Product: Lifesmart TrueWash All-in-One Wet/Dry Sanitizing System for Fruits & Vegetables
Model: TW988
Condition: New
A safe and natural way to wash and sanitize many household items
Safe and proven effective by 3rd party independent testing
Advanced UV/activated oxygen technology removes bacteria by up to 99.9%
Works on anything that can fit inside the 8 liter interior basket
Fully enclosed sanitizing appliance system in both wet and dry mode
Truewash combines water spray, UV light and activated oxygen for hard to reach surfaces that UV light alone can’t reach, leaving no residual or harmful chemical by-products
UV Lamp lasts 1500 hours
8 Quick start button controls
Low water consumption
4 Auto modes
4 Manual modes for both wet and dry cleaning settings
Timer button up to 30 minutes set in 5 minute intervals
@phendrick Unless your feet are removable, it will not work with them. The lid must be closed at all times when the unit is operating. Also, unless your feet are very small, it would probably only hold one.
@ciabelle@phendrick I can attest that I’ve accidentally thrown my iPhone Max X in the laundry, and after simply air-drying (with help from a fan; don’t use rice, which they say is more likely to do damage; nor did I open the phone up, because that seemed unnecessarily risky), it’s been perfectly fine (that was months ago; but also, as you may have surmised, the phone was old before the incident, which I think makes the testimony that much better). It was in there for a while and got a proper immersion, soak and even some agitation.
I no longer start the laundry immediately after waking up and I’m a lot more mindful of where my electronics are when I do, but it’s good to know that shit works like they say it should.
@Euniceandrich They’re apparently using DoubleSpeak to avoid mentioning that they’re using UV to generate a small amount of ozone as a fungicide and bacteriacide. Nitrogen and hydrogen don’t react to it that way.
UPDATE: The unit has an ozone generator that is separate from the UV emitter.
@Euniceandrich@werehatrack Thank you! Came to the comments to see if anyone else was thinking “well, technically correct is the best kind of correct” I’ll say it yet again, college-level chemistry and calc-based physics should be required for all humans writing copy for marketing purposes.
@macromeh Their idea of “serious schooling” is at variance with ours. We were taught things like how to recognize propaganda (and other kinds of utter bullshit) and why it should be regarded as a warning sign. They were taught that Lying With Half-Truths Is Good, And Here Is How To Make It Work For You!
college-level chemistry and calc-based physics should be required for all humans writing copy for marketing purposes
As well as a high-school level of basic English grammar. At least the level high school was at when I was in it. Apparently the concept of “adverbs” has disappeared entirely, judging by the overwhelming use of adjectives to modify verbs. Not to mention appropriate word usage (“to”, “too”, “two”; “there”, “their”, “they’re”; etc.) and proper case for pronouns.
@hchavers As early as much of the produce is picked, I think the bugs may be the only thing in there witth any real food value at all. At least the BigAg asshats haven’t been messing with those to optimize the harvest. (Yet.)
If only I were one of those tech wizards who could tear down a machine and reuse any given component.
I would buy two of these and Macguyver them into something useful.
@Kyeh I’d guess that somebody might have had the idea for it then, and it just took a while for it to get made, fail to become the next Amazing Thing Everyone Needs!! and end up on Meh. I will note that the manufacturer’s website (which is tellingly bereft of hard information about the actual product) gives the MSRP as $349, and most of the sellers that popped up on a Google search were still trying to get various prices in the $80-and-way-up range.
This is a product that was custom-made for Meh. They just didn’t understand that at the time.
Another kitchen toy that will sit on the counter unused, until my wife gets fed up and tosses it in the trash. Sort of like the cold coffee brewer from a bit ago. I’ll pass.
@Springbank I’m recently divorced (amicably, but, alas, with lingering heartache) for a few months. The cold brewer is still in the box, since I don’t have to put up the pretense or worry that it’ll be sold or trashed. I’m gonna use that fucker some day, damnit.
I’m so tempted to get this one, but I think I’m going to pass.
Okay so, I’m the jerk that owns one of these. Hear me out:
I use it to sanitize my earbud rubber bits, my work headset (I’m in sales, it’s glued to my disgusting sales person head while I’m wandering around my house on home days vs road days), the stupid shit that gets grubbed all over at roadshows, my many many mask covers, my cell phone cases that also get grubbed all over, the tablet case for my mini tablet, and let’s be real, I absolutely put a glass piece in there and cleaned it after my housemate decided it was a good idea to fill it with lemonade then use it twice and forget it while I was out of town for a week.
