Here at Salvagente we don’t just sell ozone saunas, we offer complete peace of mind whether you are in need of marketing support for your clinic, questions on specific diseases and even to keep you informed.
This article is again a stark warning to any and all owners of ozone steam saunas. It came to our attention that the regulatory body of the industry, the Ozone Association of South Africa (OASA), issued an invitation to their members that the OASA will be conducting servicing of the ozone saunas in South Africa, and everyone who wishes can let their machine be checked out by a trained technician from Cape Town. Further the Chairlady of the OASA, Michelle Nicolopulos, stated that ozone generators should be calibrated every 18 months.
This is in fact a unsubstantiated claim as we have no knowledge that an ozone generator can be calibrated. This is a picture of a commonly used ozone generator and it’s visible that there’s NO places to adjust or “calibrate” the ozonator.
We further consulted a leading manufacturer of ozone related products and the engineers also have no knowledge that ozone generators can be calibrated.*
The largest manufacturer and importer of ozone products in SA (commercial and industrial) had this to say in an email directed at the OASA:
“Michelle,
I really am curious as to how you “calibrate” an ozone unit.
If you want to measure the ozone output you require a BMT or equivalent ozone analyser costing in the region of R75000.00.
We have one of these but it is only practical on machines above 100 grams per hour and certainly not 500 mg/hr.
For the Ozone Association to be endorsing one particular supplier and with false offers will be extremely dangerous for the Association and for the members*.”
We also wanted to find out who the technician named “Brandon” – who will carry out these service and repair jobs – is, but none of our industry partners have ever heard or has any knowledge of him.
If you bought an ozone sauna from Salvagente, please do not make use of this solicitation from the OASA as this will render any warranties null and void. If your sauna is out of warranty and someone else works on it, additional rectification charges may apply if we need to service the sauna. If you are experiencing any problems with your equipment rather contact us for assistance.
This might be an uneducated attempt by the Ozone Association to assist sauna owners or it might be a mechanism to create additional funds from false claims, whatever the case we strongly advise to ignore the invitation.
Please contact us should you have any questions.
*The personal contact details of these individuals and companies can be provided upon request.
[UPDATE: 2 October 2013]
Official response of the Ozone Association of South Africa:
“On behalf of OASA, I would like to apologise for the confusion around a recent email concerning the Servicing and Calibration of Medical Ozone Generators. It has been brought to my attention that the previous email could cause confusion, and I would like to clarify this urgently.
It is a legal and ethical requirement that Medical Ozone Generators must be serviced and calibrated every 12 – 18 months. These units are NOT the same as the Ozone Saunas.
If you have an ozone sauna that has been supplied by Salvagente (OASA Member) or any other supplier, please contact them for after-sales servicing or routine maintenance to make sure your unit is working as originally sold.
with regards, Dr Julian Holmes, Scientific Advisor to OASA”
Right of response exercised by Ozone Services Industries in relation to Medical Ozone Generators:
“Ozone in commercially available units is produced by using cold spark corona through glass or ceramic dielectrics.
In respect of calibration I have spoken to Michelle and mentioned that she may have misunderstood in that ozone sensors and monitors have to be calibrated once per year and there is no way to calibrate an ozone generator. If so what are you going to calibrate against?
The only measurements are ozone out put in mgs per litre and ozone concentration by weight. Normally an air fed system will have a concentration of anything from 1/2 a percent to 3% depending upon moisture in the air and an oxygen fed ozone generator typically would provide up to 6% concentration. However some of our larger plants such as the 30 kg/hr unit at Roodeplaat and the 300 kg/hr unit at Sappi Ngondwana operate at 12% concentration as they want to bring down the oxygen costs.
Sincerely,
Ian Wright”
[UPDATE: 9 October 2013]
Right of response exercised by Sauna Engineering Development in relation to Medical Ozone Generators and reference made to Longevity:
Upon stripping and dismantling a Longevity Ozone Sauna, this was found regarding any calibration of the ozone generator.
Disclaimer: This is not intended to discredit Longevity ozone saunas in any form or matter, merely as evidence that no calibration can take place with the ozone generator!
____________________________________________________________
Updated response from the Ozone Association of South Africa regarding specific devices classified as “Medical Ozone Devices:
The following reference is made to clarify exactly what type of ozone machine the OASA indicated should be calibrated.
