Well, you learn something new every day. That is for sure when you work at The Allergy Store. Today I learned how ac filters can be damaged by ultraviolet light.
Today, we had an interesting customer call. The pleated, disposable air conditioning filters they purchased some time ago are starting to crumble. AC filers are not supposed to crumble.
For as many years as we have been selling pleated, disposable ac filters, I have never heard of the filtering media crumbling. We discussed the situation at length so that when I phoned our manufacturer, I could give him a full report.
When I spoke with the manufacturer, he was also stumped. However, he asked me one important question, “Does she have an ultra-violet light installed so that it is shining on the filter media area?” I had not thought to ask her this question. He went on to explain that the filter media in the disposable electrostatic filters is 100% polyester. He says they use no cotton or wool fibers in the material as they do not want to encourage mold growth on the filter media.
However, polyester can be destroyed by exposure to intense ultraviolet light.
I phoned the customer back to ask if she had UV lights in the area of the filters and she told me “Yes”. The filters were installed with a UV light shining directly on them.
Mystery solved! She is moving the ultraviolet light so that it will not shine on the filters.
We all learned something. As well as our custom-made, pleated electrostatic disposable filters are made, so they can’t stand up to continuous ultraviolet light.
Wishing you the best of health
Cheryl Krause
800 771-2246
