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Reme Halo LED | How Does It Work?

The Reme Halo LED is one of the more popular air purifiers available today. When I first came across these devices, I was intrigued by the mechanism of air purification, having only been exposed to air purifiers that relied on the physical filtration of particulates.

I ended up doing a bit of a deep-dive into the mechanism and I will be sharing my findings with you here, so you can decide if this is the right air purifier for your home.


The light in the Reme Halo LED shines onto a catalyst and causes it to release electrons, which ionize molecules in the air. These are spread around the home by the HVAC system. The ions bind to pollutants and destroy them (microbes) or make them heavy enough to settle and be cleaned up (particulate matter).

LED Light Used to Ionize Air

With the Reme Halo LED, LED light is used to ionize air via a phenomenon called the “Photoelectric Effect”.

RGF REME HVAC HALO 24V Air Purification System Light

Basically, the LED light emits a particular wavelength of light, which possesses enough energy to cause electron release from electrically conductive materials.

In addition to the LED light, the Reme Halo LED comes equipped with hybrid ceramic plates or catalysts. While ceramics are typically electrically resistant, there are newer hybrids with excellent conducting abilities. These are used in the Reme Halo LED.

When the LED light is shone onto the ceramic catalyst, it forces the release of electrons. These electrons then come into contact with molecules in the air in the HVAC ducts, making them negatively charged and, therefore, ionized.

Ionized hydrogen peroxide is the main ion involved in Reme Halo LED air purification. Hydrogen peroxide is a well-known oxidizer (receiver of electrons) because its composition allows it to easily remove electrons from the surrounding atoms.

Ionized Air is Distributed Around the Home

The Reme Halo LED is supposed to be installed in your HVAC system so that the ionized air can readily spread throughout the home, purifying the air in every room as opposed to being limited to the room in which the device is located.

You need to install the device in the supply or discharge side plenum of the system. This will ensure that any air exiting or entering the system will come into contact with the LED light.

Once the air has become ionized, it is transported around your home via the blower of your HVAC, to which the Halo LED is wired.

Linked to HVAC Fan

The great thing about the Reme Halo LED is that it is linked to your HVAC fan. This means that when you switch on your AC blower, the Reme Halo LED is activated and released hydrogen peroxide ions into the air to be distributed around the home.

Then, when you turn off the AC fan, the Reme Halo LED also turns off. This is a bonus feature of this model that is lacking in the Reme Halo. The Reme Halo is always on.

The benefits of the Halo LED being linked to the HVAC fan include:

  • No smell when you turn the fan on again.
  • Less energy is used by the air purifier, which will save you money every month.

The reason why this updated feature is possible is because the LED light in these models is not negatively affected by the constant turning on and off as the UV light in the Reme Halo model would be.

Charged Particles Bind to Pollutants

Once the ionized air is distributed throughout the home, these negatively charged particles then interact with the dust, pollen, and other pollutants in the air (which are positively charged), forcing them to clump together.

This is done through the electromagnetic force that allows negatively charged particles to bind with positively charged particles. This means that the overall charge of the particle will become neutral.

Both the clumping effect and the neutralization effect help to clean your air of potentially harmful pollutants, making the air in your home a lot safer to breathe in.

Some Pollutants Are Neutralized/Destroyed

Hydrogen peroxide is a well-documented microbial pathogen destroyer. Through the production of free radicals, hydrogen peroxide breaks down microbial cell walls by attacking the “membrane lipids, DNA, and other essential cell components”.

words hydrogen peroxide written on a page

Without a cell membrane, the microbe is destabilized, and without functional DNA, it cannot replicate.

The trick is getting the hydrogen peroxide in contact with the airborne microbes. This is where the Reme Halo LED comes into the equation.

When the hydrogen peroxide molecules are ionized and given a negative charge, they are able to attach themselves to the microbes and exert their destructive power before the microbes can have a chance to negatively impact your health.

Ions Add Weight to Pollutants

Another effect of ions binding to pollutants is that they add bulk and weight to the airborne pollutants. As the size and weight, gravity exerts more power over the pollutants, causing them to fall out of the air and land on various surfaces around your home.

This means that they will be much easier to remove from your home as you will be physically able to wipe away the contaminants and pollutants that land on your tables, shelves, and cabinets. Additionally, the particles that fall onto the floor or into your carpets will be easily vacuumed up.

Further, the larger particles will allow for the HVAC filter to ‘capture’ the pollutants, and filter the air efficiently, releasing fresh, clean air to the rest of your home.

No Ozone Produced

The way that Reme Halo LED functions is very similar to the way Reme Halo works. Both systems aim to purify the air in your home with the use of ions.

However, the Reme Halo uses broad-spectrum UV light to create the ions. This light also produces ozone by breaking oxygen molecules apart into individual atoms, which then bind to other oxygen molecules to produce ozone.

Instead of using these broad-spectrum UV light, the Reme Halo LED uses UV LED light, which can also be classed as UVA light, and it does not produce ozone.

But why is this the case if the LED is still a form of UV light?

Well, as mentioned, UV light actually covers a broad spectrum of energy wavelengths. Only some of these UV wavelengths have enough energy to break oxygen molecules apart. In fact, only those waves falling into the category of UVC (100-280 nm) radiation possess the required energy.

The LED light used in the Reme Halo LED is a type of UV light with a wavelength ranging from 315-400 nm. This type of UV light is classed as UVA radiation and the longer waves possess less energy and so they cannot break oxygen molecules apart.

However, it still has enough energy to ionize the air, but without the formation of ozone, which makes it a much safer option.

Sources

https://rgf.com/products/air/halo-led-whole-home-in-duct-air-purifier/

https://www.rgf.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/RGF-HALO-LED-Spec-Sheet-COMBINED-LO-RES.pdf

https://www.protechac.com/blog/how-does-the-reme-halo-work/

https://tricountyair.com/blog/reme-halo-products-kill-viruses-bacteria-and-mold/#:~:text=The%20goal%20of%20the%20REME,mold%2C%20viruses%2C%20and%20bacteria.

https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-ultraviolet-(uv)#:~:text=The%20UV%20region%20covers%20the,(100%2D280%20nm).

https://www.livescience.com/33061-why-does-hydrogen-peroxide-fizz-on-cuts.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6213340/

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2016/7343965/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2011.00213/full

https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/disinfection/disinfection-methods/chemical.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3249911/

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