Benefits of Ozone Laundry

Ozone – which, simply put, is oxygen plus an extra atom (O3) as opposed to (O2) is formed when oxygen comes into contact with highly charged electrical energy. Systems that generate ozone and inject it into laundry water can dramatically reduce hot water use in large laundry operations, as well as reducing the amount of cleaning chemicals used and producing cleaner, brighter linens and clothing.

Proper use of ozone to wash linens requires that you completely eliminate hot water in wash cycles where ozone is used. It is a natural physical property of ozone to require low temperatures to be dissolved effectively into water. The colder the water, the more efficiently ozone can be dissolved into it.

Dissolved ozone in the wash will eliminate the need for wetting agents and greatly reduce the amount of chemicals use. Dissolved ozone acts like a water softener because it breaks surface tension on water. This neutralizes the tendency for water to bead instead of penetrating cloth. This softening effect boosts chemical performance and reduces chemical demand. Ozone also oxidizes or hydrolyzes Calcium and Magnesium which greatly reduce their hardening effect on the water. This greatly boosts chemical performance and reduces chemical demand. (This also greatly reduces the accumulation of minerals in linen which causes them to look dull and dingy over time)

Ozone neutralizes Chlorine and its water-hardening effects. This again boosts chemical performance and reduces chemical demand. Fewer chemicals, softer water and no wetting agents mean better rinsing and more efficient extraction. More efficient extraction means less water remaining in the linens. All together this means measurably shorter drying times for your linens and a big savings on labour and energy when switching to an ozone standard.

Ozone laundry systems become very effective at cleaning linens once dissolved ozone concentrations reach 1.5 to 3.0ppm (parts per million). This effectiveness is directly related to the ability of ozone to create OH molecules (Hydroxyl Radicals) with small amounts of alkali instead of the normally high levels of alkali used to create an extremely high pH level in your wash wheel. A high level of dissolved ozone cannot be achieved when you use any hot water at all because ozone is an unstable molecule and heat only serves to accelerate the disintegration of ozone back to Diatomic Oxygen and Molecular Oxygen.

Ozone is so effective that even a tiny amount of dissolved ozone or dissolved Oxygen left when it breaks down can possibly give chemicals a little boost. Not only is the laundry whiter and brighter, but it’s also fluffier. You can also stack towels and washcloths washed in ozonated water next to a stack of the same number washed in non-ozonated water, and the ozone-treated pile will be twice as high. This is because using ozone in the water opens the fabrics’ pores. For this reason, in addition to using less hot water, laundry washed with ozonated water dries faster, so there is less energy used for drying and there are fewer dryer cycles to raise the room temperature in warm weather.

In case of ozone laundry, one thing you have to be aware of is that the laundry area needs to be well ventilated; ozone does have a slight odour. But, if the laundry is properly vented, the presence of the ozone doesn’t affect anyone. One word of caution: ozone deteriorates rubber. Hence, it is better to replace rubber hoses on the washers.

The ozone generators require very little maintenance. There are some small filters we have to keep clean, but overall they perform well without much routine maintenance.

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