UV-C Sterilising Wands

We take them out the back to the cardboard recycling bin. One of us opens and clears away packaging while the other 'clean hands' person extracts the contents. Then the 'dirty hands' person deconstructs the packaging stright into the bin before washing their hands etc. thoroughly.

May be OTT but it's essentially what we'd do anyway.

At this time probably worse than snake oil as the users probably are not taking any other precautions because they believe it works. How are the Amazon reviewers establishing that these wands are working, presumably they are all performing a double blind trial?

Is it much like those steam generators that have similar claims but when reading the small print the steam has to be applied to exactly the same area for at least 60 seconds and not just quickly wafted over as shown in the demo videos or TV adverts?

And as a quick check the claims are for 90% effectiveness with the wand held 1 cm away from the surface for 40 seconds. So it would take 10 minutes to scan a typical food can or maybe a few hours for a kitchen work surface. At the same time you will get skin cancer in the hand that holds the wand!

Prior to recent virus scares these were sold as phone sanitisers and possibly only gained some popularity after Ark Fleet Ship B set off.

Surely any layer of the packaging and the actual contents might be contaminated with virus. If you "throw the packing away" you should probably throw the contents away as well! :-)

So why is the packaging more likely to be contaminated than the contents?

Taken off properly, inside out, one inside the other? And your hands are only "clean" until you handle something that you handled with the gloves on. Anything from your car keys, phone, wallet/purse, payment card, purchased goods, bag handles...

IMHO gloves give a false sense of security. You still need to wash your hands and not touch your face.

Anything powerful enough to deactive the virus isn't going to be very good for your skin/eyes. IMHO another false sense of security.

Cheers Dave.

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I never use it and my husband is very careful and knows what he is doing. He uses is facing down and if it turns more than 45 deg from downwards it automatically turns off. A person using it is holding the wand by a handle so it is never going to shine on the skin.

The ouetr pacaking has been exposed during transit, and is cardboard which retains the virus much longer. Inner packaging isn't cardboard anyway.

It's about minimising the risk, not eliminating it.

... but the inner bit will have been in transit for a few days, and the virus does die off with time.

Thomas Prufer

It actually retains the virus for much less time.

Inner packaging isn't cardboard

Much less time than what? It retains for up to 24 hours on cardboard.

... but the inner bit will have been in transit for a few days, and the virus does die off with time.

Thomas Prufer

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Agree!

Pointed at any shiny surface and the reflection is going to shine on the skin. Try using it in a darkened room and see if the hand holding it can be seen, or worse the face of the person using it indicating that eye protection should be used.

Than the other materials.

And the other materials retain the virus for longer.

The only material on which it didn?t last as long is copper, but that isnt normally used as packaging.

Pointed at any shiny surface and the reflection is going to shine on the skin. Try using it in a darkened room and see if the hand holding it can be seen, or worse the face of the person using it indicating that eye protection should be used.u

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Thank you! I passed that on and he says that he has goggles (which came with the wand) which he uses whenever he is disinfecting a reflective surface!

Wrong way round I think, the virus survives for a shorter time on absorbent surfaces like cardboard.

One should not be in the room with those things when they're on. And yes, I used to use a technological precursor to them. Pre-cursed is not a bad description if you get careless.

NT

Well that could be the outcome for anyone looking into a strong UV light source while not aware of the damage it can do.

Put it outside in this weather. Oh, bugger , it's pissing down today.

Gutters overflowing all around me after the birds had rooted through all the dried moss which has now washed down and blocked everyones hoppers :-)

Most devices sold as "UV disinfectant lamps" are fakes. A single proper UV C LED emitter costs about £5 and each is made with a quartz window and metal body. A purple LED emitter is in a normal plastic package and one costs about £0.05. You can't use resin to encapsulate a UVC LED as it would quickly degrade the potting material. If your magic wand has a dozen LED's and cost less than £100 it's probably ineffective.

Some are sold for more than £100 so for definitive UVC emission test hold the lamp so it is close to and shines on the back or front of your hand. Turn it on for a few seconds and smell your skin. If it is a fake there will be no smell, if it is a real UV C there will be a very distinctive smell.