International. Building Management spoke with Tony Ghiraldo, sales manager for Latin America of the company Steril-Aire, about how Facility Managers can benefit from the installation of UVC emitters, the impact of them on the maintenance of air conditioning equipment, and how these systems influence the indoor air quality of the facilities.
Poor indoor air quality can adversely affect the well-being of workers, by fuelling the transmission of diseases by air that affect not only the health of employees, but also cost companies money.
Air conditioning equipment needs to maintain a high level of efficiency and cleanliness to ensure optimal quality of the air circulating in the environment. That's where UVC emitters come in, specially designed to kill up to 99% of the germs and bacteria present in the air before they leave the air conditioning equipment.
With the installation of a UVC emitter, an automatic cleaning of the cooling coil of all air conditioning equipment is carried out, thus eliminating the biofilm that grows on the fins of the same. This not only improves air quality but also reduces maintenance costs.
On the subject, Ghiraldo stressed that "a Facility Manager has the responsibility of an entire building and its components. By installing UVC emitters, it is possible to achieve automatic cleaning of the cooling coils, condensate tray and air conditioning ducts, thus reducing a significant workload to the Facility Manager so that he can redistribute his labor in other tasks. "
In addition, he added that "simultaneously, it allows you to save on energy consumption costs, while providing great indoor air quality to the entire complex, only by installing the UVC emitters."
Finally, for those Facility Managers who are thinking of implementing a system of this type, our interviewee suggests testing the operation of the emitters in the dirtiest air conditioning equipment they have, to verify the benefits of the emitters in person.
In addition, it recommends seeking professional advice from the manufacturers and distributors of this type of equipment to select the best UVC emitter option according to their needs and that once installed the recommended care is taken when the staff is working in the environment of the emitters.
