The safe way to use Ozone Generators

Are you concerned about using an Ozone machine near your family or co-workers? Perhaps you've been told ozone is dangerous, but yet you hear others are having great success using it.

You need to know.

Ozone is like many other essentials in life. A little is good, a lot is not. Too much food can make you overweight, too much water can cause drowning, and taking too much of a life-saving medication can make you very ill. At high concentrations ozone can cause chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, and throat irritation. Ozone may also worsen chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and compromise the ability of the body to fight respiratory infections. People vary widely in their susceptibility to ozone. Therefore, you should only run ozone machines on very low settings, in well ventilated spaces, if people and pets are present. 

So to use ozone safely, consider what problem, or problems you need to treat with ozone.

Are you looking to merely sanitize the air you breath, get rid of cooking odors, or remove the smell of stale tobacco in a space which you occupy on a regular basis, like your home, office, or vehicle?

If so, Ozone generators can be used in these spaces while they are occupied, only as long the ozone concentration remains below the safe level specified by OSHA or the EPA.

Typically this can be accomplished with an inexpensive machine like our DC-12.

But if larger concentrations of Ozone are required, it can still be a highly effective solution , but that amount of ozone needs to be produced in an area while it is not occupied by people, pets, or plants.

If you want the safest way to use ozone generators, just run them when the space is unoccupied. Utilize the timers, available on many of our units, to switch on our ozone generators while you are out of the building and shut them off an hour or so before you return so the ozone has time to safely dissipate (turn back into oxygen) prior to reoccupying the space.

In your vehicle you can run it for 2-3 hours during the night and start your day with a clean, bacteria free ride to work.

Check out these models that have built-in timers:

 Jenesco model PRO-4

PRO-4

 Jenesco model PRO-8

PRO-8

You may also safely operate our machines on their higher settings in an adjacent room as long as the door is shut, or another barrier (plastic sheet) is employed between the occupied space and the room being treated. Generating ozone in the basement while you occupy the upper floors, is generally not a problem as ozone is heavier than air so it will remain down it the basement.

Ozone generators are ideal for certain specific applications such as:

Killing mold

Killing mildew

Killing bacteria

Getting rid of odors

Killing mold, mildew and other germs takes high concentrations of ozone so that should only be done when a room is unoccupied. Mold is also much tougher to treat than common odors, so plan on running a properly sized ozone generator for at least 30 hours in each room being treated.

The ozone concentration needed to kill mold (shock treatment) is well beyond the level that is safe to breathe. It is similar to fumigating a room in your house for bugs. You wouldn't want to stay in the room breathing those chemicals. Luckily, ozone doesn't smell as bad and doesn't linger as long as those bug killers.

The best models for for killing mold are:

 Jenesco model FM-14

PRO-8

 Jenesco model FM-14

PRO-44

Ozone generators do not remove dust particles from the air, filter the air, or remove cigarette smoke. They do remove smoke odor lingering in the carpet or on the walls and furniture — either from tobacco products or from a fire.

Ozone generators work well in removing odors from automobiles, boats and recreational vehicles. They do not mask odors; ozone generators destroy odors, never to return.

There are two proven ways to get rid of mold and mildew in your home or office.

One is to remove all of the mold-contaminated material in the building. A reputable mold remediation company should be employed for this job as it involves handling some very nasty material and should be performed by personnel protected with hazardous material gear. If done properly, it is the most thorough method, but it is costly, usually $8,000 and up.

Using an ozone generator is the other proven method that is much less expensive (85 to 90% less)! A sufficiently high concentration of ozone will kill airborne mold (the most dangerous type and the most likely to end up in your lungs).

But... it is important to use a high output ozone machine (several thousands of milligrams per hour [mgph] and these output ratings must be based on using normal air as the source gas - not pure oxygen. (See our Learn the truth about ozone generator ratings page for more information)

Ozone generators will also kill the surface mold on any material it contacts.

Ozone is like air, if air can reach the mold, ozone can reach the mold, and kill it, permanently. Neither air nor ozone can penetrate dry wall, wood, or other non-porous building products. It is difficult for Ozone to get into the padding under carpets, or inside stuffed furniture.

So remember, killing mold is a serious issue and the higher the ozone output the better; but if your budget dictates a bare bones approach, here is an powerful mold killer, and it is on sale right now.