Halogen Lights And How To Use Them

Halogen lights and bulbs are types of the incandescent light technology. These lights and bulbs function by letting electricity pass through a filament or thin wire of tungsten enclosed by a tube of glass filled with halogen gas. The halogen gas serves as the catalyst for chemical reaction. The reaction causes the tungsten to be removed from the glass wall and deposited back to the filament. This is the cause of the bulbs' long life. Though an offshoot of the incandescent technology, the filaments in halogen lights and bulbs must have higher temperature than those used in incandescent lights for the reaction to happen. This results in a brighter and whiter light.

However, the brighter light of halogen lights and bulbs causes the tungsten to evaporate faster, hence, the need for an expensive gas to stagger the evaporation. The gas of choice used is krypton gas. Together with a high pressure, these two effectively stagger and lower the evaporation rate of tungsten in halogen lights. This process also requires a thicker and smaller bulb which translates into higher temperature. A temperature of 300 degrees Celsius is not uncommon for halogen bulbs. This is the reason why halogen lights got the reputation of being fire hazards. But there is no need to worry about fires due to these lights if they are used and installed properly.

First, be careful to avoid touching halogen glass bulbs with bare fingers. Not only it is hot, but the natural oils or sebum from our hands can damage the bulb by weakening the glass. This may cause the glass to explode if and when the tungsten burns out. Second, install them in low traffic areas. This way, the risk of brushing or coming into contact with people is greatly reduced. Third, keep halogen lights and bulbs from objects that are flammable and prone to scorching. Halogens can used in closets or rooms if you are sure that they will have at least 18 inches clearance from clothes and objects that are easily burned. If you must use them in cramped and closed areas, like glass-topped shelves, minimize heat caused by the bulbs by replacing higher watt bulbs with lower-watt bulbs. Drilling air holes or vents in the cabinet can help in reducing and preventing trapped heat.

To recap, halogen lights and bulbs can be used for your advantage because of their efficiency and longer life. They are usually compact and can be dimmed. Though they are also disadvantaged to use for being fire hazards. The danger of causing fire with halogens are largely dependent on our use of it and maintenance.

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Shower Filter Fact vs. Fiction - Why Vitamin C Dechlorination Is Superior To KDF/Carbon

The shower filter industry is a relatively small but certainly a highly competitive one. Most people understand the need to filter drinking water, but never think twice about bathing in unfiltered tap water.

The truth of the matter is, your body has the potential to absorb more water borne contaminates, such as chlorine and chloramines, during an average 10 minute shower than you would by drinking unfiltered tap water throughout the entire day.

During a warm shower, the pores in our skin begin to open up and become highly absorbent, much like a sponge. Many contaminates, such as chlorine, become extremely unstable in hot water and immediately evaporate out of the water allowing chlorine vapors to also be inhaled directly into our lungs. Although the chlorine levels in our showers can vary greatly throughout the day, one thing is certain. There is always chlorine present in shower water that is maintained by a municipal water supply.

The unnecessary exposure to chlorine as been linked by some scientific studies to cases of miscarriage and certain types of cancer in most countries that disinfect their water supplies with chlorine. In the US, the EPA has recently recommended that all municipal water supplies change their disinfectant from free chlorine to chloramine; a combination of free chlorine and ammonia.

The reason for this change is based on recent studies that claim the use of free chlorine generate what are known as THMs or Trihalomethanes. THMs are created when free chlorine comes in contact with organic material present in the water supply. It is believed that higher levels of THMs are what actually increase the risks of cancer and miscarriages in humans. The use of chlormaine may indeed reduce the overall level of THMs in our water, but it must be used in much higher concentrations to be as effective a pure chlorine. Whether chloramine is any safer than free chlorine is the subject of much debate that will require many years of research. Unfortunately, no one knows the long term effects of chloramine on the human body. After all, they've been telling us free chlorine was completely safe for the last 100 years.

Dechlorinating Your Shower Water - Fact Or Fiction?

There are dozens of different types and brands of shower filters available on the market today. The vast majority of these shower filters rely on what is known as KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion) as a means of reducing free chlorine. There are others that combinde KDF with some type of activated charcoal (AC) or similar type of supplementary medium.

An alternative method of removing both free and combined chlorine involves the use of Vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid/sodium ascorbate) in a shower filtration device. This form of dechlorination has been used for many years by the EPA to dechlorinate waste water prior to reintroduction into the environment. Although more expensive, Vitamin C dechlorination produces nearly perfect results without a negative impact on the environment or wildlife. Vitamin C dechlorination has also been used for some time to dechlorinate lab samples and has even been used to dechlorinate water for kidney dialysis patients. Vitamin C dechlorination is all natural, instantaneous and provides near perfect results.

KDF and/or AC are less than perfect choices for a shower filter for the following reasons. Arguments for the use of Vitamin C as a dechlorinator in shower filters are listed in bold.
# KDF shower filters can only remove free chlorine and its effectiveness is directly related to how long the media stays in contact with the chlorine. Longer contact times simply cannot occur within a shower filter, limiting its overall effectiveness

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