New O3 Waterworks Ozone-Based Laundry System Is Tiny, Even More Useful

It’s been four years since I ditched laundry detergent completely and switched to O3 Waterworks’ aqueous ozone laundry system and it looks like the company is doing better than ever with a brand new system that will help even more people make the change.

Smart Laundry System +PLUS

Announced this week, O3 Waterworks introduced the latest model of their O3 laundry system. It uses a diamond electrolytic cell to pass a charge through regular tap water, creating water that’s infused with dissolved ozone. That ozone then reacts with organic compounds and oxidizes them, removing them from your clothes as effectively as detergent, but without the chemical runoff.

That hasn’t changed. The new system does exactly the same thing. What’s noteworthy though is that it does it with a device that’s less than half the size of the original system.

Instead of a “washing machine platinum” rectangle that literally was the length of a washing machine, O3 Waterworks’ Smart Laundry System +PLUS is a compact, smallish briefcase-sized block with a carbon fiber and chrome trim finish. It’s thinner than the original system and extremely light. And while some people may enjoy the more “premium” finish, I think the size of the new unit is the real winner here. It’s so small that the system can fit almost anywhere in your laundry room, even the little half-wall of your washing machine alcove.

The other big innovation is the LCD screen on the front. It tells you exactly what’s happening and when. So rather than have to remember that green means its creating a boosted O3 solution and blue is normal strength, you can see on the screen which mode the system is in. It has memory as well and automatically carries over the last setting used to the next laundry cycle. The screen also lets you know if the system detects leaks, a welcome addition.

This smaller system does lose the on-device buttons of the previous model but given that they can be a point of failure, it makes sense to make the remote the single point of device control. And yes, the remote is smaller as well. Looking less like a car’s keyfob this time.

The power connector is the only thing that seems a little less premium than the previous model. It doesn’t click in as you would expect, so it’s extremely easy to unplug the unit if you jostle it. It’s a minor design issue that I expect O3 Waterworks will address with future production runs.

Installation and Usage

If you can use a screwdriver, then you have all the capability needed to install the Smart Laundry System +PLUS. In the box are screw-in drywall anchors (I didn’t even have to get out my drill, though that would have made it go a titch faster). Mark the installation points with the convenient template, screw in the anchors, screw the bracket into the anchors, hook up your cold water inflow and outflow hoses, and you’re done.

Given that the new system is so light, there no reason to be concerned about it pulling out of the drywall. Indeed, even with the last system that was substantially heavier, I wasn’t concerned given that the bracket does a very nice job of distributing weight.

After installation, there’s really nothing to do other than start a cold water laundry cycle and not use detergent. Your laundry room will smell a bit like ozone (think of how the air smells after a thunderstorm) but that’s the only indicator that anything is different. The system itself will light up blue for a .5 solution and green for a boosted 1.0 solution when it’s working.

Afterwards, if you really need a “meadow fresh” smell to tell your brain that your laundry is clean, throw in a fabric softener in your dryer. I’m fragrance and additive sensitive, so I use natural wool balls to aid drying and eliminate static cling.

The only “gotcha” switching from detergent to aqueous ozone is that if any of your clothes aren’t colorfast, they will lose their dye faster.

Availability

The Smart Laundry System +PLUS is shipping soon and is available for pre-order now at $100 off its $499 MSRP through Sunday, July 27. Think of the cost as buying a few years of detergent all at once but without the surfactants and solvents that you’d deposit back into the water supply with traditional detergent.