With winter just around the corner, cold and flu season is quickly approaching. Using tech with UV light can help sanitize your home, from filtering your water to sterilizing the air. Check out a few ways to help keep your home clean and germ-free, after the jump.
SteriPEN Freedom ($119.95) - The Freedom from SteriPEN comes out next month. This handheld UV water sanitizer is perfect for travel. It's ideal on a camping trip or wherever tap water might not be safe to drink. It also has a handy rechargeable battery that can be charged via USB.
HoMedics Restore Clean Water System ($49.99) - A while back we were asked if UV pitchers really work. The answer was yes. The Restore Clean Water System uses UV Clean Technology to remove viruses, bacteria and microbial cysts. Combined with a filtration system to reduce heavy metals and the taste and smell of chlorine, this is an ideal solution for tap water germaphobes.
Verilux CleanWave UV-C Sanitizing Wand ($79) - The CleanWave Wand will quickly and easily get rid of germs throughout your home. Simply wave the wand over household items and surfaces and the CleanWave kills 99.99% of bacteria, viruses, germs, mold, dust mites and flea eggs. The CleanWave is cordless, rechargeable and lightweight. Operation is silent and it also has a nifty LCD indicator.
Paralda Air Purifier ($499) - This HEPA Air Purifier uses a UV lamp rated to kill 98% of airborne bacteria, all while removing allergens like pollen, dust, pet dander and mold spores. It covers up to 400 square feet with quiet noise operation and 4 fan speed settings.
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These all seem like goofy things for germaphobes who enjoy turning their immune systems into stunted, withered little things. The only thing here that seems useful at all is the wand that is able to kill flea eggs, but I have to wonder if that would even work. Would the eggs need to be fully exposed to the UV rays? Since they lay their eggs in carpet and whatnot, I feel like that wouldn't really work (which, as someone who recently dealt with a flea infestation, I wish wasn't the case).
The SteriPen worked great for me on a recent trip to Tanzania. While bottled water was available at our hotel, once we started climbing Kilimanjaro, all of our water came from nearby streams. My fellow hikers all complained of water tasting like a swimming pool since they had to treat it with chlorine. But the SteriPen did its job and I have had fresh mountain water to drink which is really important when going to high altitudes. The only downside is that it does take a couple of minutes to treat each liter of water which can be inconvenient when everyone else is waiting to break camp.
Pretty sure I'm not going to use it at home though unless perhaps there is a boil water advisory.