It’s dumb as hell but it does what I need it to do, and I paid slightly more than this for it.
I can see this being useful for people with issues with standing for longer periods of time, or people that have a bunch of kids, or immunocompromised people that want to make extra sure they’re cleaning their produce correctly. Or, people like me who deal with hands touching their electronics while they’re out in the field grinding out the Number Go Up moves.
Dumb, but with purpose? Maybe. But not for everyone.
@whiskeyish In dry-sanitize mode, it might also be useful for zapping the foot odor bacteria in shoes. (Ewww.) But I think that a small ozone generator and a two-gallon ziplock bag might be easier, and would certainly take less space.
@werehatrack agreed. But I don’t have a smaller ozone generator hanging out, and my housemate is… Well, he tries his best, so this is what I’ve got.
It really did clean the hell out of my earbud rubber tips, though, and it somehow made the awful cases Google “created” for the Pixel 8 clean when nothing else would remove the discoloration and dirt smears, so I’ll keep using this hell machine.
My mother calls it the Instant Pot For Dirty People. She’s not wrong, I guess.
@whiskeyish You’re making a very good case for this thing, and I’m getting really tempted to gift one to my partner. He has visual acuity issues, and doesn’t always know when things are not clean. As a result, for his own protection, he has to use extra cleaning measures whether he knows they are necessary or not.
@werehatrack don’t get it on my testimony, do some more digging on it and see if it’s really worth it first. I’ve just had a lot of hands on my phone cases, and tablet cases, and those terrible pilot pens that cost too much money because they’re “infinitely refillable!!!”* that every salesperson carries to make themselves feel important. It works for those. Hell, I put my reading glasses in there last week and it didn’t break them or screw up the lenses enough for me to notice. So that’s good, at least.
I really do not recommend trying to wash cat toys in it. Rip, Blue Mousie, last of his love, first among kings, favored by cats and gods, long may you reign in cat toy heaven or something. I don’t know what happened but housemate put it in there trying to “help.”
I’ll probably never use it. It will just take up space and be a pain to throw away. But at 29.99 it’s hard to resist.
(Will this save my life in the next pandemic?)
Lots of places selling this thing, but I couldn’t find a single professional review. Plus it seems like it’s a PITA to set up beforehand, and put away afterwards. Anyone?
@swechsler If you want to use ozone as a sanitizing agent, it’s easy to get a small generator that you can toss into a Ziploc with whatever you want to use it on. My partner does that with his CPAP hose and mouthpiece regularly, in addition to the usual manual sanitization.
@edsa Funny you’d say that. I know that’s the conventional wisdom. When I was in the position of needing to dry my immersed phone (see above), I googled and learned otherwise. Rice is widely known to be a bad idea, more likely to introduce contaminants than effectively draw out the water. Nearly every reputable site I consulted said to use a fan; those that didn’t didn’t advocate rice.
I’ll let you google for yourself. I confess that I had purchased the rice (instant rice intuitively seemed like a bad idea, and it is probably worse) before I found out it’s not recommended.
@edsa@joelmw Og, trust me, I knew it was a bad idea long before TikTok’s existence was even a harebrained idea with no code and no domain registration. But there have always been what we now call “life hacks” around which were just flat wrong, and it was inevitable that somebody would fake up a video of a dozen bogus ones to “fix” cell phones. I’m mildly surprised that they advised putting a wet phone into rice instead of hiding it in two pounds of uniodized table salt. At least the rice will mostly do nothing, where salt would compound the problems.
As a person who revels in taking immunosuppressing drugs (organ transplants, and all) I wonder if this would actually be a useful thing for me? I mean useful in that it might decrease my chance of contracting a food-borne infection and dying.
Not buying without knowing the UV wavelength. Many products touting UV have wavelengths that are ineffective at killing germs, especially ones sold at lower prices.
@mrdancer Though if it (actually) is generating ozone, that implies UVC. Real UVC should do the trick. But yeah, I’d like to have a wavelength to be sure.
