How We Made a UVC Disinfection Chamber
Feel free to share your own set up.
Five years ago, public health agencies assured us we didn’t need to be disinfecting our groceries—that was just overkill. Maybe that was true, but the reality was closer to this: There was simply no simple, practical, cost-effective way to disinfect your groceries and deliveries without going insane.
People tried.
In May, one researcher explained how you could build a UVC disinfecting chamber. As they wrote, “there is no alternative [in most cases] rather than handling the essential food items which are purchased from the market,” which means viruses “can easily be transmitted from human to human through food commodities.” With H5N1 bird flu, that becomes more of a problem because, well, it can last much longer on surfaces than other viruses.
A study from 2022 confirms that UVC light effectively destroys the flu virus within minutes. The general consensus is that it takes anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour if you’re disinfecting a larger space.
You can buy UVC disinfecting chambers and cabinets online, but many of them are small and/or incredibly expensive. What if you could make your own, just like we made our own Corsi-Rosenthal boxes?
What you’ll need:
A pair of 2X2 square wood posts
Angle braces (or square post flanges/bases/anchors)
Three curtain rods
Blackout curtains (ring hooks)
Clamp lamps
UVC bulbs
Remote control outlet
Table
Here are the steps:
Measure and cut the 2X2 posts so they’re even/flush with your table’s width. You want them to come out far enough so that when you mount the blackout curtains, you can just shut the curtains and block out the UVC light. If your table is 24 inches wide, cut the posts to 24 inches. You could cut them a little longer (25 inches) to give your curtains some buffer space.
Mount the 2X2 posts with the angle braces or flanges. Mark where you’re going to mount them with a pencil first, so they’re even with your table and at the same height. You don’t want them cattywampus. Mount them high enough for your curtains. If you’ve got 36-inch curtains, then mount them somewhere between 24-30 inches above your table. That way, the curtains will drape down far enough to cover the table when they’re closed.
Mount the curtain rod hangers. One on the front, and on each side. You should be able to just screw them into the front and sides of the posts, as if you were mounting curtain rods on a wall.
Mount the curtains. To make sure you’re also covering the front corners, wrap the side curtains around and hang one ring on the front rod. That way, you’ll be completely covering the table with no gaps.
Now you’ve got your basic setup. The rest is easy.
Screw the UVC bulbs into the clamp lamps. Make sure you buy them from a hardware store or a reputable vendor. Also make sure you’re getting bulbs that fit inside standard lamp sockets.
Clamp the lamps on the posts.
Plug the lamps into the remote control outlet. It’s easier if you get a remote control outlet that can handle two plugs.
Plug in the remote outlet.
Go time.
Using the disinfection chamber:
Put whatever you want on the table. We do groceries and mail deliveries. Stand objects upright so they get hit from both sides. They won’t hit the object’s bottom, but we can live with that.
Sanitize your hands.
Close the curtains.
Use the remote to turn on the outlet, and thus the lamps.
Give the lamps 10-15 minutes to disinfect.
Turn the outlet off.
You’re done.
This works well enough for us. We never look directly at the bulbs, and we never open the curtains when the lamps are on. You could make similar setups with different types of UV light, but this is what we’re trying out.
Some bulbs can generate ozone. Check the label and product info. If you wind up with bulbs that do, then make sure to ventilate.
We use ours in the garage.
Feel free to share your own ideas.
May I suggest that if you can, build it in the corner of a room. It’s easier to make stable curtain rails if it only has 1 corner. I built something similar during C19 lock-down when we still thought surface spread was the problem. I put everything that came into the house in the “cell” and sprayed it with a mild bleach solution.