If you looked at the filter plates when energized you could often see ultraviolet flashes of light around stuck on grime and an accompanying buzzing noise and when that happened the ozone production was so heavy you could smell it.
Not all air purifiers emit ozone, and understanding the types that do is crucial for making an informed decision. By selecting the appropriate air purifier and following proper maintenance practices, you can enjoy the benefits of clean indoor air while protecting the well-being of your family and pets.
ozone is not odorless. you can smell it. but it usually has a very short half life and goes away quickly and usually doesn't make it to another room. but not enough would be able to get in your appartment from appartment to appartment through the hall way and through the door frame to cause you injury.
When inhaled, ozone can damage the lungs. Relatively low amounts 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.
Symptoms include: irritation of the eyes, nose and sinuses; shortness of breath; chest pain; and wheezing or coughing. Other less common symptoms include: blurred vision, headache, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue.
Do not use an ionizer in an enclosed space when someone is present. Either open a window or run the ionizer when no one is home, turning it off whenever anyone is in the room with it.
Your best option might be to keep the windows closed, especially on warm and sunny days with little or no wind. Running an air purifier that can remove ozone in your home, either with a carbon filter or using PECO technology, may help lower ozone levels indoors.
Ozone has a very characteristic pungent odor, sometimes described as like chlorine bleach, and it can sometimes be detected after lightning strikes or during electrical discharges. Individual humans vary in their ability to smell ozone; some people can smell it at levels as low as 0.05 ppm.
Possibly Producing Ozone
Some air purifiers use ionizers or ozone generators to clean the air, which can produce ozone. Although ozone is an effective way to remove airborne pollutants, it can also produce a distinct smell that some people find unpleasant.
If you decide to purchase a portable air cleaner, filtering air cleaners with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters are recommended because these do not emit ozone but do remove particulate matter from the air.
Many UV air purifiers are also ozone generators.
Just like ozone in the earth's atmosphere reacts with UV rays from the sun, the light and heat in some UV air purifiers can also generate heat that turns free-floating molecules of oxygen (O and O2) and water (H2O) into dangerous ground-level ozone (O3).
Headaches, sore throat, coughing, Asthma attacks, and difficulty breathing are a few of the symptoms that can be brought on by some air purifiers. Yes, that's right. Your air purifier may actually aggravate many of the health issues you hoped it would solve.
An ozone analyzer measures the real-time ozone concentration in the air. Ambient air is drawn through a sampler inlet from the top of a 10-meter tipping tower by a pump.
Specific effects may include throat irritation, coughing, chest pain and shortness of breath, as well as an increased risk of respiratory infections. Some ozone air purifiers are made with an ion generator, sometimes called an ionizer, in the same unit. You can also buy ionizers as separate units.
Adults and children who breathe high levels of ozone for a short period of time (minutes or hours) can experience eye, nose and throat irritation, shortness of breath, chest pain and coughing. Breathing high levels of ozone can worsen asthma symptoms.
Use of Chemical Reductants: Some chemical reductants, including hydrogen peroxide, sodium bisulphite and calcium thiosulfate, can neutralize residual ozone in water, converting it into oxygen.
Ozone has an average half-life of 20 minutes, so one hour should be sufficient time for an un-vented room to return to normal. If ozone odors are noticeable and irritating, the area should be vented longer until the level is reduced.
Signs That Your Air Purifier Produces Ozone
Odor: A distinctive, sharp smell, often compared to chlorine or bleach, is a common indication of ozone. This odor is noticeable when the purifier is in operation and can be more pronounced in poorly ventilated spaces.
We recommend waiting at least two hours before re-occupying the space that has been treated. Smaller areas like cars and hotel rooms generally take much less time for the ozone smell to dissipate.
As previously mentioned, many air conditioners utilize Freon R-22 as a refrigerant, which is considered an ozone-depleting chemical (ODC). The EPA has banned the use of ODCs because they destroy ozone in our upper atmosphere, something that protects us from harmful ultraviolet rays emitted by the sun!
This is a fundamental difference between air purifiers and ozone generators. One releases a cleaning chemical, while the other simply filters pollutants from the air. Another important difference is this: with an ozone generator, the actual cleaning happens outside of the machine, when ozone touches another substance.
At the top of our list are Dyson Air Purifier Cool TP07 and Dyson Purifier Humidifier+Cool Formaldehyde TP09, highly recommended and rated by many experts.
Overall, removing contaminants from the air will not have a negative impact on sleep. Here at Molekule we recommend keeping your purifier on at all times so it cleans the air as much as possible.