Ozone Generators

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Ozone has many applications including food and water sterilization and removing odors from the air at the molecular level. Some growers even use high levels of ozone to exterminate grow room pests.

Ozone generators neutralize odors by converting oxygen (O2) into ozone (O3) by exposing the stinky air to ultraviolet (UV) light. The extra molecule is always a positively charged ion that is predisposed to attach to a negatively charged cations. When the extra oxygen ion attaches to the cation, they neutralize one another and the odor, too. Once the extra molecule is shed, O3 is converted back into O2. The chemistry takes a minute or longer to occur, so treated air must be held in a chamber to be converted effectively.

Ozone has an unusual odor similar to the smell of air after a good rain. Anyone who has ever smelled the air in the room recently treated with ozone knows the smell and will never forget it. Make sure not to produce too much zone, and give it enough time to mix with smelly air to neutralize odors. The distinctive odor of excess ozone exiting a building will tip off narcs and thieves. For this reason, many growers also use carbon filter to further scrub the air.

There are many ozone generators available. When shopping for an zone generator, look for one that has been on the market for a few years and has an established track record. Watch for important features such as self-cleaning (or easy to clean) and easy, safe bulb replacement. When UV light encounters moisture in the air, nitric acid is produced as a by-product. This white, powdery nitric acid collects around the lamps at connection points. This is an unpleasant, very corrosive acid that will severely burn skin and eyes. Verify that the ozone generator has proper safety features built in, such as a switch that turns off the lamp for maintenance, making it impossible to look at the retina-searing UV rays. Legal exposure for humans is about 0.1 ppm for a maximum of 8 hours. Most grow room ozone generators produce about 0.05 ppm at timed intervals.

UV light is very dangerous. In a flash, intense UV light can burn your skin and the retinas in your eyes beyond repair. Never, under any circumstances, look at the UV lamp in an ozone generator. Sneaking a peak at a UV lamp in an ozone generator has cost more than one aspiring grower their eyesight@ Ozone is also capable if burning your lungs. At low levels, there is no damage, but at higher levels, danger is imminent. Never, never use to much!

Ozone generators are rated by the number of cubic feet they are able to treat. Some growers setup the ozone generator in the grow room and let it treat all the air in the room. They add a timer so the ozone generator intermittently disperses ozone in the room to maintain a relatively constant level. This practice can diminish the fragrance of the bud. Smart growers set up an ozone generator in a spare closet or build an zone exchange chamber and route fragrant grow room air through the closet for ozone treatment before being evacuated outdoors. Other growers set up ozone in ventilation ductwork to treat air before it exits. Once generated, ozone has a life of about 30 minutes. It takes a minute or two for the O3 molecules to combine with oxygen to neutralize odors.