The ozone plates need to be cleaned monthly to work effectively. You can get an owner's manual for free from the manufacturer's website, it's at:
http://www.ecoquestintl.com/support/US50300_Living_Air_Owners_Manual.pdf
The manual has a description of the type and frequency of cleaning of various parts of your air purifier. Hope this helps!
If the smell is "stale" (like stale tobacco smoke) it probably needs a good cleaning. I recommend using cleaning ammonia and an old sock for most of the hard surfaces, and an old toothbrush dipped in the ammonia solution for the discharge plates. Use a clean damp sock to rinse/wipe the hard surfaces, and rinse the plate(s) afterward with clean water and allow to dry thoroughly. They have to be absolutely bone-dry before use.
If the smell is "bleachy" or makes your eyes water or throat sore, you likely have the ozone/activated oxygen (O3) control set too-high. You want it _just_ perceptible when you first enter the room, no more. Some people are more sensitive to O3 than others, and you should act accordingly. O3 in clean outdoor air is normally between 10 & 40 ppb (parts-per-billion)- not very much.
If you can vary the smell by adjusting the O3 control knob, do so, and keep adjusting it downward until it is barely noticeable. Turning up the fan helps as well.
Mine does too. Did a little research - I guess all air filters let out a little bit of ozone. Some describe the smell of ozone to be something like bleach yet others say it smells like geraniums or even "sparks" (like the sparks that come off of the bumper car ride at the fair...hmm...interesting). Not sure which to believe, but I know mine smells.
I found a manual talking about reducing this smell. Said the first couple of weeks are the worst of it, but if it still bothers you, you could install an "activiated carbon filter" down stream from the air filter, or go through complicated instructions (for whatever model they were talking about) to go into the electronics of the machine and switch stuff around.
Both solutions sound complicated to me.
I'm just happy knowing the smell is normal and that it is actually working. Think I'll live with the smell.
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Cleaned and changed plates. Same stale smell comes out.
We have had this Aprilaire filter on our new furnace for three years. Last year, after the annual cleaning, the smell of ozone was quite distinct. This year,now, it is far worse. My husband has respiratory symptoms even though he cannot actually smell the ozone...he cannot smell much of anything anyhow. I am very aware of the smell and I do not like it. I realize that my suddenly irritated eyes and runny nose are from this ozone. Nothing about an ozone plate has ever ever been mentioned to us. This stuff is poisonous by the way. And, a key selling point from your retailers is that it does NOT have the ozone that the ''other'' brands have.....which is balderdash.
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