Ozonator indoors?

[Snowbird]

Vinny turned me on to the rhtubs.com.  Good site.  Thanks Vinny.
Nice prices on cover lifters, thermal blankets and battery powered fish!

I was reading his comparison of chemicals and it says that ozonators shouldn't be used indoors.
Frankly, this never crossed my mind but there might be something to it.

My dealer knows I am putting the tub indoors and she never said anything about it.

So whats' the scoop?  Is it actually a problem or is Vinny being over cautious to CYA?  

If every hot tub owner used a ozonator wouldn't we help replenish the ozone layer?
That ought to be worth a tax deduction.

[hair]

hey snow,  i have my tub indoors with a uv ozonator, i have no problems.  i recently built an addition, it has 2 eight ft. sliders, 4- 3x6 ft. windows, 1- 6ft. slider, 2 ceiling fans, a gas fireplace, and a 400 cfm exhaust fan.  with tile floor of course.  there is a lot of hype about cd ozonators being inside, cause they produce much more gas.  do you have an option for a uv ozonator?  i wouldn't worry too much about this ozonator thing, i went through the same crap.  no problems at all.  just make sure you have plenty of ventilation.  if you do get a cd ozonator inside and it starts irritating you, you could always disconnect it anyway.  i can't imagine that they save you too much money on chemicals anyway.

[johnvb]

I'm using a CD ozonator in my Optima, in a 12' x 14' x 8' spa room, no problems. If you have proper ventilation and isolation from the rest of the house, and your ozonator turns off when you are using the tub, you should be alright.

BTW, my vent. manufactuer (Fantech) recommended "one room air change every 5 minutes", which has done a great job removing the humidity without a lot of noise.

[tony]

My dealer recommends against an ozonator with and indoor spa.

[hair]

my dealer said there would be no problem having a cd ozonator indoors as long as your tub has a mixing chamber.

[Steve]

Personally, I have never recommended the use of ozone in an indoor application. My suggestion, speak to a doctor if you're uncertain. There are health risks regardless of the quality of mixing chambers.

Steve

[Vinny]

So whats' the scoop?  Is it actually a problem or is Vinny being over cautious to CYA?  

Why am I covering my A?

Indoor ozone IS a health risk! If your being exposed to it then you could develop lung problems.

There was a FDA notice a few years ago about "room cleaners" that emit ozone (something like the Ionic Breeze) and the FDA basically said STOP USING THEM!!

If your putting a spa in an unprepared room not only will the ozone be a problem but mold will definately be a problem. Hopefully this isn't the case in your setup!

[drewstar]

Why am I covering my A?

Indoor ozone IS a health risk! If your being exposed to it then you could develop lung problems.

There was a FDA notice a few years ago about "room cleaners" that emit ozone (something like the Ionic Breeze) and the FDA basically said STOP USING THEM!!

If your putting a spa in an unprepared room not only will the ozone be a problem but mold will definately be a problem. Hopefully this isn't the case in your setup!

I doubt there is any risk. There is no ozone being exposed to the air.   The ozone is mixed through a contact chamber with H20, The 03 is rapidly changed to 02.  

Funny, in one thread we argue if there is even enough ozone to sanitize the water, and if it even stays in the water long enough to be effective, yet here we are wondering if the ozinator could create  an unsafe environment.

I say no.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

If ozone is injected at a depth of 20 (twenty) feet in water you will get almost 100% absorption. No spa is 20 feet deep though. While mixing chambers, and injecting it into long runs of pipe help, there is STILL a fair amount of ozone that DOES NOT get absorbed into the water. Spas that have ozone injected right at the jet have VERY LITTLE absorption... almost all the "kill" happens right at the surface of the ozone bubble where it's in contact with the water. "Most" spas (not all), have a fair amount of off-gassing. It doesn't take long for the ozone to fill the air space between the bottom of the spa cover and the top of the water, then start "spilling" out of the spa.

Ozone is O³, three atoms of oxygen combined. It's very unstable and has a "half life". In hot water the half life is about 20 minutes, in air about 2 hours (temperature has an effect on the half-life time). HALF LIFE: in air, every 2 hours 1/2 of the ozone molecules break down in to one O² molecule AND 1 oxygen atom. More danger exists from this single atom than from ozone. A single oxygen atom is called a "free radical". In simple terms, free radical atoms do not exist. They HAVE to attach to, or combine with something else. Now many would like you to believe that this oxygen atom will combine with another oxygen atom and form O² (oxygen). Problem is, there aren't really many other single oxygen atoms to combine with. 80% of our atmosphere is nitrogen and is most likely what the single oxygen atom will combine with. The result is NOx, or nitroxides . As you can tell, NOx are produced as by-product almost every time when ozone is produced from air. NOx is toxic and one of the signs of toxicity is throat irritation. Secondly,  the sensitivity to NOx is very individual. It is estimated that approximately 10-15% of population is sensitive to these substances to a point that they can not tolerate even very tiny amounts.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI)  has concerns that high ozone levels result in the detrimental affects on the respiratory system including:

- irritation of the respiratory system causing coughing and irritation in the throat and chest

- a reduction in lung function, making breathing shallow and labored

- inflammation and temporary damage to the lining of the lung


There have been experiments in which a mouse was killed in 45 minutes at about a 100 PPM concentration of ozone...on the other hand, there have been experiments conducted on turkeys in which a small flock was raised for six weeks in a controlled environment in which their food was ozonated, their water was ozonated and their air was constantly maintained at 0.28 - 0.30 ppm ozone. Their survival and health was notably superior to two control groups, the first of which had no ozone at all, and the second had their food and water ozonated but no air ozonated. The survival rate of the first group was about 60%. The second group was about 80%. The totally ozonated group was 100% with about a 10% weight gain advantage.

One other down side to ozone is it's corrosiveness to certain plastics, most notably plastics used for electrical wire insulation and printed circuit boards.

Outdoors ozone is rarely a problem since the concentrations are very small and dissipate quickly.