“Below is a selection of ozone units that would fall into the Medical Device category; it is not exhaustive and can never be, and as new devices come onto the market, how they are classified will be determined on what claims are made, how ozone is delivered, and what the units are designed for.
Currently I know that some of OASA members use the following devices;
www.medozons.com/ Medozons; Medical Ozone Units; CE & MD Marked
www.healozone.de/ HealOzone 1, 2, and 4; CE & MD Marked
www.greycellenterprises.com/ Ozi-Cure, CMU3, CMU4 ver 1&2; CE & MD Marked
www.ozonegenerator.com/ Longevity.
The Longevity units are not specifically MD Marked, but are considered to be ‘Medical Devices’ within the legal frame work that currently exists and calibration is required. WHY? Because these units specify a precise ozone concentration at a particular setting (EG Quantum 3 and similar devices) from the setting matrix the company publicises.
ANY device from a manufacturer that is supplied and functions by producing a precise ozone concentrations at a particular setting like the Quantum 3 from a matrix must be periodically calibrated.”
___________________________________________________
Updated view of Salvagente:
We are pleased that specific makes and models came forth as to eliminate any confusion caused by reference to “ozone machines”. We hope our clients and readers are put at ease that if they own an ozone sauna (purchased from Salvagente or elsewhere) they are not liable to “calibrate” their ozone generators.
We do urge people to be vigilant to the fact that even though some suppliers of ozone saunas also sell some of the products listed as “medical ozone devices”, it is different from their saunas and does not classify their ozone pod as a medical device under current legislation.
Because Salvagente does not directly engage in the distribution of the devices specified, we cannot speculate on the accuracy of the claims. However we remain skeptical about possible calibration of ozone generators based on the evidence that measuring the ozone output requires very specialized and expensive equipment.
We implore our clients and readers to seek answers whenever in doubt.
– Management
11 comments
Join the conversationDr Julian Holmes - September 30, 2013
There is a great deal of confusion as to what was said in the original email, to what you have represented here. It would have helped had you talked with OASA to clarify what was being proposed here.
All OASA members who have a Longevity Ozone generator or equivalent, that is used to generate ozone for use in syringes for internal ozone treatment are required to have these units calibrated. That is a legal requirement.
You have confused this with some Steam Saunas where it is virtually impossible to calibrate the ozone output due to the design and gas control, as you rightly point out in your photograph.
Your posting on your www site adds to the confusion, and I would ask that you withdraw this, and I will ask Michelle to clarify the mail she sent out.
If you want to chat through any aspect of this before it gets out of hand further, please feel free to call me on 021 686 7872 or email me on [email protected]
With regards, Dr Julian Holmes.
Dr Julian Holmes - September 30, 2013
And for the record, these units can be calibrated. The assumption is that the unit generates a continuous stream of ozone under certain conditions. Calibration is about adjusting the variables like gas flow, working temperature. And I have to ask, if you state on the product what ozone concentration is being produced, how do you check it out when it comes in for a service?
admin - September 30, 2013
Dear Dr Holmes, thank you for your comment.
I can assure you that we have read the original article numerous times to validate misinterpretations. After we considered all possible meanings we found the original email to be vague and misleading to the majority of ozone practitioners. As many practitioners (and our clients) refer to their ozone saunas as “ozone machines”, the email are easily misinterpreted that all ozone saunas’ ozonators must be calibrated.
Even the Longevity Ozone Generator found in their ozone saunas cannot be calibrated, you can only adjust the oxygen airflow. We are declining to comment on the adjusting of the ozone generators where it’s used though syringes or insufflation as we don’t deal with Longevity ozone generators in such equipment.
Our reason for posting this publicly was to inform the general public and our clients that they should not act on this solicitation without further consulting us. Once the information was released by the OASA we acted as soon as possible to protect the public from any uninformed decisions they potentially could make.
We will gladly update this post with new specifics should the OASA circulate a more specific and less confusing email stating exactly which “machines” are being referred to here.
This post serves only as information and guidance through this confusion.
admin - September 30, 2013
Dear Dr Holmes, I will assume we are talking about ozone generators in ozone saunas…
Unfortunately I have to disagree with you if you state these units can be calibrated. If you suggest that oxygen flow etc can be adjusted and that will affect the ozone generator performance and output all is in order, but that still does not mean you are “calibrating” the ozone generator.
We use a 1000mg/h ozonators in almost all our saunas, and we inform our clients that the output will be determined by the ozone setting and whether they are using medical oxygen cylinders or oxygen concentrators.
