# UV Lights To Kill Germs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone
**Tags:** covid-quarantine
**Created:** [April 8, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380 "2020-04-08T21:48:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/1 "2020-04-08T21:48:45Z")
I was looking at some of these devices to potentially decontaminate things like cell phones and keys. Does anyone have any recommendations? I read a few on Amazon but a lot of the reviews seem to indicate they tend to break easily or the light doesn’t last.
Obviously I would want this for the current coronavirus situation, and my understanding is it doesn’t work well on masks due to the folds in them.
(Not sure if this is the correct place, please move if necessary)
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### Author:  [@TemporalFix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TemporalFix)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/2 "2020-04-08T21:55:44Z")
Soap is very effective in destroying viruses. Heat is another one, boil your keys or put them in an oven. (Don’t use a microwave oven.)
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/3 "2020-04-08T22:10:38Z")
You need a\* hell of a lot\* of UV to sterilize. I seriously doubt that any of those crappy consumer devices are worth a damn.
If they won’t give you a really bad sunburn in minutes, they are worthless.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/4 "2020-04-08T22:15:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> You need a\* hell of a lot\* of UV to sterilize. I seriously doubt that any of those crappy consumer devices are worth a damn.
> If they won’t give you a really bad sunburn in minutes, they are worthless.
More specifically, you need a ton of UV **C**. And the machines that they are starting to use to sterilize hospitals can give you a sunburn in _seconds_, not minutes.
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/5 "2020-04-08T22:26:16Z")
I had a basement workroom that I wanted to periodically sterilize for some amateur mushroom growing. I looked into UV but the whole industry seems to be full of shit. Really expensive stuff (medical???). Lights that go in your HVAC (snake oil???). A lot or really bad looking Amazon products. Bulbs with weird bases, lamps with different weird bases. Bad reviews everywhere you look.
I think it’s a combination of the potential for danger, potential for misuse, and no real industry pushing for it. I had similar trouble looking for a decently priced home ozone machine. I finally found a good one, but I think it was only because they are used in the hotel and fire remediation industries.
I never found a good UV solution and moved on.
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/6 "2020-04-08T22:29:29Z")
> [@garygnu](#):
>
> More specifically, you need a ton of UV **C**. And the machines that they are starting to use to sterilize hospitals can give you a sunburn in _seconds_, not minutes.
I was looking for something I could leave on in a closed room for hours prior to using. Not something that has to do the job in a short amount of time.
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### Author:  [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/7 "2020-04-08T22:35:45Z")
Product liability factors overwhelm engineering in the UV equipment realm. The level and type of UV needed for effectivity is just too similar to the amount you need to engender very expensive lawsuits. Also, you have to deal with the shadows. Sounds trivial, but it is unique for each and every case of use. The engineering term is “real pain in the ass.”
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/8 "2020-04-09T00:20:17Z")
I saw a show about a company that had developed UV machines to reuse masks and PPE. But it was a specialty machine. I don’t know the details, but they stressed (perhaps with some self interest) that this was specific technology and that many UV devices would not be sufficient.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/9 "2020-04-09T01:02:29Z")
[They make robots for this now](http://www.uvd-robots.com/).
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/10 "2020-04-09T02:30:56Z")
> [@Carryon](#):
>
> I was looking at some of these devices to potentially decontaminate things like cell phones and keys. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Take a look at the products [here](https://www.skytron.com/products/infection-prevention/uvc-light-disinfection-robots/), particularly the “[ElectroClave](https://www.skytron.com/products/infection-prevention/uvc-light-disinfection-robots/electroclave/)”.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/11 "2020-04-09T02:51:47Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> [They make robots for this now](http://www.uvd-robots.com/).
EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE … sorry, I meant to say, DISINFECT, DISINFECT, DISINFECT
CMC fnord!
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/12 "2020-04-09T12:29:45Z")
What about using ozone instead of UV? No shadows to worry about, and a enclosed sanitation box shouldn’t be hard to construct.
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### Author:  [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/13 "2020-04-09T12:54:23Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> What about using ozone instead of UV? No shadows to worry about, and a enclosed sanitation box shouldn’t be hard to construct.
For viruses? I would assume ozone would need to be inhaled to be effective?
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/14 "2020-04-09T14:00:02Z")
So, viruses can hold their breath for a long time?
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/15 "2020-04-09T14:25:46Z")
> [@Folacin](#):
>
> For viruses? I would assume ozone would need to be inhaled to be effective?
You wouldn’t want to inhale it, for basically the same reason you don’t want to be exposed to UV, it’s harmful, and that’s basically why they work against viruses.
No like the OP suggests with UV, I would think one can use ozone to disinfect objects. not talking about inhaling it to get rid of viruses in the body, that would most likely injure the person’s airways at a time when the virus is infecting them.
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### Author:  [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/16 "2020-04-09T15:42:24Z")
So, I know nothing about this - but is ozone a (for lack of better terminology) a ‘contact poison’?
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/17 "2020-04-09T15:51:43Z")
> [@Folacin](#):
>
> So, I know nothing about this - but is ozone a (for lack of better terminology) a ‘contact poison’?
It’s a gas, O3, though sometimes it is dissolved in water. It is just really highly reactive oxygen. UV light does also seem to produce some ozone.
Here is the effect on viruses:
> [@](#):
>
> … Ozone destroys viruses by diffusing through the protein coat into the nucleic acid core, resulting in damage of the viral RNA. At higher concentrations, ozone destroys the capsid or exterior protein shell by oxidation.
From [https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/ozone-can-be-used-to-destroy-the-new-coronavirus-and-disinfect-areas](https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/ozone-can-be-used-to-destroy-the-new-coronavirus-and-disinfect-areas)
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/18 "2020-04-09T16:01:15Z")
> [@Folacin](#):
>
> So, I know nothing about this - but is ozone a (for lack of better terminology) a ‘contact poison’?
It’s not a poison. It damages lung and other respiratory tissue immediately. Can also affect the heart, creating arrhythmias, etc. And then if you survive all that it damages any other tissue it gets in contact with. And in remarkably small amounts which is part of the reason why it is strictly monitored in pollution. (The other part is the chemicals that it forms which are also bad.)
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/19 "2020-04-09T16:21:17Z")
Got it all figured, makes perfect sense. UV light from the sun sterilizes, kills germs, viruses. That’s why there’s more flu in winter, because less sunlight. So, coronavirus infections will drop dramatically with more sunshine!
Therefore…wait for it!..Il Douche should Executive Order for Daylight Savings Time to start immediately! Here’s the graph, twenty four hours a day, one more hour, coronavirus lessened by twenty-four percent!
I expect an offer from them pretty soon. Which I will take if it means fat pay checks and limousines to the office. After the check clears. Not that sure about the 24% thing, kind of a mathtard. Do you need a lot of math to be an epidermiologist?
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-lights-to-kill-germs/851380/20 "2020-04-09T16:45:12Z")
**Moderator Note**
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> Il Douche
Keep the politics and political pot-shots out of the Quarantine Zone. Try Politics and Elections for posts like this.
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