@mehcuda67@mrdancer I would hazard a guess that the people who own the trademark do not know what “wavelength” means, and would guess that it must have something to do with surfing.
@fondaporn It will kill the bacteria but can’t neutralize any toxins already generated by salmonella. Listeria is not cited as generating tokins in the food it contaminates; it uses the food as a vector to infect the host when the food is consumed. It’s probably nor effective against encysted bacteria, so using it on contaminated cereal is probably not adequate.
This technical answer to a question presumed to have been posed in jest is brought to you by The Committee That Takes Dumb Questions Seriously Because We’ve Learned That For Every Dumb Question, There’s Almost Certainly Somebody Who Really Is In Need Of An Answer To It, Even If Only To Get Their Daily Dose Of Surrealist Humor.
It’s so huge. I hardly have room for all the cold and pour through coffee brewers etc. I have. I also want one but would need a bigger place, which makes it more expensive than $29.95.
UV light can deactivate the chloramine and chlorine now present in many water treatments for those of you who are worried it may kill your plants and fish. Leave it under UV light for 15 minutes at least.
It looks to me to be indistinguishable from the UV/O3 CPAP mask and hose cleaners that were around long before COVID. I’ve used a similar device, sans H2O, for years to sterilize my CPAP bits. The gizmo I’ve been using has been effective, but in permanent dry mode it doesn’t remove skin oils. I’m tempted to try this for the wet mode.
Disclaimer: I do not clean my actual CPAP machine with UV or O3. Doing so is a bad, bad idea.
This is interesting. No idea if it is on meh.com because people are afraid of ozone (aka “activated oxygen”) or if this is a shitty implementation, but whatevers…
@baqui63 I’d guess that it’s here because the manufacturer badly overestimated the public’s level of baseless paranoia about the mortal danger of all the nasty deadly bacteria on those vegetables they’ve been eating.
@baqui63 I’m willing to bet it uses near UV (aka ‘purple’ UV) which is utterly pointless in this application. If it doesn’t tan a banana, it ain’t sterilizing shit.
@baqui63@gdorn Given that they are stating that the device generates ozone, and probably the cheapest way to do both is to just use a UV emitter in the wavelength that will accomplish both tasks, that’s probably what they’ve done. Whether it’s strong enough to be effective is another question, and if the things to be sterilized are not being subjected to motion sufficient for the UV to reach all of the surfaces, then the ozone is the primary active agent anyway. Uv as a sterilizing treatment is really pretty limited in what it can do in practical applications. It doesn’t take much to block it completely, and that which it does not reach, it does nothing about.
@baqui63@gdorn Update: After reading the manual, I can state that the ozone generator is a separate device from the UV emitter. The UV is at 254nm, which is a good wavelength to use for sanitization purposes. Overall, this looks to have been pretty well thought out for the specs it seems aimed at, but might not fit everyone’s needs equally. For one thing, there’s no manual selection possible for UV vs. ozone vs. both, and there’s no “dry” mode that uses just ozone and not UV. (If there were, I’d be ordering two. Oh, well.)
For purposes of comparison of value, a small ozone generator that’s not suitable for anything beyond intermittent duty is typically in the same price range as this offer, and doesn’t have the same capabilities.
@baqui63@gdorn@werehatrack
Same here, i would have ordered several if the ozone could be deactivated. My wife has severe reactions to ozone (it’s hard on the lungs and her doctors have told her to avoid it at all costs).
for immune compromised ppl who want to clean raw foods, seems possibly helpful (but see above comments from others - some bacteria will be destroyed but their toxins MOMN be broken down - some ppl think pesticides may be broken down - but into what?) But using it on wet may be effective?
HOWEVER, the inner basket does appear to be some form of plastic - if it were ceramic/metal that would be noted everywhere bc $$. So, if you’re putting food in there (or baby bottles e.g.) you have to worry about whether/to what extent that UVC may produce harmful chemicals from breaking down the plastic interior (or the plastic related thing you’re putting your/your baby’s food in). Seems iffy, although someone with better engineering/materials sci background than I have may feel confident enough to do that.
So then,
you could use it for stuff that isn’t going in your mouth. I feel like there are easier ways to clean most other things (and I’m SUPER lazy). But maybe the rest of you have more thoughts about that. I guess it could be useful for little fiddly things if you had an additional filter bag and also the aforementioned gym shoes/mildewed rags, etc?
