. An empty dishwasher is fine as a sterilising cabinet; don’t turn the machine on, just the bulb on a timer.
After the first vid I bought a whole stack of the UVC bulbs, always follow your instruction when I use them and never had a problem.
@@utubebad
You don't want to run out in the midst of the Zombie Apocalypse. Also, I think the first video was a good year or so away. Nobody cared then. Now he's a good guy to look up when the rest of society has fallen down. 😀
It's not the virus it's the panic ridden hoarders and profiteers that will kill humanity.
Sad times.
@@thebrowns5337 Firstly dear moppet, the first vid was last year. 2nd'ly, I bought them for multiple light sockets throughout the house.
@@utubebad I don't think "hoarding" is a proper term since I "use" them throughout the home weekly. I keep them in the room in which they are used. But thanks for projecting without having all the information aboard.
I'm thinking about getting some UVC LED strips and make a sealed box for disinfecting my phone when I get home. But if it takes 30 min to do so, it's probably better to just get some isopropanol for it. I'm guessing it could be good for wet areas tho to fight mold?
Short, to the point, and needed saying! Well done Clive.
I speak from experience of having "arc eye" from one of these. I bought one for removing discolouration from several vintage camera lenses I own, set it up, switched it on and it took me a couple of minutes to position the lenses properly. The following morning I woke up with stinging eyes and blurred vision, no matter how much I rinsed my face/eyes in cool tapwater the worse it got, leading then to a nasty headache. Figuring out eventually what it was, I took myself to casualty and after examination including fluorescent eyedrops, the doctor confirmed the damage, I shat myself and he reassured me that the human eye "mends itself" fairly quickly and I should be ok in two or three days. He prescribed some antibiotic eyedrops and sent me on my way.
Sure enough, three days later I was back to normal. Lesson learnt, I now own a pair of UV safety spex!
Your previous video was enlightening Clive, I’ve been using it the way you described and then areate the room. I never imagined I had to use it during a real emergency
Thank you. I brought a UVC handheld, not realizing it was fake. After watching your channel, I've learned a lot about what to look for in a UVC lamp/bulb
Great video as always! I have had a 16" T-8 style UVC lamp (salvaged from a damaged Ionic Breeze) in my bedroom. It's on a timer that will run it for a couple hours each day when I'm not home. I can attest to the fact that these are nothing to play around with, as the relatively small lamp that I have is powerful enough that it bleaches the bed sheets.
I just asked Clive to do this on his video from 2 years ago! Thank you sir!
33 year shop teacher here! We used a UV safety cabinet to decontamination if safety glasses. I was going to use this for my 3M M95 mask on return home in the short term!
You're the last person I expected to upload a video on safety precautions
My neighbor who is a nurse stated they need to get UVC lights to sterilize masks, because they have to re-use them, due to a lack of supply in Canadian hospitals.
Safer to use heat, bake them in an oven, they will last longer too as UVC will degrade the plastic. Decent temperature controlled ovens are heavier but not very hard to find..
@@jaro6985 The masks I believe are not autoclavable. The rubber straps breakdown as does the adhesives that hold the masks together.
@@StreuB1 autoclave is not necessary, 60-70C is enough, I'm sure mask can easily handle 100C steam as well (microwave or stovetop). Google CDC decontamination instructions.
You can use 70% alcohol to rinse for 5 min and then let dry. I use a large glass jar with a screw-top lid. The alcohol won't degrade the plastic components of the mask.
@@lohphat TECH INGREDIENTS demonstrated that method for mask cleaning last month
Here in Belgium we call it "lasogen" in Dutch, translated to "welder-eyes" , back in the 90's when i worked as a welder, i experienced this many times. And had it more times from other welders near by me at the construction site, then from my own welding.
You don't feel it right way, but at night,it's like smoke or sand in your eyes. After the first times experiencing this, i had make sure to always have eyedrops with Lidocaine available at home to relieve the pain. After that when i noticed it at night, i discovered that the simplest solution was to lay down with closed eyes, and a cold tissue and get to sleep. At the morning the pain was completely gone if nothing happened.
True medical advice.
