Posted by markO3 on November 23, 2009 under Odor Removal, Residential Ozone Usage | 
A rather common application for ozone machines, whether rentals or purchases, is deodorizing automobiles. Whether you are dealing with cigarette smoke, mold/mildew smell, spoiled milk, or whatever – ozone has a good track record of eliminating these odors if you follow a few standard procedures.
Step 1: Prepare for Treatment
The same as with any ozone treatment, always start here: clean up the source of the smell! If you are dealing with mold, assess the problem and clean the affected areas with a mold inhibitor if possible. If you had rodent problems, remove any nests, dead animals, and fecal/urine matter you can find. If the source of the odor is a spill on the carpet or upholstery, shampoo the affected areas or wash them off.
Step 2: Setup the Ozone Generator
At that point, you are then ready to use your ozone generator. Depending on the type of generator you are using, there are several strategies you could take. For many small generators (such as our OMZ-3400), it is often easiest to set the generator inside the vehicle, open a window just far enough to slip an extension cord in, plug-in the unit and turn the ozone on.
If you are using a generator that has round end caps (such as the OMZ-3600-HFT and up), you have the ability to hook a standard dryer vent tube up to the output of the generator and pipe the ozone into the vehicle. This generally requires that the user find some way to plug up the rest of the window, since running a dryer tube generally requires a large gap in the window (see the image below as an example, where foam packaging sheets have been used).
Ozonating a Car
Step 3: The Ozone Treatment
Once or twice throughout the course of the ozone treatment it is advisable to turn the vehicle on, set the car’s ventilation system to re-circulate, and run the fans for about 15 minutes at a time. This pulls ozone through the heating/cooling ducts to deodorize those areas. If instead you know that the odor is originating somewhere within the ventilation system, you may need to run the fans longer (or more often) to effectively remove the smell. If your car batteries can handle the job, you may be able to run the fans while the car remains off – but that will vary by vehicle.
Once the ozone in running, the total time necessary depends on the type of odor, the severity of the odor, the size of the vehicle, and a variety of other factors. In essence, each case is a little different. You may want to stop the process after 8 hours to check your progress – turn off the generator, let the vehicle air out, and give the interior a “sniff” test to see if the original odor has been affected. Perhaps the treatment will be finished, perhaps you can continue with a lesser amount of ozone (turn the dial down) or perhaps you’ll need to run it for another day or more at full output.
Step 4: Post-Treatment “Residual Ozone Smell”
In some instances, ozone treatments in confined spaces can lead to what’s known as “residual ozone smell”. This is a smell that you’ll recognize as similar to ozone, but is actually leftovers (by-products) from the ozone reactions. Usually this occurs as by-products collect on soft surfaces (fabrics and carpets) during treatment, but it is a temporary odor and will go away in time. To speed things up, you can try the following:
- Let the car air out: go for a ride with the windows down, park in garage with the windows down
- Wipe down dash, seats, etc with a damp rag
- Vacuum carpets
Safety!
Keep in mind that both ozone and carbon monoxide (exhaust fumes) can be dangerous in enclosed areas. If you are going to be ozone-treating your car while it is parked in a garage, remember to open the garage door when you need to run the vehicle. Ozone may also drift out of the vehicle into the surrounding areas, so take proper ozone safety precautions.
Posted by markO3 on October 9, 2009 under Odor Removal, Ozone Safety, Residential Ozone Usage |
The most common residential use for ozone is removing offensive smells and odors from homes. The odors vary (skunk, smoke, pet smell, etc) and homes vary, so the exact treatment can vary according to your specific situation, but several rules of thumb will always apply:
Fix the Problem (if one exists)
Skunk living under your house causing a skunk odor? That’s a problem. Water constantly leaking in your basement allowing mold to grow? That is also a problem. These types of situations need to be remedied before using an ozone generator, so ask around and see what needs to be done (even if it means contacting a professional). If such a problem is allowed to continue, the smell will never really go away regardless of treatment.