So maybe $30, but jeez, not $300!
@quizquest1 Thanks for that link, the manual answered many questions. Most centrally for me, it notes that only the automatic operation modes are supported by the control interface, and there is no way to manually select just a specific non-programmed duration and type of treatment. Additionally, the “dry” modes all use both UV and ozone. Since most of the tasks for which it would be needed here would be “ozone only, dry”, that leaves this out for us. It’s a hell of a deal otherwise, from what I can see.
@IAMIS I am guessing at three reasons why this didn’t sell at retail. 1) I think it’s hard for a layperson to prove that the device actually does anything. 2) We expect that produce we buy at the store is already safe to eat. 3) This product competes for counter space with provably-useful appliances, such as an air fryer.
@Chairman_Wang replying to myself to make a note. I called the company customer service line at 6573410362 and they do not stock the UV light. The activated carbon filter is also not in stock. So regardless of how this device breaks down ozone, guess what? It’s not going to anymore. If that matters or not depends on how you feel about ozone. You could just vent it.
@Chairman_Wang Gosh, could the lack of actual support for their own limited-demand product have killed the chances of it becoming popular among the people who make up the niche market who would want one for long-term use?
Naaah, nobody uses anything but a phone for more than a week anymore.
I am curious as to whether such a machine would help preserve fresh produce for longer shelf life? I have strawberries, purchased, mixed garden salad, iceberg and romaine lettuce, and cilantro specifically in mind.
I went looking in the scientific literature (peer reviewed journals) and found a number of articles and one master’s thesis that examine the effects of O3 and electrooxidized water (EO water), on bacteria such as E. coli, and various Listeria cooties.
I was more interested in mold spores but did not turn up anything specific on that. Food science journals are more concerned about food safety than shelf life extension. Incidentally, no article which I referenced so far made any comments about changes in texture or flavor.
So I will try some experiments with fresh strawberries and cilantro and see what, if anything, happens.
Yeah, I bought one. I like fruits and vegetables and am also super paranoid about food safety so for $30 not having to deal with my salad spinner would be really nice.
Directly from the manual, here’s the complete list of operating modes for this unit:
Baby, Bottles, Plastic Bottles, Plastic or Plush Toys (16f oz Water Required)
12 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: activates spray pump + air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation
Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Rice, Beans. (16f oz Water Required)
20 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: activates spray pump + air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation
Everyday Items or Other Accessories
10 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: activates air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation
Electronics
7 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: UV lamp + basket rotation
Washing Sanitation Manual Mode (16f oz Water Required)
10 minute Manual cleaning MODE: activates spray pump + air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation This mode can be extend to 30 minutes using the Timer Button.
Dry Sanitation Manual Mode
10 minute Manual cleaning MODE: activates air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation This mode can be extend to 30 minutes using the Timer Button
Basket Rotation Button
Turns the basket rotation ON/OFF with Washing/Dry Sanitation Modes.
Timer Button
Use to increase timer OFF value with manual cleaning modes up to 30 minutes in 5 minute increments
Would it be effective at cleaning (and not destroying) cloth masks. Not N95 but more decorative (and less medically effective) cloth ones.The washing mashing is so much overkill.
Specs
Product: Lifesmart TrueWash All-in-One Wet/Dry Sanitizing System for Fruits & Vegetables
Model: TW988
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$119 at FactoryPure
Originally $349
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Friday, Jun 14 - Monday, Jun 17
When washing vegetables what do you do with the wheelchairs?
@yakkoTDI Does 9-1-1 work for the PC police?
(But i did chortle a bit)
@yakkoTDI That’s like the old joke asking what the hardest part of a vegetable to eat is…
@PooltoyWolf I heard it as the hardest part about cooking vegetables.
@yakkoTDI Ah yes, that was it.
Will these work on my feet?
i don’t have corns, but when i was a toddler, my mother used to tell me i had enough dirt between my toes to grow potatoes.
@phendrick Unless your feet are removable, it will not work with them. The lid must be closed at all times when the unit is operating. Also, unless your feet are very small, it would probably only hold one.
It’s déjà vu all over again (for those of us who saw a sneak preview)
@heartny You beat me to it!