Made that mistake. Did some welding using very dark sunglasses because I did not have welding glasses at the time. I woke up the next day and it did feel like there was sand in my eyes. Called my doctor, and was told I'd essentially sunburned my retinas and it'd have an uncomfortable few days. He was right, and I recovered. I've never made that mistake again.
Thanks big clive for all the videos and knowledge you share with the world in a time of chaos and greed. Your definitely someone I'd consider to be an example of what a role model should be.
Many HVAC manufacturers have UV light options. They typically mount over the evaporator(?) coils to kill any mold / bacteria that wants to grow on the wet coils or drain pans. Third party units are available online.
Just ensure that you only use them with evaporators which have no plastic parts by the lamp mount, as the UV light will destroy the plastic in around a year. most common plastic thing is a condensate tray, and if that starts to leak you have issues. At least the front of the evaporator by the lamp will be clean, but you probably want them to be all sides of the evaporator, or with a V type one each side and in the middle, so that all the fin surface gets illuminated. Will destroy any sort of anti corrosion coating on the cols though, so do not bother getting them blue coated if installing this, and for a retrofit clean the coils thoroughly first, so they are see through.
I love how it's basically a see-through fluorescent light that lets you get a clear view of the plasma. Easy for me to say, from behind a monitor.
Ordinary glass actually blocks UVC so you can still buy one and put it inside some sort of enclosure with a glass window on it and admire the glow safely
You do a top notch job on all your broadcasts always thorough and informative. . And your right people don’t understand how dangerous these lights are . God sakes people can’t even grasp how dangerous Railroad crossing and Railroad right of ways are .
I love your videos. I could listen to you all day, really informative and interesting to listen to.
I bought one of these when my brother caught scabies (despite being a shut in). He plugged in the light while it was delivered without me or my mother, who I'd warned extensively about the dangers from watching your videos and my own research (he was being obstinate about even being infested and unwilling to listen to anything to remove them from the areas he was staying or from himself). Thankfully he plugged it in, turned it on and walked straight out, closing the door behind him; but it gave me quite a scare when I returned.
Amazon doesn't ship warnings on the light at all and we ended up writing "DANGER: CANCER LAMP" on the box after that.
Really did clear up the scabies in half the time though, couldn't get reinfested from the bedding or carpet in his hoarder pit (also helped to put on the insecticide every four days rather than the recommended week to disrupt their egg laying cycle).
I do intend to use the cancer lamp to sterilize rooms in our home if one of us becomes infected, though.
yeah mine says CANCEROUS, DO NOT USE on it :P
So the light really does kill germs? Was snatching in the room damaged after he turned it on and left?
Thanksssssss!! i was wondering if this can kill scabies mites. I need this ASAP :)
When using this lamp, you may also want to remove any precious artwork from your walls, and any French-polished furniture.
ruclips.net/video/cSzqKFFo3Uw/видео.html Check out my simple DIY disinfectant box.
Thanks so much for the video, Clive! I myself emailed you about the uses of UVC light in the current situation for items such as phones. Thanks for keep the tone serious and VERY informative! Great to be able to trust an online source such as yourself, but as clive said always research and be careful!
I remember your previous video on the safety about these lamps, but it's good to make another one at this time.
I inadvertently killed a houseplant using mine...
Recommendations: Use a remote control or timer, raw the blinds, move all living things, and buy a non-ozone generating bulb unless you are trying to eliminate odors too.
The UV only kills whatever the light directly shines on, so consider having the light on for 5-10 minutes, move the light to a different position so the shadows are cast in different places, and repeat.
Depending how your wiring is done you could use your distribution board as a switch and test your gcfis while you're at it.
This happened to me too :( didn't thought it was going to affect plants that much but alas they kill plants too if they are close to the lamp.
Here I am, 3am and I'm watching a video on UV lamps. Of course Clive makes it interesting.
@nizar ragtaoui I don't see how that relates at all.
@nizar ragtaoui that doesn't look like a legit website
These are great to install inside a central AC filter/drain pan area. In Florida we suffer from mold & mildew growth from so much humidity so sometimes the water in the drain pan gets slimy. Installing one of these lamps completely solves that problem.
