OT-Ozone Generator vs. Mold Spores

Does anyone have experience with or knowledge of Ozone generators? A family member has mold allergies and a little searching on mold spore control turns up this:

"The generator generates ozone, a form of oxygen which is synonymous with clear, fresh, invigorating air. The ozone is delivered at a controlled rate into the atmosphere where it attaches itself to airborne and surface contaminants, destroys them, then reverts to pure oxygen. By literally oxidizing impurities in the air, the ozone destroys bacteria, mildew, mold and fungi. It works quickly, with significant results appearing within the first hour of operation"

Does this sound like the real deal or just a "snake oil" type of cure?

They work. I've used mine to cure mildew on drywall ceiling when I had a massive leak. Living aire is supposed to be the best.

It's one of those things that what they're saying is true, but IMO it's a stretch.

Ozone (O3) is toxic to humans at high concentrations IIRC. It's also unstable and breaks down rapidly into O2 and other compounds. You'd have to have a large generator to kill all of the mold spores in a room and as soon as you opened the door, more would be there.

Electro-static air filtration is probably more cost effective. Get a whold house unit that goes on the furnace and have the ducts cleaned before installation.
JR

Isn't ozone what you'd call a "free radical?" It's not real selective on what it oxidizes.

My friends had a pair of them (sharper image) in a back bedroom to keep down the smell from a litter box. I walked into their house and immediately smelled that smell you associate with a running motor. They had them both on the high setting to deal with the minimal odor and ended up returning them as they were constantly cleaning them and they just didn't work that great.

I never understood, the Ozone thing, One day it is great, the next day , it is bad... A do know, a store up the road uses an Ozone Air Purifier,& it stinks, I hate the smell it causes...

One thing to keep in mind when using Ozone Generators is that they a hard on rubber objects. The rubber will dry and start cracking rather soon. Used in in my boat one winter. The rubber stair tread, that was only a year old, had to be replaced the that spring.

Ozone is o3 basically an extra oxygen molecule stuck to regular oxygen (o2) molecule. it is very unstable, the bond of the third oxygen molecule is broken very easily. that third oxygen molecule attaches and oxidizes contaminates in the air. usually you'll get a lot of black dust in the room where it is being produced (oxidized goodies from the air). a problem that has been mentioned is it doesn't discriminate what it oxidizes, it can get mold, dust, odors, and your lungs for example. There are 2 simple ways to produce ozone: 1. Certain wavelengths of ultra Violet light (the sun is a big producer). The inner bulb of a Mercury Vapor Lamp will produce it if you remove the specially coated outer bulb. The coating keeps the UV in the outer bulb. 2. Arc-corona discharge is the other common method (the smell of an electric motor). basically any high voltage DC arcing through the air will produce ozone (think jacobs ladder). Computers, copiers, and most electronic equipment will produce ozone to some degree. Both work, and can be purchased in either configuration. both can be built for pennies on the dollar if you have an active imagination. The UV type I explained above, caution should be taken as you can get sunburned from this type. The other is as simple as a neon sign transformer hooked to pieces of metal screen with a piece of glass between them. Caution with this method realates to the high voltage DC current-think electric chair. You might check into a UV unit that installs in the furnace plenum, I think they're a little more resonable price-wise than the Sharper image model. Most of the corona discharge units will be pretty pricey-around the price of the Sharper Image unit. The SI unit is pretty cool but doesn't get very good reviews. I saw in the last Harbor Freight flyer that they had a table top knock-off of the SI unit for $50-60.

Greetings, All:

When my house burned down (up?) in March the cleaning firm that the insurance company hired took all the cloth materials (clothes, drapes, bedding, etc.) and first ozoned them, then laundry/dry cleaning as appropriate, then re-ozoned.

While I have no sense of smell (distilled water and ammonia are all the same to me), She Who Must be Obeyed has an excellent sense of smell and is quite satisfied with the technique used to get the smell of smoke and burning roofing out of her fine antique linens.

About those TV ads for "Sharper Image" type units. You see in the commercials and in print ads that the producers of the ad added wavy lines sort of indicating that air was freely flowing through the unit.

Well, perhaps, but the several units (by different Mfgs) I looked at didn't have any fan to move the air. So the "cleaning" effect was localized to a small area right around the unit.

Smells, being gasses, would disperse throughout the full volume of air and thus EVENTUALLY move past the unit.

As for me, I'd much rather have a unit with a fan if I was buying one.

Regards to All.
Stan