@Kyeh I forgot about this. Seems appropriate for the moment.
@heartny Oh, of course!
(You came up with that, didn’t you?)
@Kyeh Indeed I did
@heartny Meh needs to give you a trophy of some kind for that!
@Kyeh That would be nice, or a nice air fryer at the very least
huh???
@violue Yup.
@violue @yakkoTDI two words:
Damn
Weird
@violue @yakkoTDI update to my Damn…weird comment. Bought one.
/giphy raspy-floral-ice
If you think you’ve clicked this Meh button before, do it again. That was then, this is now.
@werehatrack Now I have 2 buttons with masks, one of which gets smashed with ice cream.
@werehatrack When?! Who!?
Video blurb about this.
Does Apple warrant the iPhone if you use this and forget to not use the “wet” setting?
@phendrick If it’s an iPhone 7 or newer, it should be okay.
@ciabelle @phendrick I can attest that I’ve accidentally thrown my iPhone Max X in the laundry, and after simply air-drying (with help from a fan; don’t use rice, which they say is more likely to do damage; nor did I open the phone up, because that seemed unnecessarily risky), it’s been perfectly fine (that was months ago; but also, as you may have surmised, the phone was old before the incident, which I think makes the testimony that much better). It was in there for a while and got a proper immersion, soak and even some agitation.
I no longer start the laundry immediately after waking up and I’m a lot more mindful of where my electronics are when I do, but it’s good to know that shit works like they say it should.
How does tbe UV know to only activate the oxygen? Why doesn’t it activate the nitrogen or the hydrogen?
Are you sure it doesn’t use air?
@Euniceandrich They’re apparently using DoubleSpeak to avoid mentioning that they’re using UV to generate a small amount of ozone as a fungicide and bacteriacide. Nitrogen and hydrogen don’t react to it that way.
UPDATE: The unit has an ozone generator that is separate from the UV emitter.
@Euniceandrich @werehatrack Thank you! Came to the comments to see if anyone else was thinking “well, technically correct is the best kind of correct”
I’ll say it yet again, college-level chemistry and calc-based physics should be required for all humans writing copy for marketing purposes.
@bass1193 @Euniceandrich @werehatrack
If they had any serious schooling do you think they’d be writing ad copy?
@macromeh Their idea of “serious schooling” is at variance with ours. We were taught things like how to recognize propaganda (and other kinds of utter bullshit) and why it should be regarded as a warning sign. They were taught that Lying With Half-Truths Is Good, And Here Is How To Make It Work For You!
@bass1193 @Euniceandrich @werehatrack
As well as a high-school level of basic English grammar. At least the level high school was at when I was in it. Apparently the concept of “adverbs” has disappeared entirely, judging by the overwhelming use of adjectives to modify verbs. Not to mention appropriate word usage (“to”, “too”, “two”; “there”, “their”, “they’re”; etc.) and proper case for pronouns.
Wait a minute, Is activated oxygen another name for ozone?
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Is+activated+oxygen+another+name+for+ozone%3F
@Euniceandrich yes it’s 03. Ie ozone.
@Euniceandrich @qazxto Oxygen trioxide!
@Euniceandrich @PooltoyWolf @qazxto
Wouldn’t it be Oxygen Dioxide?
@baqui63 Thank you. I was going to say the same thing.
@baqui63 @werehatrack All sources I can find online say ozone could be referred to as trioxygen, but usually isn’t.
@Euniceandrich Great for air filters
/youtube welcome back
@djslack well, it samples what I was going for. Though that cameo/thumbnail certainly hasn’t aged well. I’ll leave it.
@djslack This music video gives the creeps knowing that P-Diddy was shuttling kids to his mansion… at night.
Who wants to sanitize fruits and vegetables? The farming chemicals body build up immunity and bug remains provide extra nutrition.
@hchavers As early as much of the produce is picked, I think the bugs may be the only thing in there witth any real food value at all. At least the BigAg asshats haven’t been messing with those to optimize the harvest. (Yet.)
…no
If only I were one of those tech wizards who could tear down a machine and reuse any given component.
I would buy two of these and Macguyver them into something useful.
I wonder if they started making these during the pandemic. Remember wiping down groceries and leaving packages to sit for a couple of days, etc?