Thank you so much for this lesson.. I have the UV Ultraviolet blue light Air cleaner. I have one in every room. It runs 24 hours a day, everyday . I have been running them
since 1989.--Excellent Video!!!
Usually in fish farming business, people would put them into a large test tube like jacket and seal. Then entire jacket drop inside a srainless steel water pipe which runs almost no water pressure.
Some manufacturers will use a stainless steel frame and reflectors, with 2 piece of glass below, again water run with almost no pressure in between the 2 glasses.
It is not a good idea to let it shine like a ordinary fluorescence light, because all lights do provides shadow, unless the room had no fixtures, a living room obviously is not.
Last but not least, this thing eat paint, wood and plastics! It will turn all plastics we know crunchy within days, steel and copper rust in hours! Therefore the insulation of wires, sockets had to be ceramics, old fashion tar fiberic, glass, stainless steel that kind of material.
Yes, the ones used to sterilise water you will replace the lamp every year as it ages, and the whole fitting will last around 3 years before it gets brittle, and you then replace it. When doing the replacement use some PVC screw together couplers, so that the next replacement you simply undo the 2 couplers and remove the lamp unit and a half meter of pipe, because the UV reflected down it makes the pipe brittle.
The water coming out though is going to be almost sterile though, and definitely the first bit of that pipe will not have a biofilm growing on it, though it is likely to be white and chalky, as the plastic has been degraded leaving the inert fillers behind.
I think any "normal" glass covering will eliminate benefit. Has to be a special quartz glass(bulb is made of) to keep from filtering out the effective UV spectrum.
In some areas this is becoming a pretty common feature in the discharge line between the settling tanks and drain field in septic systems.
..
My apologies, I'm having a hard time figuring out your wording...can't understand what you are trying to say.
@@footstepsinchina299 I concurr - the ones I dealt with were indeed shrouded by a crystal 'glass' tube and further by a steel tube.
Also: if you use the lamp to sterilise a room beware of shadows! Preferably move the lamp 2 or 3 times in the room to make sure most of the surfaces were exposed to the UV light.
Do you think it's fine if you put in the place of the traditional bulb in a chandelier ?
@@psirvent8 If the chandelier doesn’t cover the bulb then that’s ok but most will.
Thank you for making this video! Got one of these at work and was just told to turn it on for 30min. Didn’t know you shouldn’t look at it or be near it 😟.
Purchased one of these "25w" E27 UVC lamps off of ebay and it arrived today. Screwed it into a bayonet cap adaptor and into a lamp socket connected to the mains and there was a very loud pop, some considerable smoke and a lovely electrical burning smell. The RCD also tripped which was nice. I would love to see what's exploded inside, but it's glued together extremely well!
I have to say, I was very disappointed. Undeterred I have purchased two more from different suppliers on ebay!
Also these lamp will degrade and yellowing plastic very fast if you use it frequently and put it near a plastic surface, I don't think you should use it in wardrobe because both the UVC and the ozone will attack the fabric and degrade them
Also don't leave it exposing on your phone too long unless you want your phone to fall apart, wipe your phone throughly with alcohol is enough
@Taylor with the UVC lamp I have... I couldn't smell any ozone from it even after exposing a closed room for 1 hours even though ozone is very potent so I'd say that it's very little, could be depending on the quality of the glass and varies between manufacturer though
Also I did verified that the lamp does produce UVC, just put your hand near it for 10s and you'll smell a very odd, burning meat smell from the skin oil on your hands
@@pierreuntel1970 It's also particularly adept at destroying certain elastics. Had to replace half my boxers after the mistake of leaving that drawer open.
@@AtlasReburdened oops!
@@dshe8637 Tell me about it. It only took the nice ones.
@Taylor The "No Ozone" lamps seem to be missing specific design to make ozone, but still make it in smaller quantities. It would be impossible to make a bulb that emitted those wavelengths and didn't make ozone at all.
i like how he includes treatment to damage in the description since people may stumble on this after the fact... or more likely ignore his warnings.
