About Ozone for Pools, Spas, and Hot Tubs

About Ozone:

Ozone is nature's natural purifier. It is a chemical known as O₃ and it is produced from simple oxygen molecules in our atmosphere. It is the strongest oxidizer commercially available and it is also a very powerful sanitizer and disinfectant.
Ozone is produced, in nature, from lightning bolts during electrical rainstorms. This is how nature purifies the air we breathe. It is also produced by ultra violet rays from the sun. When these rays enter earth's atmosphere, the oxygen in the air is converted into ozone. This is how earth's ozone layer was created. The ultra violet method is called photochemical ozone generation and it is used in all Hercules "Lightning Series" ozonators. The special ultra violet rays of the sun are simply duplicated using special ultra violet lamps. When the air which we breathe, which contains approximately 16%-20% oxygen, is passed by these lamps, the oxygen is converted into ozone.
Ozone is not used just to treat pool and spa water. It is used to purify bottled water, municipal drinking water, cooling tower water, sewage, aquatic life tanks, aquacultural water and process water. It is also used to purify air and to clean carpet, draperies and upholstery.
Ozone primarily oxidizes the by-products created when contaminants, such as bacteria and viruses, are killed by chlorine or bromine so that they can be removed from the water. Ozone can also assist chlorine or bromine by functioning as a sanitizer in its own right, killing these same contaminants.
Conventional chemical treatment programs require a suitable residual of a sanitizer, such as chlorine or bromine, to be kept in the water. As this sanitizer does its job of killing bacteria and viruses, it leaves by products called chloramines or bromamines in the water. They build up and can eventually cause eye irritation, itchy skin, odors, scum lines, etc...Periodically, you shock, or super chlorinate, to remove these by-products. Your water quality can vary from sparkling and good feeling right after you shock to irritable and hazy when you need to shock. The time period between these extremes is usually determined by how diligently you maintain your pool or spa. Ozone becomes your favorite helper because it automatically "does the maintenance" for you. By removing these by-products from the water, it provides more consistently high water quality, both continuously and automatically when your pool or spa equipment is running.
The most common problems which ozone helps to eliminate include: eye irritation (red eye) and itchy skin "chlorine" odors the need for a shower to remove chemical body film faded bathing suits and discolored hair scum lines and foaming
High ozone concentrations in air can cause respiratory problems. Since ozone levels are able to build up in certain areas, they are reported with other air contaminants, such as carbon monoxide, which all combine to form the "smog". Hercules ozonators produce very low dosages of ozone. They have been tested safe in respect to off gas levels in spas and there is little, if any, off gas in pools.
The amounts of ozone produced will not create problems in the water or in air. Also, the only by-product ozone leaves behind in the water is oxygen.
Ozone's primary function is to oxidize or burn out the chemical by-products in the water. The low dosages of ozone being produced along with its short life make it improbable that you could build up a safe sanitizing residual. Without a residual sanitizer (Chlorine or Bromine) in the water, the end result could very easily be an algae bloom or unhealthy water.
Chlorine and bromine are very effective sanitizers. Their drawback, however, has been the problems created by the by-products they leave in the water. Ozone helps to remove these by-products as they are produced and it will help to eliminate these once considered "normal problems". Ozone will also act as a back up sanitizer to help chlorine or bromine to kill bacteria and viruses.
When properly sized and installed, ozone will actually act as an "insurance policy" to help to protect your pool or spa. Ozone can help to prevent scale build up and it can have a stabilizing effect on water balance parameters. Corrosive or scale forming water is much more unlikely. Your equipment should run cleaner and last longer.