Dr Julian Holmes - October 2, 2013
Dear Ian and Chris,
I am disappointed that well educated people like yourselves want to further the debate and confusion in this way. How ever, as you have indicated that you do not want to draw a line under your misunderstanding, I will reply to where we currently are.
I head up GCE as Clinical Director and my responsibility is the CE and MD submission of our ozone units for medical, veterinary and dental use. These have the ability to be calibrated as required by the CE and MD Legal directives and requirements.
As Scientific Advisor to the Ozone Association of South Africa (OASA), OASA does not make any ozone generators for any product, company or use. OASA is a representative organisation that helps to draw together information, train and inform its members, and participate and engage in regulation. OASA does not endorse any one manufacturer versus another. OASA does look at ways for its members to stay within the law and their legal and ethical obligations as ozone therapists.
In a long telephone call to you, we discussed the email that is at the centre of this now very public debate, and how OASA was seeking to clarify the information. I mailed you with a suggested text that you were free to replace your first post with, and I sent out as a Special Notice on both the Yahoo Group OASA-Professional, and to the membership of OASA a mail clarifying the situation.
We agreed that the email that has sadly lead to this public laundry of opinion was in response to the lecture presented by Professor Nabil Mawsouf, Chairman of the Egyptian Society for Ozone Therapy, and heads up the Centre for Pain Management in the Cancer Institute, Cairo University and Oman Medical Clinics.
Professor Mawsouf made the comment that MEDICAL DEVICES as stated in the original email, should and must be serviced every 12-18 months. This is the law, and concerns the CE Directive for Medical Appliances that carry the MD mark. This does NOT, as I pointed out to you, concern ozone saunas, as these are NOT classified as Medical Devices. Medical Devices are NOT allowed to be sold to members of the public, so if your ozone saunas carried the MD Mark, you would be breaking the law by selling them to the general public. You may regard your devices as medical devices, but strictly speaking in accordance with the law, they are not.
I, on behalf of OASA have talked to you at length concerning this misunderstanding. I agree that the first email could be interpreted to be confusing. However you as a distributor with a potential input into government regulation cannot be so blind as to realise that this posting will be seized on by those wanting to impose regulation rather than allow the profession to self-regulate.
For some reason best known to yourselves, you and your company and ‘stakeholders’ have made the decision to support the unsupportable; The legal position of anyone who has a medical device – and just in case you have not understood the first part of this mail, that is NOT your ozone spas – is that these must be calibrated on a regular basis. So I fail to understand why you cannot see that to continue with this debate is meaningless, adds to value to your company, and possibly shows that you do not understand the MD Mark and the legal implications of selling and buying such a unit. By taking the original email out of context, failing to ask questions before your knee-jerk post, you have illustrated a number of reasons why the profession and the manufacturers and suppliers of this equipment need educating and should be regulated.
admin - October 4, 2013
Dr Holmes,
We appreciate your lengthily response, but we would like to take the conversation back to the intended outcome of this post to clarify which (if any) ozonators should be calibrated for the clarification of the public and our readers.
We are not interested to further the debate surrounding the regulation aspect (although such dialogue can be seen as a means of self regulation of the industry and not merely blindly accepting certain views, but that is a discussion on its own)
We again request from you some specific product makes and models of which the ozonator is in a registered medical device that people can be aware of it, whether new medical professionals are interested in acquiring such equipment or clients wishing to determine if the equipment they are being treated with are serviced and working properly.
Ailsa Coetzee - October 8, 2013
This is quite ridiculous and as far as I am concerned abusive to people’s intelligence. Quote “If you want to measure the ozone output you require a BMT or equivalent ozone analyser costing in the region of R75000.00.
We have one of these but it is only practical on machines above 100 grams per hour and certainly not 500 mg/hr.
For the Ozone Association to be endorsing one particular supplier and with false offers will be extremely dangerous for the Association and for the members”. Unquote
Personally, I think it is the Association ripping people off again!
Karen - July 12, 2020
Good day. Where can I have repairs done to my Ozone sauna?
Admin - July 13, 2020
Hi Karen,
Our team will reach out to you via email.
Regards,
Salvagente
Anna Difo - January 11, 2022
I bought the ozone machine long time ago. I needs some service. Please call or whatsApp me at 082 7327 832
Admin - January 11, 2022
Hi Anna,
Someone from our team will be reaching out shortly.
Regards,
The Salvagente Team.