@Kyeh I’d guess that somebody might have had the idea for it then, and it just took a while for it to get made, fail to become the next Amazing Thing Everyone Needs!! and end up on Meh. I will note that the manufacturer’s website (which is tellingly bereft of hard information about the actual product) gives the MSRP as $349, and most of the sellers that popped up on a Google search were still trying to get various prices in the $80-and-way-up range.
This is a product that was custom-made for Meh. They just didn’t understand that at the time.
This looks stupid as hell but I want one
@Xieneus I’m in the same boat. Help!
@PooltoyWolf @Xieneus The /buy command is your service.
Another kitchen toy that will sit on the counter unused, until my wife gets fed up and tosses it in the trash. Sort of like the cold coffee brewer from a bit ago. I’ll pass.
@Springbank I’m recently divorced (amicably, but, alas, with lingering heartache) for a few months. The cold brewer is still in the box, since I don’t have to put up the pretense or worry that it’ll be sold or trashed. I’m gonna use that fucker some day, damnit.
I’m so tempted to get this one, but I think I’m going to pass.
I’ll take Stuff I Didn’t Think I Needed and Was Right for $500, Alex.
@Jonas4321 Fortunately, it’s just $30
We now know there are at least 84 idiots in the world!
@SnookerDave if you look at recent news and politics (pick your side; I’m not judging) pretty sure there are more than 84 idiots.
Okay so, I’m the jerk that owns one of these. Hear me out:
I use it to sanitize my earbud rubber bits, my work headset (I’m in sales, it’s glued to my disgusting sales person head while I’m wandering around my house on home days vs road days), the stupid shit that gets grubbed all over at roadshows, my many many mask covers, my cell phone cases that also get grubbed all over, the tablet case for my mini tablet, and let’s be real, I absolutely put a glass piece in there and cleaned it after my housemate decided it was a good idea to fill it with lemonade then use it twice and forget it while I was out of town for a week.
It’s dumb as hell but it does what I need it to do, and I paid slightly more than this for it.
I can see this being useful for people with issues with standing for longer periods of time, or people that have a bunch of kids, or immunocompromised people that want to make extra sure they’re cleaning their produce correctly. Or, people like me who deal with hands touching their electronics while they’re out in the field grinding out the Number Go Up moves.
Dumb, but with purpose? Maybe. But not for everyone.
@whiskeyish In dry-sanitize mode, it might also be useful for zapping the foot odor bacteria in shoes. (Ewww.) But I think that a small ozone generator and a two-gallon ziplock bag might be easier, and would certainly take less space.
@werehatrack agreed. But I don’t have a smaller ozone generator hanging out, and my housemate is… Well, he tries his best, so this is what I’ve got.
It really did clean the hell out of my earbud rubber tips, though, and it somehow made the awful cases Google “created” for the Pixel 8 clean when nothing else would remove the discoloration and dirt smears, so I’ll keep using this hell machine.
My mother calls it the Instant Pot For Dirty People. She’s not wrong, I guess.
@whiskeyish You’re making a very good case for this thing, and I’m getting really tempted to gift one to my partner. He has visual acuity issues, and doesn’t always know when things are not clean. As a result, for his own protection, he has to use extra cleaning measures whether he knows they are necessary or not.
@werehatrack don’t get it on my testimony, do some more digging on it and see if it’s really worth it first. I’ve just had a lot of hands on my phone cases, and tablet cases, and those terrible pilot pens that cost too much money because they’re “infinitely refillable!!!”* that every salesperson carries to make themselves feel important. It works for those. Hell, I put my reading glasses in there last week and it didn’t break them or screw up the lenses enough for me to notice. So that’s good, at least.
I really do not recommend trying to wash cat toys in it. Rip, Blue Mousie, last of his love, first among kings, favored by cats and gods, long may you reign in cat toy heaven or something. I don’t know what happened but housemate put it in there trying to “help.”
I mean it. He’s really something.
*They are not, I’ll tell that story another day.
I’ll probably never use it. It will just take up space and be a pain to throw away. But at 29.99 it’s hard to resist.
(Will this save my life in the next pandemic?)
@IAMIS
Most likely
/8ball will this save @IAMIS’ life in the next pandemic?
@IAMIS during the next one, sell it to some fool and profit handsomely
@richrauch Now I’m leaning toward buy again!
