When used properly, ozone can be a safe, effective method of killing bacteria. For CPAP users, there are some additional questions to consider. In this article, we’ll cover:
- How ozone works as a disinfectant
- Is ozone safe for people?
- Using ozone with CPAP accessories
- How Sleep8 uses ozone
How ozone works as a disinfectant
Ozone is a gas that is made up of three oxygen atoms; you will often see it written as O3. It is highly unstable, and will quickly break down into regular oxygen, or O2, the gas that we safely breathe every day.
Since ozone is unstable, it reacts well with many different substances. Most importantly, it weakens the cell walls of bacteria, causing them to literally come apart at the seams. This occurs even with an extremely small amount of ozone, as little as 0.4 parts per million. For context, imagine dumping less than half of a gallon of milk into a million-gallon aquarium tank.
This has made it extremely useful for disinfecting hospital environments and for treating drinking water.
Is ozone safe for people?
When used correctly, ozone is perfectly safe — after all, it is already widely used as a disinfectant on and around people. As with many disinfectants, such as chlorine and bleach, the key is to use ozone properly. Being exposed to a large amount of ozone over a long period of time can be dangerous, so controlling the amount of ozone being delivered is essential with any product or service that uses it.
This is another instance in which ozone’s highly reactive property is useful. Ozone kills bacteria extremely quickly, then breaks down into safe, breathable oxygen in as little as 30 minutes. So, many products that use ozone will only contain the gas until it has had time to become oxygen again.
Following the instructions on any ozone product, including the Sleep8, will ensure that people don’t come into contact with a dangerous level of ozone.
Using ozone with a CPAP machine
To kill bacteria, ozone machines generate ozone up to a certain concentration, then dispel it so that it can be safely used by people. This ozone will not damage CPAP accessories like masks and tubing in any way. However, its highly reactive property makes it potentially damaging for electronics. This makes it inadvisable to run ozone through the CPAP machine itself.
To address this, many CPAP manufacturers have stated that any damage to a CPAP machine resulting from an ozone device will NOT be covered under the company’s warranty. This has caused many people to look for alternatives to certain CPAP ozone products that are used with the entire machine.
This is why Sleep8 is used exclusively to maintain the CPAP equipment that is most likely to harbor bacteria — the mask and tubing — and doesn’t interact with the actual CPAP device, which isn’t the primary sanitary concern anyway.
How Sleep8 uses ozone
Sleep8 has been carefully and thoughtfully designed to use ozone as safely and effectively as possible. CPAP supplies are placed in the bag, which is then filled with ozone-rich air. The ozone quickly kills the bacteria and then immediately begins breaking down and converting back into breathable oxygen.
After a short period of time, the Sleep8 enters a blowout phase meant to accelerate the process and safely dispel the ozone. Once the full cycle is complete, the mask and tubing are ready to be removed.
After being treated with ozone, the accessories will often have a fresh smell similar to after a rainstorm. This residual ozone smell is perfectly safe and is an indicator that the items have been properly treated.
Sleep8 is the ideal CPAP companion
You can learn more about Sleep8 by browsing our Sleep8 systems below.
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