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UV Light to Disinfect Gear?


estogoalie

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I was reading about UV-C light is used to disinfect things in hospitals, and was wondering if anyone tried disinfecting their gear with some kind of UV lamps?

UV-C is kind of "dangerous" in that you shouldn't be in the room when the light is on, so I'm a little afraid of that, but I see some reptile lamps are using UV-B which is also useful to kill germs, mold, etc (altho not as potent/ dangerous as UV-C).

UV-B reptile bulbs cost about $30 or so, I was thinking to get one and shine it on my gear after playing and see if it helps anything. Just wondering if anyone tried it already?

For ex: http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/reptile_uvb100.php

 

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Thanks. Yea, I was wondering if the UV would break-down the material. But on the other hand, I don't think it's much worse than putting your gear out to dry in the sun.  And besides, gear doesn't last forever anyway. But yea, something to consider. And good point about alot of the germs being deeper inside the gear, I guess UV lamp would only help kill bacteria on the outside of the gear. In any case, still could be an interesting experiment.

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Prolonged UV light can affect synthetic polymers (rubbers, neoprene pvc, etc.).  UV can sanitize, but is dependent on several factors: intensity (a bulb is much more intense than sun), duration, line of sight, wavelength (short uvc is germicidal, uvb is not considered germicidal but can cause burns). Aside from the exposure risk, I don't think it would be that effective as a lot of the smell is from absorbed sweat and bacteria inside the gear, which the light will not hit and therefore will not kill. 

Sorry, I don't have a source for this info off the top of my head, I'm recalling it from my materials science and environmental engineering courses. 

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17 hours ago, estogoalie said:

I read that quick and thought for a second that said "urine and water"... altho we could be on to something here...

Come on Esto... it's an obvious call back to a classic how to clean gear story.

ha ha

Cannonball!

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