Remove the Source of the Odor (as Best as Possible)
As effective as it is, ozone is not a magical odor removal tool. There is almost always some level of preliminary cleaning that needs to take place before using ozone. Many times this cleaning has been done before people start investigating ozone, but there are certainly cases where the process has not yet begun. To use an exaggerated example, one would not expect odor to be permanently removed from a room if a pile of rotting meat was left in the middle of the floor – there would simply be too much material left emitting odor. Similarly, if untreated pet stains exist in a carpet or if untreated nicotine/ smoke residue is coating walls and ceilings, then those odors will likely come back over time even after an ozone treatment.
What you need to remember is that ozone breaks down odor at a molecular level, so over the course of an ozone treatment you need to produce enough ozone molecules to react with all of the odor-causing molecules in your house. The better you have cleaned the source, the better the ozone will treat the scent that remains.
Again, cleanup strategies will vary from case to case so do some Google’ing or call us for advice on how to get started.
Ozone Usage – Starting the Generator
Before starting your ozone generator, you will want to consider what areas need to be treated and the size of your generator. As always, start by reviewing and following the Safety Precautions outlined below! If you only need to treat a single room (or if you only have a small generator) then you will want to place the generator in the room, plug it in, turn it on, and then exit the room. When you close the door, place a folded towel along the bottom to help seal the gap between the door and the floor.
If instead you are going to treat an entire house or apartment, you will likely need to make plans to stay elsewhere for the duration of the treatment. You will then need to setup your generator to maximize ozone movement through the entire dwelling, or make plans to stop in during treatment and move the generator so that over the course of the treatment each area gets adequate exposure. The section on fans and airflow is good knowledge for anyone treating a house.
Ozone Usage – Fans and Airflow
Using fans to help distribute air during an ozone treatment can help ensure that all of the rooms and corners of a house get exposure. Always keep in mind that ozonated air is slightly heavier than the air we breathe, so in a two-story structure it is easier for ozone to come down from the upper floors rather than moving up. In rooms with high ceilings, fans may be necessary to ensure that your ceiling gets treated.
If your house or apartment has a forced air (central air) system, another strategy is to pump the ozone throughout the house using your air ducts. Generally these systems have an air intake (or several), which flow through a filter before they go back through the rest of the house. What you can do is remove the filter (dirty filters hold odor, so you will want to replace this after treatment anyways), then setup the generator right next to the main air intake. Then when you turn the AC/Heater fan to “On” (rather than “Auto”), the fan should run continuously, pulling ozone directly into the ducts and distributing it to any area of the house with vents. This has the side effect of deodorizing your ducts as well, which are often known for holding odors.
Ozone Usage – Shutting off the Generator
When your treatment time is done, or when you need to turn off and/or move the ozone generator, it is best to use a multi-step approach.
- Hold your breath, enter the area, and shut off the machine.
- Wait 30 – 45 minutes for the ozone to break down.
- Help the area air out by opening doors and windows and turning fans on. (If the fans and forced air system fan were used for the time of treatment, they can be left on for the airing out process as well)
HINT: If your generator has a timer, you can have it shut off at a particular time – giving the ozone time to break down before you show up to air things out.
HINT: Another approach is to use an extension cord to plug the generator into an easily accessible outlet. That way, a person can avoid most of step 1, needing to reach into the house to unplug the cord at most.
Ozone Safety Precautions – Pets, Plants and People
In concentrated doses, ozone is a respiratory irritant that can cause a tickle in your throat or a bout of coughing depending on how much you breathe in. When using an ozone generator, always take care to keep pets, plants and people (the 3 P’s) out of the area that is being treated.
In serious cases where an entire house is treated nonstop for 7 days straight, this could mean vacating the house and relocating your pets and plants to another location for a week. In other instances, people are able to run a generator while they are gone working then return home to air out the house and spend evenings at home.
If instead one room is being treated at a time, it is generally safe to be in the house during treatment as long as the room is relatively sealed and the 3 P’s avoid that area.
Ozone Safety Precautions – Asthma
This situation deserves it’s own section. As a respiratory irritant, ozone has a more pronounced effect on asthmatics. As a precaution, people with asthma should take care to avoid ozone treatment areas entirely. If there is nobody available to help shut off and air out the ozone for you, refer to the extension cord idea mentioned above and give the ozone plenty of time to break down before entering the area.
