UV Resources LLC had a banner year in 2020.The Valencia manufacturer of ultraviolent light equipment to disinfect air streams and kill microbes saw an increase in the use of its products as the coronavirus pandemic raged.
In fact, said co-founder and President Daniel Jones, the city government of Santa Clarita installed UV Resources machines in all of its public buildings.
“Whether you go to a park and there is a little building in the park or when you go to City Hall, there is going to be UV,” Jones said.
But in May, the company was acquired by Madison Industries Holdings LLC for an undisclosed price. Madison, based in Chicago, made UV Resources part of its Indoor Air Quality group of companies.
Jones said that it was a natural fit to have his company join Madison.
Jones was approached by Madison’s Larry Gies, founder, and Grace Brown, director of business development. Jones said that what Madison was assembling in the heating ventilation and air conditioning/indoor air quality market (HVAC/IAQ), combined with the fact that they spoke about maintaining the entrepreneurial aspect of UV Resources was appealing.
“It was perfect timing and a perfect scenario for us to join a company that would give us a bigger footprint, more access to other companies that they also owned and became a part of, and it seemed like a natural fit for us at that point,” Jones said.
Brown said that Jones and his team at UV Resources were a good match for Madison in that they align with the company’s mission to make the world healthier, safer and more productive.
“The minute we met with Dan we realized that UVR was the company for us and we really wanted to partner with them,” Brown said. “Dan’s passion for building solutions that will make us breathe healthier air really made him the perfect partner.” Brown said that Madison became involved in the HVAC/IAQ industry in 2017.
“It was something that we really have believed in for a long time, but it took until COVID to make the world realize how important it is to have good indoor air quality,” she added.
Light’s wavelengthUV Resources, started in 2005 by Jones and two business partners, uses the C wavelength of ultraviolet light, or UVC. That wavelength, usually filtered out of the sun’s rays by Earth’s atmosphere, can kill off microbes and viruses by altering their DNA.
“We believe in UVC,” Brown said. “It is one of the only things that has proven to disinfect air streams and kill pathogens.”The company’s customer base includes hospitals, which have been using UV light to treat surfaces since at least the 1950s, Jones said. It also supplies to school districts, commercial office buildings and government, as evidenced by the Santa Clarita deployment.
For hospitals and schools, the company has an upper room UV system that creates a kill zone in the upper environment of the room where it is installed.
“It is safe to be in a room for people and obviously children,” Jones said. “It can provide a healthier environment within that room, killing certain microbes and viruses.”The most popular item among UV Resources’ products is the DLX, a two-lamp system attached to the exterior of an HVAC duct. It is popular because people are looking to disinfect a moving air stream, Jones said. The DLX system works by shining the UV light into the duct to irradiate the air as it blows by.
“It has become very popular given the current situation,” he added. The cost of a system depends on its size and the air flow. In an HVAC system, air flow is measured by cubic feet per minute, or CFM. On an installed basis, the DLX system can cost between 20 cents and 25 cents per CFM depending on the goal of the application. So, for ease of explaining, a 1,000 CFM system would cost between $200 and $250, Jones said.
“The technology is not super expensive and pretty straight forward to apply,” Jones added.Complementary productsJones said that he was “super excited” about the acquisition by Madison Industries.UV Resources will continue to operate independently. Madison owns another company that makes UVC equipment, but Brown said there would be no issues in owning two that operate in the same space.
Madison’s Indoor Air Quality group is made up of companies in the filtration, ventilation and purification markets. UV Resources falls in the purification category. “All the different products they are putting together complement each other,” Jones said.