I use the UVC Lamp and as long as everyone knows it is on in a room. UVC Light is only for responsible grown up people who take killing virus, bacteria and mould seriously. Great video.
I just ordered 1. Thanks for this video, I find it very informative specially for the safety part.
Where did you order it
Im ordered 4 sterlization products bro 👌🏻
@@anassbnani7685 could you put a link to where you bought it?
Not sure if it's the same in the UK, but in the US, it's fairly common to find these inside central HVAC systems both in homes and in commercial applications. They're tucked away deep inside the evaporator coil, well away from exposure to people. I'll soon be building myself a mega-air-scrubber fan for my little studio apartment; basically a "carpet dryer" type snail fan inside a box with a 20x20 HEPA-grade HVAC filter, a UVC lamp inside, AND a commercial ozone generator (on a separate timer to run for an hour or two while I'm at work).
Found out some air purifiers use them.
Note, not all UVC lamps make ozone- the main sterilising wavelength produced by them (256nm) is not energetic enough to produce ozone (240nm or below)
The lamp glass is either designed to filter out the lower wavelengths and thus he ozone- free.
Or to not, and allow it to be used as an ozone generator to sterilise water amongst other things.
So, if possible, try to get an ozone- free lamp if you can.
Why is it better to have an ozone-free lamp?
@@Dr_LucozadeNo need to air out the room after treatment.
I thought I'd add my experience of these lamps. I bought one a while ago to use in rooms to remove smell etc. I've since moved in with my Mrs and she has a cat. It's an older cat and is starting to forget how to go to the litter tray, so tends to go in the general area rather than in the box. There was a distinct smell which wasn't pleasant. I use a carpet shampoo machine 2-3 times to clean the carpet the best I could. It's now clean with no "Yellow water" coming up when washing. The smell was still present but much lower.
Back to the UVC lamp...
I dragged out the lamp and set it up. Setup is a strong word. I screwed it into the power cable, placed it on the carpet edge and stuck a shoe box over the top. I lit the carpet for 10 minutes then moved the box half its length step by step around the edges of the room. Each piece of carpet edge got about 20 minutes of exposure, the area taking about 4 hours to complete in this manner. I then hung the lamp about half a metre above the carpet for about 30 minutes. to blanket the area (1.5m x 1.5m) in UVC.
The result?
After about 5 hours of "work" the smell is gone, completely gone. We had spray air fresheners running to cover any smell so I switched them off, left the windows closed and tried to concentrate any smell that was present. There's none. The smell may come back in time, but so far the result is far better than I predicted.
Time to make a proper wooden box for this lamp and make it safer to use. I have a spare timer relay I'll add to set a time interval for the lamp. Adding a tilt switch to ensure it powers off if moved will help too.
Clive. That was a great safety video.
Nice one.
Stay safe and don't get bored.
No chance of getting bored here.
@@bigclivedotcom
I've got my parents house to do and my friends flat. But I'll be using an extension lead for more safety.
I've already got some Isopropyl alcohol made into hand sanitizer, I'm just waiting for the foaming dispensers for the BAC50 solution.
And the most important thing is that I've told my parents and friend what these things do.
Thank you for giving us some knowledge to fight this virus.
I have a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system that has a UV stage to further purify water. It is essentially always lit within a protective sleeve covering it. You can see a slight glow at the end to show it is working. However, after the first lamp burned out I realised it probably did not need to be on 24/7/365, so I added a switch to control the lamp separately and only turn it one when I draw off water. My water is from a domestic well/borehole 100 metres deep and tested annually, so there is really no risk of pathogens. The filter is used to reduce the hardness for use in my expensive espresso maker :-)
The first lamp lasted about five years, on constantly BTW. So these things are pretty reliable. I guess one question is how to actually "test" the effectiveness. The USB-powered model looks a bit sketchy? Many years ago in the USA there was a UV-sterilising toilet seat enclosure for public toilets - the seat was spring-loaded and popped back up into an enclosure which then triggered the UV lamps to irradiate it. Seems like a good idea but I suppose the stray light was right about toddler head height. Have not seen one in decades
It should be noted that while the UV will kill everything it shines on it can't go round corners, anything in shadow will not be effected.
