The User Manual for the WSTA Portable Ozone Generator Air Purifier,600mg/h Multipurpose Ozone Machine has instructions for turning on the machine and setting the timer. The timer can be set in five minute increments, up to one hour.
Not all of the parts are identified or explained. There are two plastic tubes with a hard, round end. One of the ends is white. The end on the other tube is grey. None of this is explained. The plastic tubing with the white end arrived bent and crimped, so I’m not sure how well it works.
A short paragraph with the cryptic title “Ozone disinfectant degradation” has equally difficult-to-understand wording about oxygen bubbles.
There are no safety warnings.
I detected an odor immediately upon plugging in this device. Many sources advise that if you can smell ozone, it has reached a harmful level and you should turn it off.
Manufacturers of ozone generators will market their products with words like purifier, therapeutic, medical grade, and decontaminate to give the idea that their machines are not harmful. This is far from the truth.
Ozone is a toxic gas. Molecularly it is like oxygen, except it has an additional, third oxygen atom, making it more unstable.
Even in small amounts ozone can damage the lungs causing coughing; chest pain; shortness of breath; eye, nose and throat irritation; and making it more difficult to fight infection. These symptoms can be even worse in people with underlying respiratory conditions such as asthma or COPD.
Recovery may be possible if exposure was brief. More exposure and at higher levels can cause permanent damage.
According the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “If used at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone applied to indoor air does not effectively remove viruses, bacteria, mold, or other biological pollutants.”
In other words, ozone will not kill COVID-19, a stomach bug, the common cold, or mold forming on food, unless possibly, you blast these things beyond public health standards. You may have to ramp up the ozone five to ten times the accepted standards to achieve decontamination. Even then, any nefarious contaminant lodged in a porous surface may not be affected.
It would be counterproductive to use an ozone generator to try to purify the air. As stated by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “To generate enough ozone to be potentially effective, the ozone equipment would have to produce dangerous amounts of ozone.”
An air purifier with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter is an alternative to the harmful ozone generator. HEPA filters trap particles like dust mites, tobacco smoke, and pet dander. They can make breathing easier, especially if you have respiratory problems, but they do not eliminate bacteria or viruses.
I use the MOOKA True HEPA+ Air Purifier, and I am pleased with it, although I don’t agree with the claims it makes to remove viruses. I believe it does make my indoor air cleaner.