I have a bleach smell when the unit is working. This takes away from overall effectiveness as I have to open doors to get the odour out. Is this normal.

If it were a car I'd say something to do with the belt. Maybe check that out.

Odors from a vehicle takes 2-14 hours on "high". Depends on the odors. Run the AC & heater fan for 20 minutes also when the car is full of ozone and have the unit aimed up on the floor toward the firewall on high. You should not stay in the car while doing this. Mild new odors can be neutralized in 20 minutes to 2 hours. Bigger and older problems take longer.

Unfortunately this site has cut off your description of what has happened to your leather recliner, but here's my best guess...  If the handles of the weight equipment are made of rubber, then almost certainly what you are experiencing is oxidative deterioration caused by the ozone that your "purifier" emits.
It may give a fresh smell to the air, but ozone is an environmental pollutant, causes degradation of organic matter such as leather and rubber (which is how it eliminates nasty smells) and is toxic to animals (including people), often causing respiratory problems.
Writing as a qualified chemist and biologist, I would not want to be in the same room as an ozone generator, and preferably not even in the same house. My advice to you: turn the "purifier" off - permanently!  It will be better for both you and your possessions.

Hi Teresa,
that is certainly not the smell the machine should produce :)

The smells, other then fresh air, might be 'trapped' in the filter. So washing the filter (top rack of the dishwasher works for the metal mesh filters) might do the trick.

Another trick you can try is to put the purifier on the floor, turn it on high mode (away mode) and put a box over it. Let it run for an hour or two and the smells should be gone.

Make sure you have fairly new plates, to make the machine more effective.

Dutch

The product is no longer supported. Consumer Reports ran a report on ionizers and showed that the machine wasn't effective. Sharper Image sued and lost forcing the company into bankruptcy. The company recalled the units.

Heres an article last February about it

Here is an EPA article as well about ionizers you might be interested in

Ionizers do cause a bad odor to happen. I work in the copier business and do work around machines that can cause an ozone to happen when there are ran. Copiers like ionizers can cause an ozone to happen because the air particles are being electrically charged. The smell isn't good to be breathing in as well.

Here is an EPA report about ionizers

The Consumer Products Safety Commission is going to be making a decision about the health effects on ionizers by the end of the year. Their decision can effect selling ionizers all together.

This industry should have been regulated years ago and after what happened to Sharper Image this year due to their arrogance it isn't doing the industry any favors. They went out of business because of Consumer Reports findings and tried to sue them for it.

If you really want the air in your house cleaned, the best way to do it is using a hepa filter.

Hi cant standit,

Can you control this odor by adjusting the ozone (O3) control? High levels of O3 smell obnoxious or irritating to some people; you want a fairly low concentration (~40 ppb - that's parts-per-Billion, not much).

It sounds like you've done everything else right. Have you consulted with the dealer you bought from? How about EcoQuest? If it's not the O3 level being too high, then perhaps there's something goofy with the unit. If it's under warranty, pursue that option. You should have contact infor with the unit; respond if you need it and I can post it.

Let me know.

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 of the machine and switch stuff around.
Both solutionssound 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.

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!