UV is reflected by many materials- by polished metal better than glass.
It also produces ozone, which is a disinfectant and will go around corners.
I mounted mine in a brass tube with a tiny computer fan in each end, with a timer. Cures several problems.
thank you much for all your educational contributions!!!!
That was exactly how I describe having a flash. Though I may substitute a little slang and add the odd profanity, as the situation dictates.
It is some time since I had a proper one. I used to very occasionally use a big old Oxford welder on full bore with gouging rods, out over on what we used to call the Ponda Rosa. It was a Panzer or Armoured chain Conveyor that would always get stuck in very cold weather. Which of course was always on Nights and in the depths of winter. Or anytime we had a few degrees of frost.
You were always glad to get back to the workshop/brew cabin after working out there.
Of course I was younger and dumber then. And it was such a long way to the workshop and back. The welder was there permanently in the Landsales Bunker, for use in there and roundabout. But the mask more often than not would go missing.
I’ve used one of these for about a year moving it from room to room. I worked at Batteries+Bulbs years ago so I knew the dangers. Easy way to keep rooms sterile-ish.
Sunburns are caused by cells in the skin actually dying due to direct DNA damage, I think many people do not realize this, and just thinks of sunburns as an annoyance that can happen if in the sun too long.
I believe this effect is also how the body detects increased exposure to UV and so steps up the production of melanins, which would mean that sun tanning is due to DNA damage too.
If I recall correctly, existing melanin will darken when you are exposed to UV, though this is an indirect effect, UV can produce free radicals and other reactive stuff in the skin, and when melanin is exposed to these it will darken, these can also cause indirect DNA damage in cells.
The "soft" UVA is apparently especially good at producing such things in the skin, so UVA is not quite safe, either.
Thank you very much for that security PSA!
i have sun burnt my arms by welding in the past but i didnt get the ozone smell that i now know from a ceramic plate ozone generator. once you know it, it really is unmistakable. got it for an old house, so big thanks to big clive for covering that!
Unless you have a room kitted out with UVC-proof materials, you better not even think about using a lamp like this to sterilize a room. UVC damages or destroys a lot of materials.
I saw a comment on an article mentioning using UV-C to sterilize environments and my retort was "Unless you're trained to handle these safely, I do NOT advise a regular person to handle these devices."
ruclips.net/video/cSzqKFFo3Uw/видео.html Check out my simple DIY disinfectant box.
I'm glad you made this video because they're selling like wild fire on ebay and amazon
Thanks Clive, much appreciated.
My GP doctor’s office has a UV sterilizer on the wall in the waiting room. The UV light is inside a box, with a fan that blows air from the room through the box. The light is shielded, so nobody in the room is exposed to UV rays. I imagine it also has some kind of safety switch so the light won’t come on if the box is open. I read of a study that concluded that this kind of rig can make a significant reduction in the count of airborne pathogens.
Maybe it would be possible to do a homemade version of this, with a UV light, an enclosure, and a fan. The key thing, of course, would be to make it so that no light leaks out and so nobody can look in and see the light bulb.
I got one of these. Called bactericidal recirculator.
Those are extremely common in restaurant kitchens. You'll see them in a lot of fast food chains.
Hey bigclive, I'm using an ozone generator (like the one you did a video of a while back) to decontaminate all inbound goods here. There are some papers that tout the efficacy.
Could be a good video?
Only just realised you used your new label printer for your work bench. Looking good.
Thank you clive, ive been using these to sterilize my place room by room. only if you live on your own though like you said.
I use mine with a remote on off switch through a power outlet switch and it's nicely avoided.
I was looking first to see if anyone suggested something similar before I left a comment.
For got $8 in Walmart I bought a smart plug that can safely switch 10 amps. If I recall correctly for about $17 one that can switch 20 amps was available. Brand name Merkury kept near the smart light bulbs, Google Home devices etc.
Plug in the UV light and then safely leave the room. "Hey Google turn on Lamp".
I do the same & usually have it set for 2 ~ 3 hours as the workshop is quite large 8m x 12m
I can tell you that the Geckos and Tokeis are virtually impervious as I have occasionally had it stay on for 12 hours (power cuts stopping the auto switch working) and have heard no reduction in sounds from them
How about a timer?
