[Bender]

Absolutely. I vent the house after running UV lamps using a 4400 CFM air mover. I leave the house and run errands. I have 3 of these [1]

They have a remote control that "arms" them and it starts beeping slow, the faster, then much faster then activates. It kills insects be destroying their lungs and entirely destroys mold, bacteria and even damages viral material. Hospitals run the same lamps in wings that they close down for sanitation. The entire area has to be 100% vented.

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/AeraLight-Whole-Surface-UV-Sanitizer/...

[alfiedotwtf]

I worked for a germaphobe, and he put one of these ozone-injecting air purifiers in our tiny office. Every morning I would walk in and it felt like I was walking into a thunderstorm from the smell. No gunpowder, just thick ozone

[cyberax]

In general, if you can smell ozone, you should NOT be in that place.

[alfiedotwtf]

Yep! When he refused to not turn it off each day, that was the day I updated my resume and GTFO

[heavyset_go]

How does this affect surfaces like walls, finished wood furniture and floors, plastic, paint, etc?

I imagine it will cause some material to off-gas aldehydes at the very least.

[vintermann]

I don't think off-gassing is a problem, ozone treatment is famously how they get rid of cigarette smell in used cars, furniture and whole apartments.

But I would worry about the effect on e.g. plastic seals. There are a lot of plastics that become brittle with ozone exposure, let alone UV exposure.

[heavyset_go]

I imagine the UV energy itself weathers surfaces like the sun does, but at different scales. It's probably not enough to matter from the lamps.

"Hot car smell" is plastics in the car releasing volatile gas from the heat and sunlight, and surfaces in general fade, peel and crack from sun exposure over time. Thought maybe something like that would happen with different exposed materials to the lamps.

[mjanx123]

How long would it take for the ozone to recombine back, if you didn't vent the house?