Anybody use ozone generating air cleaners?

This subject was sort of breached upon when I posted a couple of months ago about how to remove cigarette smell from my new condo.

Am looking to get an air cleaner for my heavily smoker parents (their request actually). From what I read the ozone generating ones are the best kind. Is this true? How actually effective are they at this? I know the rest of the relatives would be happy to come visit the folks if this actually works. Also what about the smell? I've read reports they can generate an odor, some sort of bleached odor. And lastly are they dangerous in any sort of way? From what I've researched thus far, there are several manufacturers and models starting at a little over a hundred dollars to several hundred dollars. I'd probably be looking at a little over a hundred dollars to certainly no more then two hundred dollars.

I use an Ionic Breeze profesinal version that has an ozone option. Personaly I like the unit a lot. The ozone removes oders from the air fairly well and even though you can smell the ozone it has a clean freash smell to it.
The unit was 400 bucks but seems to be well worth it.
Cheaper units seem harder to clean and not built as well.
The only dangers I would think of is to not use the unit in an oxygen rich area or set on high in a very small room with the ozone option turned on, doing that makes Me a bit dizzy and overly drys out my sinus.

I recently bought an EcoQuest (same company called on to place units in the Pentagon after bombing) model. We have base board heat so the air becomes very stale and dusty no matter how much the wife cleans. In no time all dust was gone. I used to be able to hold a bright flashlight up and see the dust in the air but not now.

This model has an adjustable ozone too. You simply set it for the size room it is in. If you turn it up too high or set to sanitize it will create an odor but not if it is set correctly. If you set the unit to sanitize you must leave the room for several hours while it works and work it does. It will completely wipe out smoke odors, mold, mildew, ect.

I recently became a dealer of these I liked them so much. If you would like to talk on the phone or recieve some info in the mail let me know via PM. There is much more to tell than I am able to type here.

Bottom line is yes they work if you get a good one. And as always the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Do you have a web site?

I am not an expert on the subject. However, I have done a little research on air cleaners because we have pet parrots, which are sensitive to dust, and produce dander of their own.

From what I've read, the best solution is a circulating type unit with three stages of filters. The first stage is a carbon (foam like)filter that removes the large particles. The second stage is the HEPA filter. And the third (less common) filters, can remove gasses and odors (Environcare calls theirs a CPZ filter). They come in different models, depending on the size of the room. The correct unit will circulate the volume of air in the room 2-3 times an hour.

From what I understand, the ozone type air cleaners work by sending out negative ions (which are the good ones- like after a rain storm). These negative ions attach themselves to the positive ions in the room (dust, smoke etc.), which makes them heavy, and they fall to the ground. I understand that this is good, because the dust is no longer in the air. However, since most of these units don't actually circulate the air in the room, it puts a thin layer of (sediment?) over everything- walls, carpet, furniture. The advantage is that most of them work silently.

I should mention, that I was looking into this several years ago, and the technology may have changed. I would suggest searching some allergy sites to see what they recommend. I just wanted to present a different opinion.

Best of luck!
-Rob

The Ionic Breeze thingie that I have collectes the dust and junk on internal plates that realy are as easy to wipe clean as the ads say, so you don't get all that junk settling on every thing. It also ciculates the air rather well concidering it does not have a fan. Now when you select the ozone output you may get extra dust sticking to stuff near the unit. I have not had that problem yet.

The HEPA type units are high maintenance and more expensive to operate due to filter changing. The only air that is cleaned is that which passes through the unit.

Ozone and negative ion generators are different. Units that have both are best to date as I understand.

Negative ion generators that transmit by RF are best, again as I understand it. These can cover a whole house (3000 square feet) without moving the unit from room to room as the ions are transmitted out rather than the air having to pass through or across a grid.

These units use a carbon filter and fan which helps disperse the ozone created. The filter is easily cleaned by rinsing it out under tap water.

I do not have my website up and running yet but you can go directly to their site here. http://www.ecoquestintl.com/index_home.asp

Please let me know if I can help however I am no expert by any means. Just looking to help people and maybe make a little extra money. I do have some printed info on hand if you would like me to send some. I would also offer a discount to any CPF member.

FWIW I am a smoker but not in the house. I have no known allergies but have noticed that I breath better through my nose now. My wife says the house smells much fresher. I can't attest to this as I can't smell or taste due to a bad head unjury two years ago.

