You’ve cleaned and cleaned, but you still can’t get the mold smell out of your car. You’ve hit every nook, cranny, and hidden corner with bleach, but the smell still lingers. Even if it’s not overpowering, it could still ruin your driving experience.
If this sounds familiar, we recommend looking into an ozone machine.
We researched how to use an ozone machine to reduce odors in the car. Most importantly, we looked up how to do it safely. You’ll find everything we learned in this guide, and we hope you find it useful.
In This Article We'll Discuss
How do You Use an Ozone Machine in a Car?
Finding an ozone machine is the hardest part about using an ozone machine to eliminate odors in your car. After that, it’s as simple as putting it next to your car and turning it on.
Before you use it, you should clean your car out. All the way out. Also, you should make sure your pets are nowhere near the car.
Then, scrub the inside of the car. Even if you think you’ve hit every inch with a bleached rag, you should scrub it down twice. The ozone machine will take care of the odors, but this will make the job easier.
Seal all of your windows except one. Leave it cracked just enough to fit the hose attachment to the ozone generator. Then, tape the rest with cardboard to prevent ozone from escaping while you’re running the generator.
Once you’ve cleaned the inside of the car, place the ozone machine next to the car on a stable surface. Turn on the generator and allow it to run for at least half an hour. If your car is big or the odors are substantial, run it longer. But, you shouldn’t run it any longer than what is recommended in the manual.
Turn off the generator and then open all of the car’s windows. You’ll want to let it sit for a while so the ozone can clear out. You don’t want to breathe ozone in because it can damage your lungs. After you’ve waited a sufficient amount of time, give the car another vacuum.
Take your car for a quick test drive. The smell of ozone might persist for a little bit, but that’s a good sign. It means your odor problem is gone. However, if you can still smell obnoxious odors, you’ll need to repeat the process.
Do Ozone Generators Work in Cars?
If all else fails to remove odors from your car, an ozone generator is a good solution. But remember, getting an ozone generator requires more work than cleaning your car.
The reason it works is due to the ozone’s chemical structure.
Ozone is comprised of three oxygen atoms, the third of which binds to pollutants and odors, and removes them from the air. When you fill a space with ozone, you can remove odors and mold spores from the air.
The trick to getting ozone to work efficiently is ensuring that it can stay in the air for an appropriate amount of time. So, you need to keep it from escaping. Since cars are already well-sealed environments, ozone works especially well in cars.
Does Ozone Kill Smoke Smell in Cars?
One of the most powerful ways to remove smoke smell from a car is using an ozone generator. It might take some work to find one because they aren’t the most common machines, but they do work well on smells like smoke.
That’s because ozone is comprised of three atoms of oxygen. While two bind readily, the third is left looking for something to pair with.
That’s where odor-causing pollutants come in. That third atom binds to the components of those odors, changing the chemical composition of the noxious molecule.
It works on animal odors, food odors, wet clothing odors, and it also works well on smoke odors.
How Long Should You Wait after Using an Ozone Generator in a Car?
The same thing that makes ozone so effective at removing odors from the air makes it a risk to human health. Prolonged exposure can cause respiratory system issues.
What counts as prolonged exposure? Don’t test it out. Your lungs are too important. It’s best to avoid any exposure if possible.
Once you’ve run an ozone generator in your car, you should immediately remove the window covering and hose, and open all your windows. You can open up the doors as well, but you might drain your battery.
We recommend waiting at least half an hour for the ozone to dissipate. Then, consider driving with your windows down to allow the ozone to further filter out. After about two hours, it should be safe to drive normally.
Conclusion
If you think you’ve exhausted every option when trying to get rid of annoying odors in your car, an ozone generator may be your solution. It eliminates even the toughest odors.
It may be difficult to find one, but, once you have, they’re very simple to use. Slide one end of the hose into an open window, pump your car full of ozone for half an hour and let it air out.
We hope you found this guide informative. If you did, we’d love to hear a comment from you down below. Or, leave us a testimonial about a time you used an ozone generator to get rid of a stubborn odor. You can also share this article on social media.