@@SometimeWoodworker Regardless if the power goes off causing the exposure time to be longer than expected why do you have your pets in there at all exposing them to harmful levels of UV light? Incoming cancer I'm going to guess....
Anthony Goodley I don’t let my pet into the room while the light is on and for 30 minutes after. I’m not sure exactly what you are referring to unless it’s the Geckos and Tokeys and they are definitely not pets they are pests and if I could get rid of them I would, but where I live that’s not possible unless I can get the neighbours to catch them for their dinner
the only problem is, how does it afect the objects in the room? you know, some materials don't react very well to UV light
Anything that isn't UV stable will be damaged or discoloured.
This high energy UV, and the ozone it produces, are highly destructive to most things that can be destroyed. Plastics will become brittle, paint will flake, and metal will rust.
It literally shreds the double-bonds in carbon based molecules. So any natural or synthetic compounds that contain carbon will rapidly breakdown - anything organic alive or dead (animals, plants, paper, wood, paints, rubber, varnish), plastics. And the Ozone produced by UV-C will rapidly oxidise anything that can be oxidised. Ozone is an unstable molecule and will breakdown into normal Dioxygen molecules.
bleaches fabric turns plastic brittle, breaks down oil-based products in general.. etc etc, 1 day exposed to these lamps carries the effect of 10 years laying out in the sun
yes, that was exactly my point
Nice revisit Clive! It's because of your last UVC video that I built a little cabinet for 'cleaning' incoming produce during the pandemic. Although I guess I could just use my negative ion emitting personal massager.....
Looking up UVC lamp was actually how I found this channel!
Welcome aboard! you have much to watch!
Keep getting an ad for one of the UV units at the side of page on YT. Knowing it must be UVC, due to your vids and seeing the units used in hospitals, knew the dangers. So out of curiosity looked up the company, on their front page does mention UV but not UVC, no mention of the dangers, does say leave the room in light print near bottom of page, but prior to this on the page shows a couple and a child, happily sitting there while the unit is running in the background.
No warnings, unless you open separate terms of service page, if you click order now, no warning to check the terms of service first, or about the risks of the unit. Yes you should be careful about what you buy, but how many people read instructions properly on simple products, most would plug it in to charge and set it off running. So please be careful if considering something like one of these lamps, heed Clive's warnings.
OMG
Clive, If you buy a UV light on Ebay is there any way to determine if you are getting the proper UV light that you ordered, i.e UVA, UVB, or UVC?
I still use this outdoor at night. It keeps the moss of the fence. Moss still grows in the shadows its pretty cool.
I made an air sterilizer with an 18W lamp mounted lengthwise in an aluminum duct with a small computer fan. I built triple baffled light traps for each end, sealed with aluminum tape and painted flat black inside to block the light but let the air pass through, and installed a glass viewing window on one end to check lamp status and be able to safely observe the lamp. Tested good for no light leakage with my strongest flashlight before running it. The fan is a 90mm pretty low power fan, so the air volume and sterilizing chamber air velocity is pretty low for maximum effectiveness. The air does seem to smell cleaner with less residual odors. I smell the slightest whiff of ozone, but hardly noticeable. It is a name brand Philips PL-L TUV lamp, so is supposed to be ozone free. I would stay away from no name brands if ozone would be a problem, but it would be interesting to measure actual ozone production between brands and types.
The Ozone generated can rot many things that can be found in a room. The rubber insulation on old style main voltage wiring for example. When using a medical ozone generator i have seen latex gloves rot in seconds crack and peal back exposing the skin.
I can imagine it rapidly aging paint and fabrics in the room and bleaching colours too.
The UVC-Germicidal envelope is made of fused quartz (not glass) and generally includes a dopant in the quartz that absorbs the shorter emission lines and passes the "germicidal" line at 253.7nm. In order to produce ozone the wavelength needs to be
Ive seen lots of LED variants. Are they as effective?
I have that exact bulb and use it as you describe, about once a month in each room.
