Use of UV light in laminar flow hood

[PDXtech]

How  many people use the UV light in their laminar flow hood for decontamination?  We have the blower on 24/7 and usually turn the UV light on for 10 minutes in the morning but now we are wondering if that is necessary?

Thank you.

[maria mouriki]

It's good practice. I don't see a reason for you to stop doing it. But why is the blower on 24/7? Why don't you turn it off once you finish your shift? Otherwise it sound to me that you waste too much energy for no reason.

 

Maria

On Thursday, November 7, 2013 1:55 PM, PDXtech <dblw...@yahoo.com> wrote:

How  many people use the UV light in their laminar flow hood for decontamination?  We have the blower on 24/7 and usually turn the UV light on for 10 minutes in the morning but now we are wondering if that is necessary?

Thank you.

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[Dunn, Betty]

It's been my experience that most labs (at least the ones which which I'm familiar) do use UV inside their laminar flow hoods to assist in decontamination.  This is most important when performing long term culture work.  Most labs turn the UV light on as the last action when they leave the culture lab in the afternoon/evening and turn it off as the first activity when they return the next morning, while avoiding looking directly at the UV light.  It is not advised to have the light on during the time technologist are working in the lab due to the risk of damage to sensitive tissues, especially the retina of the eye.   

Since UV decontaminates only surface items (hood deck or things left on the deck) and not the air, the blower needs to be left on 24/7, as you do.  If the blower is turned off even momentarily, then the entire interior of the hood needs to be decontaminated thoroughly before use for good aseptic practice.   If the blower is left on 24/7, only minimum daily cleaning is needed before first use, as spills occur and after use.  The energy cost is less than equal to the cost of technologist time and supplies to spend decontaminating again.  The cost of contamination risk to long term cultures is often not something the lab wants to face.   

Please note: any plastic items left permanently on the hood deck (pipette aid, etc) will suffer some damage over time from UV exposure.  This may be observed as a color change, but usually does not affect function.  

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From: cytogenetics-methods...@googlegroups.com [cytogenetics-methods...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of maria mouriki [mend...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 6:03 AM
To: cytogenetics-methods...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Use of UV light in laminar flow hood