Ozone Air Purifiers: Three Reasons You Don't Want Them in Your Home

Ozone air purifiers are commonly available and sold in the marketplace as a health enhancing tool to use in your household. The manufacturers often claim that they are superior air purification systems, and that the “energized oxygen” that the machine emits will eliminate viruses, bacteria, pollens, household dust, as well as odours and volatile organic compounds.

Unfortunately, the claims are not true. Not only that, ozone air purifiers can actually be harmful to your health. Much scientific research has been done regarding these machines, including a relatively high profile study by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States.

Here are the three main conclusions of that study, and three really good reasons why you don't want an ozone air purifier in your home:

1.Ozone Can Damage Your Lungs
Ozone is actually a toxic chemical that exists in the atmosphere. We think of it as a good thing, because up in the stratosphere it is useful in keeping our atmosphere intact, and blocking some of the harmful radiation from the sun. However, down here in the troposphere, it becomes a powerful lung irritant, that has been linked to asthma attacks. Though it is naturally occurring, and can be created by sunlight and lighting storms among other things, it does not automatically follow that it is 'good for you'. Breathing ozone can cause restrictions, cellular damage, lead to asthma attacks, and reduce the body's ability to fight infection.

2.Ozone Air Purifiers Can Create Dangerous Levels of Ozone
There are several factors which can contribute to the build up of ozone, some of them beyond the control of the consumer and difficult to predict. Therefore the manufacturers recommendations are useless in the face of these factors, and the machine can end up creating enough ozone to cause respiratory problems and trigger and asthma attack. These factors include: the size of the room the unit is in, the amount of ventilation, the concentration of the ozone outdoors, and the type and amount of material in the room or home with which the ozone can react.

3.At Safe Levels, Ozone Has No Effect on Indoor Air Pollution
In many tests conducted using ozone as an air purifier, if was concluded that in order to actually be effective against bacteria, mold, pollens, viruses and dust mites, the levels of ozone would have to be 5 to 10 times higher than what is considered the safe limit. Also, ozone concentrations were found to have no effect on odours, and limited or no effect on chemicals, including carbon monoxide, which manufacturers claim it can remove. In fact, when higher levels of ozone are applied, a chemical reaction could occur which creates a by-product likely to be harmful or at least irritating to the lungs and body.

In essence, the argument against having an ozone air purifier in your home is this: Ozone can be dangerous to your health, the level of ozone the machine creates is unpredictable and largely uncontrollable, and finally, ozone doesn't even work as an air purification system unless used at levels that are quite likely going to cause health problems.