Thank you for that info your truly a gentleman
The baby one is interesting, I hope we get to see inside.
out of context this is a fucked up comment
@@YouGotPwnd i thought exactly the same thing lol.
@@petermcgregor9255 I bet the original comment made you horny you crusty fuck
It will not help with the Ozone but modern UV rated sunglasses are pretty effective at cutting down UVC (polycarbonate is pretty good at stopping it) you are still susceptible to reflections etc and it does nothing about the Ozone but it would save your eyes a bit of a dose as you are turning it on and off. It also helps to have clear polycarbonate wrap around glasses on when you are welding especially around others who are welding at the same time. I have never had welding flash while wearing them and I have had some minor cases from reflections off the inside of my helmet etc without them.
I followed the advice in this video but something that I didn't know would become a problem is corrosion of steel items in the vicinity. My beautiful chrome desk that I've had for almost 20 years rusted over time due to repeated use of this lamp. The exhaust part of my PC case also rusted and there are spots of green corrosion on the motherboard too. Ozone is very corrosive so just keep that in mind too when using a uvc light to disinfect a room.
What a gift for mother-in-law.
Would something like this accelerate physical UV damage to stuff like plastic? Do you think that could be an issue? It sounds like something that could be easy to test. I know that whatever those plastic organizer bins are made of are susceptible to sunlight damage, but that was over the course of a couple years.
You see those little lumps of resin at the end of the lamp separating the tubes ? They used to be clear but the UV has broken them down.
Yes it probably would, one thing you can notice is even with CFL lights is that the plastic housing can get very yellowed due to the uv degrading of said plastic
I guess I'm pretty off topic but do anyone know a good website to stream new tv shows online?
@@Goetterdaemmerung86 on CFLs I believe that it is the heat from the lamp that yellows the plastic as the glass in CFLs block uv light.
In fact plastic lamp sockets that hold incandescent or halogen bulbs you can often also see yellowing even tho those lamps make very little uv and a lot of heat.
I'd say it can so it's best not to use it in a place with plastic parts you care about. Although I do wonder because UV light and hydrogen peroxide is how you whiten yellowed plastic. With the ozone this gives off it might actually bleach the plastic.
At any rate, I have one running on a timer in a bathroom with bad ventilation. If I notice the plastic outlet covers going yellow I'll give an update
Edit: I've had this running for a month and haven't noticed any yellowing on the plastic.
Arc burn happens to experienced welders too when they forget to put their helmet down 😫
You can get numbing eyedrops that helps a little
Or when they are welding below you when your working on a crane.
Steroid cream works well too
Thank you exactly what I was looking for
Yeay thank you for the advice, i appreciate it. All the best, kieron
Yep, I woke up in the middle of the night with the ol' sandy eyes when I was about 20 from a bit of quick welding without a shield.
The ER doc put in numbing drops and it was instant relief! He tried to send me home with Vicodin, I was like F that, give me those eye drops!!
And how are your visuals now? Any noticeable degradation in it?
Yes, had arc-eye that when I was a kid watching my brother welding. Horrible! frightening.
as an idiot who frequently neglected their safety glasses several times in their youth, i can attest to how god-like those eyedrops are. the cocaine in them probably helps.
How much exposure does it take to get arc eye? How much welding did you do?
@@stargazer7644 it doesn't take long to get it. think of it like a sunburn on your eye. looking at the arc for a couple seconds is enough.
Make sure to take the plants out of the room as well!!
Very informative video at this time!
fantastic information at the right time!
can you talk about the UVC LED lamps? are they as effective as the flourescent ones?
I'm pretty sure that LED's cannot achieve the bandgap required for UV-C. There might be some very exotic (and expensive) doping materials that could modify the output, but those that are being advertised in certain places just can't possibly be genuine. /cynic
Not really. It's hard to make LEDs with really short wavelengths. Which is part of the reason why 365nm UVA LEDs are a recent thing.
UVC LEDs do exist, but they're expensive, and the output is too low to be effective. Gas discharge tubes are still the best way to make UVC that we know of.
Yes, but they're lower power and extremely expensive.
