Air Travel,Ozone, and You

I thought airplanes had a self contained supply of air and were in fact a sealed tube?

The only way the air is pumped around the plane is through the scrubbers to remove CO2 and to add a bit more oxygen....

After all its not advisable to open a window above 30,000 feet is it??

John.

Right on, Electroman! I hate it when someone opens the cabin door at 30,000 feet!

Well now, there's a theory. I thought cabins were pressurised by early-stage compressor bleeds. Didn't know there were any Apollo-style carbon filters.

I am not sure at all about this , it was my understanding that the plane was sealed as the filter units are adjusted by the pilot / co-pilot etc...

I would be very interested in knowing what is the method used to maintain pressurisation in a plane??

John.

Ahhhh thanks for that link Milo, very interesting...

I had read that aircrew were told to keep air flow replenishment to a minimum to save money and thought that meant to save on filtering, I'm not sure now...

However that link is to a Boeing web site so I guess they might have a reason to make it sound so safe and good?

John.

Yes,

I've been on planes, my own fault buying cheap travel packages, where the cabin atmosphere was enough to make you ill on a short-haul. Turning down the cabin air flow saves fuel I believe. It's even been recognised as a problem! (at last). Another reason to go some other way or not at all.

Ozone is a very effective bactericide. I'm not sure if that low percent of bacteria or germs claimed in the airliners inside air is due to high-end filters or to ozone itself.

Once Masu had a very funny comment on the effect of ozone on humans.

Not entirely funny, since I caused an evacuation of several dozen workers with respiratory issues in a manufacturing plant by experimenting with ozone as a biocide in a water system. Luckily it was before a weekend, and we could air the building out before Monday morning. Sometimes we learn from the things that don't work out as planned.

It was funny Masu's way of describing what he thought were the effects of ozone on himself.

Otherwise, you're right - it's a serious matter.

HVAC companies are commonly cleaning buildings of mold and other airborne bio-hazards by circulating ozone through the system - ONLY in weekends and AFTER complete evacuation of all personnel.

When and where was MASU's comment? I probably would find it amusing, with my sense of humor.

Check out:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/7605

post #2 and the others' replies to it.

FYI: if you're interested to mine some info on a subject, use the "Search all of CR4" tab on the right of the page. As you type ozone and click Go, you'll get all past threads containing the key word.

Thanks for the link! I tried the search by typing "ozone" and "MASU" but struck out. Now I know why.

Very good info, some I now know, but some that I didn't. Appreciate your help.

Ried

You're very wellcome!

Michael