Ozone Producing Air Purifiers and Your Health
If you are reading this, you are already interested and probably concerned about breathing ozone. You are certainly right to be concerned. Ozone is not something we should breathe. That is why the BlueAir 501 Air Purifier only produces about .003 ppm (parts per million) of ozone. But what is ozone?
Ozone is actually 3 molecules of Oxygen. That sounds fairly benign when you first hear it, because we all want to breathe oxygen. But everything in moderation, right? You see, one of the oxygen molecules is always trying to escape the ozone. That is one way of saying it is very reactive. When that gets into our very sensitive lung tissues, it starts damaging the cells. So , no. Ozone is not something we should breathe, even though it is mad up of oxygen.
Many air cleaners today produce ozone, either because it smells good, and people like that “fresh air” smell, or because it is a byproduct of an ionizing air cleaner. It is usually the second reason. Many air cleaner manufacturers think that they can improve the air quality of your home by ionizing the air. This essentially “charges” some of the particles in the air negatively, and then those particles stick to most any surface. Some fall to the ground while others will stick to walls, ceilings, really anything that is not negatively charged. This method does work in removing those particles from the air, but the side effect can be ozone generation.
The Blueair 501 series air purifier is much better than most at ionizing without all the ozone generation. This is due to the very high tech approach used to manufacturer the Blueair systems. They enclose the ionization chamber with steel which causes any generated ozone to collide with the steel and loose that extra oxygen molecule we mentioned earlier. This actually turns ozone into oxygen.
Be sure to do your research on ozone and ionizing air purifiers before you run out and purchase one. They are not all equal. BlueAir air purifiers are significantly different and for all the right reasons.
Filed Under air cleaners, Blueair | Comments Off
Tagged With Blueair, ionizing, ozone