My landlord is needing an ozone generator to rid rental units of pet odors. Rather than buy one, I have been looking into making one. Youtube has a number of videos about the various ozone generators available, as well as making your own.

So, knowing that ozone above certain levels it is harmful, I decided to look into how harmful. It turns out that it is far more harmful than I realized. Here is the Wikipedia article if anyone is interested (it's way over my head, but parts of it I do understand):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone

So, as I was reading that, I came across an intriguing term, "corona discharge tube". In looking at that Wiki page, I realized it has a lot of stuff that folks here might want to know:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_discharge

Now I have a bunch more reading to do.

What I can't help but think of is John Hutchison (and others like him) who have all those Tesla coils and Van De Graff generators going. He said he had up to 14 going at once. Now, that has GOT to be producing a massive amount of ozone. If he read what I just read, he may think twice about ventilation (and more of it).

I once had a TV set that had a massive HV leak and made gobs of ozone. If I had that again, I wouldn't need to make an ozone generator, I could just turn that on for a few hours. I used to watch it for hours, in a not very big room, with no real attempts at ventilation (*duhhh* I didn't know any better). It's a wonder I didn't die!

Ozone generators are now used to completely rid a place of all pet odors, cigarette smoke smell and even the smell of death and rot. Crime scene cleaners now use them to get rid of dead body odors in buildings and cars.

Ozone works by molecularly bonding with the odor causing agent and neutralizing it (that's the best *I* can put it). It penetrates everywhere, even in ventilatiion ducts, and permanently neutralizes the source of odors. An hour or two in a stench filled refridgerator and it'll smell like new after it's aired out (as long as you remove that hunk of rotting meat first).

Oh, how I wish ozone generators were around when I was a teen. You see, I once had the golden opportunity to buy a new Corvette for only $200 (!!!!!). Why so cheap? Apparently, someone parked it in the middle of a field of tall brush, in summer, and blew his brains out in it, then it sat and baked before anyone found it.

It had been through a whole string of owners, each one thinking they could beat that "stench monster" that had taken up permanent residence in it. Each one failed, and each time it was sold it went down in price. They had replaced just about every part they could think of, but it just wouldn't do; the stench persisted.

Enter sensible dad. What kid didn't want to have a new Corvette, especially for only $200? Boy, did I want that car. But, dad, in all his wisdom, explained why it was so cheap and how many people failed to get that stench out. He explained that I would experience the same problem, but when I sold it, it would then be about $100.

Well, *Bleep*! He told me I could do whatever I wanted, but I knew he was right. If only it were known back then about ozone generators and odor control. In the meantime, that same car is probably making the garage sale circuit, marked down from $0.75 to $0.50! (probably got parted-out actually).

Anyway, I thought I would share that with anyone who cares.

G.

Thanks, excellent thread.
As you say, there's both good and bad aspects regarding ozone, affecting both your health and the enviroment.
Ozone do indeed accumulate dirt/dust particles so they fall down to the floor and cluster, which in turn then makes it
far easier for you to clean the room as you don't have to hunt all over the place for them.
It's a good thing to have an ozone generator in say a server room, as computers indeed likes to collect dirt & dust.
One of the hazards associated with ozone are free radicals as they can form in the process and potetially harm the
cells in your body etc.
On the other hand there's also beneficial health aspects involved here as ozone can act as an disinfectant amongst other things.
http://falconblanco.com/health/ozone/oz.htm

I've always been interested in ozone treated water for cleaning and disinfecting purposes.  It would seem this is by far better than chemicals and their related residues.  Just having a bottle of water with dissolved ozone to spray down the shower after use and to keep the kitchen clean seems very practical to me.

Found this website that shows what is possible:
http://www.ozonesolutions.com/info/ozone-water-treatment

They use Ozone in Hot Tubs too. :D :cool:
Helps kill some of the bacteria that builds up in 'em.

I never knew the bit about sealing operating rooms and flooding them with ozone.  In light of how many diseases you can get FROM a hospital, it's rather re-assuring. I wonder if they do that where I got my last (3) operations? Hope so. I think I'll ask. :)

Quote from Dog-One on January 30th, 2013, 07:13 PM

I've always been interested in ozone treated water for cleaning and disinfecting purposes.  It would seem this is by far better than chemicals and their related residues.  Just having a bottle of water with dissolved ozone to spray down the shower after use and to keep the kitchen clean seems very practical to me.

Found this website that shows what is possible:
http://www.ozonesolutions.com/info/ozone-water-treatment

Ozone has a short half life.  It will decompose back to oxygen

That depends on in what form it is contained. If dissolved in a solution, it could last indefinitely (with exception of corosivity of container). OTOH, airborne ozone is, like you say, of short life, (but long enough to do some good). :)

G.

Quote from Gary S. on January 31st, 2013, 08:06 PM

That depends on in what form it is contained. If dissolved in a solution, it could last indefinitely (with exception of corosivity of container). OTOH, airborne ozone is, like you say, of short life, (but long enough to do some good). :)

G.

Not true.  Ozone decomposes faster in water than air.  This is what makes ozone a good choice as a safe disinfectant.  It does its' work as an anti-microbial and then quickly decomposes to safer species.
http://www.lenntech.com/library/ozone/decomposition/ozone-decomposition.htm