The one described in the video is not a fluorescent one (but close). A fluorescent lamp uses a UVC source to make fluorescent material glow bright white. In fact you could use an LED to make a fluorescent lamp.
Fluirescent LED lamps are really common. They have a broad blue peak and every other colour comes from a fluorescent coating ontop of the LED. Gives better CRI than RGB led. When the light is off the LED looks yellow-orange.
Ah, sand burn. Had that once after doing some welding. Not nice at all. I was young and recovered in a day or so. Don't want to do that ever again.
Another use which makes it safe 100% is to put it into a small rectangular box(paper carton is fine for low wattage like this) and attach fan to the box, have it on timer daily for a few hours - this will allow to disinfect air in the room. Problem of course is that surfaces will not be disinfected but it is good to reduce possible infected human aerosols in the air.
I had a case of arc flash once at welding school.
Not fun, was literally blind for a good minute, could have been a lot worse then it was, I had forgotten that I tightened my helmet so it wouldn't go down when you flick your head like most welders do when they have their hands full.
I also have been jolted by a ARC welding machine before, it wasn't a pleasant feeling, what my teacher said was, "if your not on the ground then your okay."
Felt like I was shocked by 20 people around me with 20 good quality shock pens.
great psa , i would give you a hug but...
Just out of curiousity, not intending on using one, this would affect plants in the same way it affects humans and would damage cells in the same way, correct?
Yes, this lamp will kill everything, eventually. It'll also degrade pretty much everything in the room. It'll peel paint. It'll yellow plastic. Don't buy one, it is very dangerous and the harm isn't seen or really felt; which makes it more dangerous.
Jared Taylor thank you sir, definitely not planning on it, just always curious about the "in theory" of things
Yes. Our atmosphere filters out the UVC the Sun generates, so almost nothing on the planet has evolved to cope. The only organisms that can deal with it are a couple of extremophile bacteria, and Tardigrades. These microorganisms, also known as Water Bears, are awesome, have regenerating DNA, can dehydrate and rehydrate their bodies, and can resist pretty much anything the Universe throws against them, from extreme cold and heat, through high radiation, to deep-space vacuum. Sadly, they're also squishy, so they can't resist getting nommed. Everything eats Tardigrades. Even other Tardigrades.
You dont have to go about sterilizing every single room in your house unless you or a family member has contracted the virus. You should be setting this up to sterilize groceries or supplies from the outside. This is much more efficient than using soap and water to decontaminate. Make sure you wear full coverage clothing (including a balaclava or face shield) when using this. Dont use it in a closed space because you will damage your lungs with ozone
im really glad i googled this first. i thought you could just put these in and leave them in and they keep you safe. i saw something on the tv about this office in the states where this boss basicly made the entire office like a germ killing zone. HE had thing in the doors when you through they disinfect you and everything your holding, and he had fans and i thought he said the lights he used could be used all the time and they killed germs. is there something like that?
but thank you for this! cause when i buy things nowadays nothing comes with instructions, so this was good. thank you
222nm excimer lamps. But they are relatively new and very expensive.
Around 80 years ago our doctor prescribed a weaker ultra-violet lamp to give me a tan in the wintertime. It was supposed to help with vitamin d or something. I loved the smell of ozone and got a nice tan in the winter when I couldn't go out in the sunshine. I am now 85 and pretty healthy.
Might have been a UVA lamp.
I saw some numpty on the internet that had fitted a germicidal lamp into one of those camping showers, calling it a "DIY decontamination chamber". I really hope they intended to use it to sanitise the outside of packages and not as a kind of cyberpunk iron maiden.
I got burns in less than a minute of irradiation (reflected) with 25W UVC lamp. It was like a very strong sun burn, with a painful red tan and a lot of "fun" while peeling a dead skin out of my face for like 4-5 days, starting from 3rd day after the irradiation. Fortunately, I was wearing a pair of laser glasses so my eyes are OK. Be very careful with UVC lamps!
Did you use it for suntanning?
Did you take sunbath?
Do you use it for killing bacteria ?
Thank you Clive.
I waS looking for this a hour ago , and watched this thinking it was an old video :p , just saw it again in my subscription feed :p