Ozone Sanitation of tap lines

[drpausch]

Has anyone used or considered using ozone sanitation for tap lines?

I have not used this, but this seems like a good method. Here is a link to more information.

http://www.ozonetechnologiesgroup.com/ozone.php

Any research been done on this as a possible cleaning method?

[DrTimPerkins]

Has anyone used or considered using ozone sanitation for tap lines?

I believe that Dr. Brian Chabot of Cornell University did some research several years ago looking at the effect of ozone exposure as part of the filtering process (in a similar way that UV is used) and found it to have fairly low effectiveness. It appeared that the sugar in sap provided some amount of protective effect to the microorganisms in the sap. I suspect the high microbial load in sap (as compared to water) also reduced the system efficacy. Probably the same type of thing could happen in tubing, although there would be much less sap in the lines during cleaning. Probably the more problematic issue is that of ozone degradation of components of the tubing system itself. Ozone exposure tends to make plastic brittle (and is brutal on anything rubber). The equipment to generate the ozone is not low cost. There is also the concern for the possible hazardous nature of ozone to humans.

But to answer your direct question.....no, I don't believe there has been any research on using ozone as a possible cleaning method.

[drpausch]

How do you handle the cleaning of the 3/16 tubing at the research center?

[IPL Technical Support]

Has anyone used or considered using ozone sanitation for tap lines?

I have not used this, but this seems like a good method. Here is a link to more information.

http://www.ozonetechnologiesgroup.com/ozone.php

Any research been done on this as a possible cleaning method?

Hello drpausch,

To complete Dr. Perkins on the tubing part of the ozone sanitation, polyethylene pipes have indeed limited resistance to ozone @ 140F. It is rated "Resistant" @ 68F though. In our knowledge, it has never been used to clean maple sap lines so you would have to consider a shortened lifetime of your tubing system if you can afford cleaning with ozone.

There are other applications of polyethylene tubing that makes contact with ozone, but the product is multi-layered and never sees the sun. Polyethylene is permeable to ozone.

Hope this helps,

[DrTimPerkins]

How do you handle the cleaning of the 3/16 tubing at the research center?

We've tried a number of different approaches as part of our research program over the past decade. The approach producing the highest producer net profit is "dry cleaning", which is pulling spouts with the vacuum on to remove all the liquid in the line, then plug them, and replace spouts annually, preferably with CV spouts or adapters. If you don't want to use CVs, then replace spouts annually and replace drops every 3 yrs.