Ozone generator to remove car air con smells

[winchman]

Winchwomans last car had its air con repaired ( Faulty sensor) the chap ran an Ozone machine in it for 20 mins or so to remove smells it never smelt for the rest of her ownership?
Now do these work as the new car pongs, I have tried the spray bombs in the past with no success.
Any experience of these £30 eBay machines?

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Brad93]

New car as in brand new?

Ozone is an incredibly powerful oxidiser - it can lead to material degradation particularly in organic materials but also certain plastics.

 

[Brad93]

Also, unsurprisingly, ozone is pretty harmful to your health. You're breathing in Free radicals.

It's one of the main worries when welding aluminium as the cleaning arc and melting of aluminium oxide releases ozone.

 

[richie00boy]

It is probably the cabin filter that has gone mouldy, I think they also have a little chiller in the same area that can get bacterial growth on. You need to change the cabin filter and clean the chiller (if present) first then you can run a deodorising/antibacterial treatment on the car.

 

[Ross365]

Ozone is certainly listed as toxic, though I think it's true that most large photocopiers produce low levels of it.
The unit on ebay says it produces 60g per hour of ozone, but that's in an air flow of 110cubic foot of air every minute; wonder what that is in parts per million?

Stinky cars are not very agreeable; for £30, I reckon you should buy one and report back .

 

[winchman]

New car as in brand new?

Ozone is an incredibly powerful oxidiser - it can lead to material degradation particularly in organic materials but also certain plastics.

Now new new just new to her

 

[Kram]

As a one off it wont do any harm to the car but you wouldnt want to be breathing it in, in any quantity.

Can also use UVC germicidal lamps. Plug the bulb in, turn it on just as you leave the room and shut the door for 20 mins. The UVC kills bacteria whist also generating some O³ from the air.

 

[Turbo]

Most if the smell in a car is in the upholstery, carpets and headliner.
Get the car valeted properly and it will make a world of difference.

Last car I had stank of smoke when I got it. Stripped out the seats and shampooed them with a valeting machine. Carpet and headliner got the same treatment. What came out of them looked like drinking chocolate. But the effort was worth it as it looked and smelled like a new car afterwards.

To help dry out the interior afterward use a fan heater and a dehumidifier.

 

[Trevorleach]

Really good stuff, does need windows left open after the pot has done its work.

AirVidox Car Odour Eliminator

No more horrendous car odours! AirVidox eliminates vehicle odours within 8 hours. It is suitable for both fabric and leather vehicle interiors. A permanent solution to a very annoying problem. Eliminates smoke smell, spilt milk, dog odour, urine odour and more.

airvidox.com

 

[DennisCA]

I got one and have used it on three cars without issues, except a packet of breath mints that was left inside one car tasted weird afterwards.

 

[Pete.]

My free-standing shower cubicle had an ozone generator built into the ceiling. The instructions said to run it with the doors shut to sterilise the cubicle and then open the doors to get some air in. No mention of serious health issues.

 

[voipio]

Ozone is certainly listed as toxic, though I think it's true that most large photocopiers produce low levels of it.
The unit on ebay says it produces 60g per hour of ozone, but that's in an air flow of 110cubic foot of air every minute; wonder what that is in parts per million?

60g/hr ozone in 110 cu ft/hr airflow equates to 150 ppm, so definitely not recommended to breathe it in at that concentration.

A 20 min exposure to those ozone concentrations won't cause any noticeable damage to vehicle interiors. I'm guessing that the impact would probably be of a similar order of magnitude to the effects of 20 mins of exposure of car interiors to direct sunlight. Some hot tubs use ozone generators, and the vinyl lid covering doesn't seem to suffer unduly, although the ozone supply piping, which sees much, much higher ozone concentrations, does degrade over time.



Working out:

Ozone mol wt = 48

60g/hr of ozone = 60/48 = 1.25 mol = 28 litres/hr (at standard temp + pressure)

110 cu ft air/min = 6600 cu ft/hr = 186891 litres/hr

28/186891 = 1.498 x 10^-4 = 150 ppm

 

[steveo3002]

^ pretty sure you dont drive around with it turned on ? surely use it then air the car out afterwards ?

 

[Trevorleach]

^ pretty sure you dont drive around with it turned on ? surely use it then air the car out afterwards ?

This is why the car handbook states not to drink the battery acid

 

[voipio]

Winchwomans last car had its air con repaired ( Faulty sensor) the chap ran an Ozone machine in it for 20 mins or so to remove smells it never smelt for the rest of her ownership?
Now do these work as the new car pongs, I have tried the spray bombs in the past with no success.
Any experience of these £30 eBay machines?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/376516465095

Well, dammit. I went and bought one of those ozone generators. It arrived today, and it certainly does put out copious amounts of ozone. So much so, that for a first attempt, I think I will try running it in the car for no more than one minute, with the doors shut, and with the fan running and with recirculate on. Power consumption of the unit is about 110W. Does it put out 60g/hr of ozone? I don't know, but units with similar ozone generating plates and sizes claim ozone production rates of 10 or 20g/hr, so not too far off. Not like some of the ludicrous lumen output claims for LED torches.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

NNNK on YouTube regularly uses one on his "will it run" videos with some success. Some of these cars are horrendous.

 

[winchman]

Well, dammit. I went and bought one of those ozone generators. It arrived today, and it certainly does put out copious amounts of ozone. So much so, that for a first attempt, I think I will try running it in the car for no more than one minute, with the doors shut, and with the fan running and with recirculate on. Power consumption of the unit is about 110W. Does it put out 60g/hr of ozone? I don't know, but units with similar ozone generating plates and sizes claim ozone production rates of 10 or 20g/hr, so not too far off. Not like some of the ludicrous lumen output claims for LED torches.

Have you a link for the one you bought? Did it make any difference?

 

[voipio]

Have you a link for the one you bought? Did it make any difference?

I bought the one in the link in your original post. You may wish to click on the link below instead. I've stripped out all the tracking info. The supplier is UK based, so it only took 2 days to get here.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/376516465095

I haven't tried it in the car yet but, based on how much ozone it was chucking out, I'm fairly confident it will make a difference. The car doesn't smell too bad, to start with. There's just a slight "oldness" to the odour, and more noticeable in warm, sunny weather.

 

[voipio]

I bought the one in the link in your original post. You may wish to click on the link below instead. I've stripped out all the tracking info. The supplier is UK based, so it only took 2 days to get here.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/376516465095

I haven't tried it in the car yet but, based on how much ozone it was chucking out, I'm fairly confident it will make a difference. The car doesn't smell too bad, to start with. There's just a slight "oldness" to the odour, and more noticeable in warm, sunny weather.

As a 1st trial, the ozone generator was run in the car on Thursday, for one minute, and the car doors were left shut, and fan running with recirc on, for another 20 mins. Went out in the car on Friday, and there was no smell. Even the other half couldn't smell anything!

 

[AVI_8]

I’ve been thinking about getting one of these myself as a car I bought recently has a smell despite cleaning, shampooing, changing the filter and a couple of smoke bombs