I’ve used ozone generators at the industrial scale, I might be able to be explain some of the science behind this. -“Does the water get “ozonized”?
Yes. Ozone is just three oxygen atoms stuck together instead of the usual two. Just like oxygen (O2) gets dissolved in water, so does ozone (O3). If your unit is working (you’ll know by the strange sharp smell in the air) and it’s running through water, some of that ozone is dissolved into the water. however, how much will depend on things like depth, ppm concentration at the emitter, temperatures, ect, which leads me to:
—“Can I put the next batch into the same water?”
It depends on how much dissolved O3 is in your water. These small units are renowned for being woefully under producing or (much rarer and scarier) wildly overproducing. Without equipment and testing it’s likely impossible to judge if it’s still at an effective ppm.
Lastly: “why can’t I find solid information on how this works against pesticides”
There’s probably just too many variables. We know it’s effective against bacteria and yeasts, most biological microorganisms you just can kill. However, pesticides are such a large and diverse group of compounds that it becomes a matter of “which one, how much, under what conditions, and what are you left with?” For instance this paper has in its forward this statement “The dose of O3 was the most influential factor and had to be properly optimized. “ and that’s in wastewater. The advertising its effectiveness is likely banking on the thinking “PROBABLY a strong oxidizer (like O3), at MAYBE this concentration, POSSIBLY denatures SOME of these pesticides… Probably”. Honestly even if it was effective I’d be worried about consuming whatever oxidation does to these pesticides, who knows what fun carcinogenic tar that makes. Ozone is neat for a lot of reasons, and does a pretty good job of sterilizing and removing smells. On the other hand it is a hard to control lung irritant. When O3 is used at scale, it’s largely because using a more conventional chemical (like chlorine bleach) is a no-go, I’d push for alternatives at home.
Tl;dr.
It’s not ALL snake oil, but at best isn’t as effective as washing with soap and water, at worst it’s damaging your lungs and making weird free radicals with pesticides.
dericdepic t1_j6gtuk4 wrote
Reply to How does these Ozonizer vegetable cleaners work? by remivato69
I’ve used ozone generators at the industrial scale, I might be able to be explain some of the science behind this. -“Does the water get “ozonized”? Yes. Ozone is just three oxygen atoms stuck together instead of the usual two. Just like oxygen (O2) gets dissolved in water, so does ozone (O3). If your unit is working (you’ll know by the strange sharp smell in the air) and it’s running through water, some of that ozone is dissolved into the water. however, how much will depend on things like depth, ppm concentration at the emitter, temperatures, ect, which leads me to:
—“Can I put the next batch into the same water?” It depends on how much dissolved O3 is in your water. These small units are renowned for being woefully under producing or (much rarer and scarier) wildly overproducing. Without equipment and testing it’s likely impossible to judge if it’s still at an effective ppm. Lastly: “why can’t I find solid information on how this works against pesticides”
There’s probably just too many variables. We know it’s effective against bacteria and yeasts, most biological microorganisms you just can kill. However, pesticides are such a large and diverse group of compounds that it becomes a matter of “which one, how much, under what conditions, and what are you left with?” For instance this paper has in its forward this statement “The dose of O3 was the most influential factor and had to be properly optimized. “ and that’s in wastewater. The advertising its effectiveness is likely banking on the thinking “PROBABLY a strong oxidizer (like O3), at MAYBE this concentration, POSSIBLY denatures SOME of these pesticides… Probably”. Honestly even if it was effective I’d be worried about consuming whatever oxidation does to these pesticides, who knows what fun carcinogenic tar that makes. Ozone is neat for a lot of reasons, and does a pretty good job of sterilizing and removing smells. On the other hand it is a hard to control lung irritant. When O3 is used at scale, it’s largely because using a more conventional chemical (like chlorine bleach) is a no-go, I’d push for alternatives at home.
Tl;dr.
It’s not ALL snake oil, but at best isn’t as effective as washing with soap and water, at worst it’s damaging your lungs and making weird free radicals with pesticides.