Dave /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Draco replied as I was typing (I'm very slow) and he is right as to the dust and particles settling. They will at first. In fact everything will be "more" dusty the first few days. After that (less than a week for us) everything stays so much cleaner! Even the TV screen stays clean now. Soon I plan to get another of these for my office and a smaller one for the car which will also work in motel rooms ect. as it is about the size of a radar detector. The small one will run on 12V or 110V.

Dave

You want a cheap ozone generator? Get an old laser printer! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hmm, want to make ozone? Think if you're handy with electronics you'd be better off building yourself something yourself.

http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/ozone.htm

That site has a LOT to answer for....too many things to make..

My parent's are both older and my father is not in good health mainly with emphysema so I'm thinking I don't want to take a chance with any ozone reactions and may just try to find a decent HEPA unit. Out of the ones Consumer Reports tested, many were deemed good at removing smoke, at least in the high settings. Consumer Reports really trashed the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze and similar type air fresheners.

I bought several Ionic Breezes awhile ago after a friend raved about them. Personally, I couldn't ever get used to the smell and the ozone irritated my wife's asthma, but I just returned them and got my money back. I've since used the hepa types. I prefered the form factor, silence, and general sexiness of the Ionic, but you can't have everything, I guess.

DracoAmericanus sez: I use an Ionic Breeze profesinal version that has an ozone option.

Ozone is an unavoidable byproduct of the high voltages used in those units, so I don't understand how it can be an added "option". That's like selling cattle with the special, genetically engineered "methane" option /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Razormaxx: These units use a carbon filter and fan which helps disperse the ozone created. The filter is easily cleaned by rinsing it out under tap water.

This is also odd; I used to fix copiers for a living, and the carbon filter used in those things was to *remove*, not disperse, the ozone generated by the high-voltage corona wires.

Ozone might have a clean smell (which I happen to like), but as I understand it, it isn't good for folks with respiratory issues, and is considered a pollutant at sea level ... which is why Los Angeles air often smells cleaner than it looks... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eeew.gif

But as I've got a decent set of lungs (knock on wood) I'd be willing to consider one of these if it could rid me of the fast-accumulating dust... who's had the best reduction of the need for dusting from their unit? Is anyone using the "Living Air" brand?

You don't really want to generate ozone. Ozone is an irritant. Here's a great thread at BFC that discussed this:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239323

[ QUOTE ]
Canuke said:
DracoAmericanus sez: I use an Ionic Breeze profesinal version that has an ozone option.

Ozone is an unavoidable byproduct of the high voltages used in those units, so I don't understand how it can be an added "option". That's like selling cattle with the special, genetically engineered "methane" option /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Razormaxx: These units use a carbon filter and fan which helps disperse the ozone created. The filter is easily cleaned by rinsing it out under tap water.

This is also odd; I used to fix copiers for a living, and the carbon filter used in those things was to *remove*, not disperse, the ozone generated by the high-voltage corona wires.

Ozone might have a clean smell (which I happen to like), but as I understand it, it isn't good for folks with respiratory issues, and is considered a pollutant at sea level ... which is why Los Angeles air often smells cleaner than it looks... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eeew.gif

But as I've got a decent set of lungs (knock on wood) I'd be willing to consider one of these if it could rid me of the fast-accumulating dust... who's had the best reduction of the need for dusting from their unit? Is anyone using the "Living Air" brand?

[/ QUOTE ]

The ozone option is as fallows, At the front grill they add a 3rd wire that's not on the normal quadra. There is a bush button switch to turn on or off HV to that front wire. This produces a noticable gain in ozone out put only when you want it. Other wise the main collector plates remove a lot of the ozone and particals.
I have built and used many air filters in the past and by far this thing works the best. When In collage I built an ozne generator due to my room mates nasty b.o. and feet(He would wear boots with out socks) that generator would take care of that odor but if you forgot to turn it off people would get sick as too mutch ozone is poisonus

Keep in mind that ozone attacks rubber and causes it to deteriorate pretty quickly, so you may want to be careful with the stuff you have in the room.

Thanks for that info, I had forgotten about that, I have an old fan that has rubber blades that will need to be relocated.
one thing I had forgoten to is i built a tesla coil a number of years ago and found that it generates huge amounts of positivily charged ozone. That stuff was more toxic then carbon monoxide and would make you sick if you did not have ventilation.