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Frequent Asked Questions

1. If Air Ionizers do not have a filter, how do they purify the air?
2. Are ozone/negative ion air purifiers more effective than HEPA filters?
3. Is Ozone Dangerous ?
4. What is the difference between Ions and Ozone, and what do they do?
5. Are there any adverse side effects with negative ions?

 

1. If Air Ionizers do not have a filter, how do they purify the air?
Virtually all air-borne particles have a positive charge. When ionizers releases the negative ions, the free floating positively charged particles will be magnetically attracted to the negative ions.

This will cause these air-borne particles to "clump" together. When this happens, they will become heavier than the air and drop to the floor.

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2. Are ozone/negative ion air purifiers more effective than HEPA filters?
Yes. Negative ions and ozone can remove particles of a much smaller size than HEPA filters (the most effective filter). They ialso cover a larger area much more thoroughly.

This is due to the fact that air-filters filters rely on the air passing through the unit in order to be "purified". Most airborne particulate in a room will not pass through a stationary filter though.

On the other hand, with the Ionizers, millions of negative ions and ozone molecules are continually being generated and are then transported throughout the room/open area by way of the existing air currents.

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3. Is Ozone Dangerous ?
In healthy and clean outdoor environments, good ozone is generated by lightning and ultra-violet rays from the sun and is between 0.02 - 0.1 ppm

Ozone is only dangerous at high concentrations, i.e. above 0.1 ppm. Good Ionizers do not generate ozone level higher than 0.04 ppm (parts per million), which is well within the FDA and OSHA safety standards of 0.05 ppm.

According to the 1961 Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, "During the 80-year history of the large scale usage of ozone, there has never been a human death attributed to it". To this day, there has never been a single human death or incident of harm attributed to ozone.

This despite the fact that ozone was widely used in hospitals during the first half of the 20th century and is still widely used in European hospitals. In addition, millions of air purifiers (ionziers and ozonizers) are being used commercially and residentially worldwide.

Below are the safety standards set by various regulatory bodies (as reported in documents from the EPA and California Department of Health Services):
Ground-level ozone is regulated by Federal and State Clean Air legislation. The California Ambient Air Quality Standard is 90 parts per billion (= 0.09 ppm) averaged over one hour. The Federal regulation is in transition; a new standard of 80 ppb (=0.08 ppm) for 8 hours is being phased in to replace the existing 1 hour standard of 120 ppb (= 1.2 ppm).
FDA requires ozone output of indoor medical devices to be no more than 0.05ppm.
OSHA requires that workers not be exposed to an average of more than 0.10 ppm for 8 hours.
NIOSH recommends an upper limit of 0.10 ppm, not to be exceeded at any time.

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4. What is the difference between Ions and Ozone, and what do they do?
There are two types of pollutants: Particulate and Gases. Therefore, the use of ions, ozone are necessary in order to reduce each of them and to improve indoor air quality.

Ionization is the process of emitting energy into the air which will then create negative ions. Virtually all particles (i.e. dust, soot, fumes, etc) have a positive charge whereas negative ions have a negative charge. These will cause the pollutants (the positive particles) and the negative ions to clump together until they become heavy enough to drop from the air by gravitational forces.

The second process is oxidation, using "activated oxygen" (Ozone). Ozone is three atoms of oxygen combined. Ozone is extremely reactive with hundreds of chemicals and gasses, and breaks the majority of them into carbon dioxide and water vapor. Ozone is also very effective in reducing odors from microbiological substances such as bacteria, mold, mildew, etc. Ozone can alter and decompose certain gasses, chemicals, mold, bacteria, odors such as those generated by cigarette smoke.

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6. Are there any adverse side effects with negative ions?
None. Please refer to the various studies and research done on the health benefits of negative ions.

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