Lots of places selling this thing, but I couldn’t find a single professional review. Plus it seems like it’s a PITA to set up beforehand, and put away afterwards. Anyone?
@swechsler If you want to use ozone as a sanitizing agent, it’s easy to get a small generator that you can toss into a Ziploc with whatever you want to use it on. My partner does that with his CPAP hose and mouthpiece regularly, in addition to the usual manual sanitization.
When cleaning phone do you just pour the rice on top?
@edsa Sanitize the rice separately before putting the phone in it.
@edsa Funny you’d say that. I know that’s the conventional wisdom. When I was in the position of needing to dry my immersed phone (see above), I googled and learned otherwise. Rice is widely known to be a bad idea, more likely to introduce contaminants than effectively draw out the water. Nearly every reputable site I consulted said to use a fan; those that didn’t didn’t advocate rice.
I’ll let you google for yourself. I confess that I had purchased the rice (instant rice intuitively seemed like a bad idea, and it is probably worse) before I found out it’s not recommended.
@edsa @joelmw Og, trust me, I knew it was a bad idea long before TikTok’s existence was even a harebrained idea with no code and no domain registration. But there have always been what we now call “life hacks” around which were just flat wrong, and it was inevitable that somebody would fake up a video of a dozen bogus ones to “fix” cell phones. I’m mildly surprised that they advised putting a wet phone into rice instead of hiding it in two pounds of uniodized table salt. At least the rice will mostly do nothing, where salt would compound the problems.
As a person who revels in taking immunosuppressing drugs (organ transplants, and all) I wonder if this would actually be a useful thing for me? I mean useful in that it might decrease my chance of contracting a food-borne infection and dying.
@tommytoad0 Ask your immunologist
Not buying without knowing the UV wavelength. Many products touting UV have wavelengths that are ineffective at killing germs, especially ones sold at lower prices.
@mrdancer Though if it (actually) is generating ozone, that implies UVC. Real UVC should do the trick. But yeah, I’d like to have a wavelength to be sure.
@mehcuda67 @mrdancer I would hazard a guess that the people who own the trademark do not know what “wavelength” means, and would guess that it must have something to do with surfing.
@mrdancer FWIW 254 nm, from the user manual at https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1163/1976/files/lifesmart_TW988_manual.pdf?v=1634742499 (was gonna do a patent search but didn’t have to to get this info at least).
@mrdancer @quizquest1
Interesting, the wavelength is too high for ozone creation. In fact 254nm will break ozone down into plan old o2.
@quizquest1
If it is 254nm as the manual says, then it is UVC.
Thanks!
Can I desalmonellaize/delisteriaize recalled cereal with this? Asking for a friend.
@fondaporn It will kill the bacteria but can’t neutralize any toxins already generated by salmonella. Listeria is not cited as generating tokins in the food it contaminates; it uses the food as a vector to infect the host when the food is consumed. It’s probably nor effective against encysted bacteria, so using it on contaminated cereal is probably not adequate.
This technical answer to a question presumed to have been posed in jest is brought to you by The Committee That Takes Dumb Questions Seriously Because We’ve Learned That For Every Dumb Question, There’s Almost Certainly Somebody Who Really Is In Need Of An Answer To It, Even If Only To Get Their Daily Dose Of Surrealist Humor.
@fondaporn Oh, and beware of George, the Australian magpie.
@fondaporn
@werehatrack 50-50 serious-jest! I really did wonder
Thank you!!
@IAMIS
@werehatrack
Ah, a fellow member of TCTTDQSBWLTFEDQTACSWRIINOAATIEIOTGTDDOSH!
How distinguished.
It’s so huge. I hardly have room for all the cold and pour through coffee brewers etc. I have. I also want one but would need a bigger place, which makes it more expensive than $29.95.
How much does it weight?
@arosemena 13.8lb
@arosemena @troy Fairly light, given its size. Of course, most of the volume is a large empty chamber.
UV light can deactivate the chloramine and chlorine now present in many water treatments for those of you who are worried it may kill your plants and fish. Leave it under UV light for 15 minutes at least.
It looks to me to be indistinguishable from the UV/O3 CPAP mask and hose cleaners that were around long before COVID. I’ve used a similar device, sans H2O, for years to sterilize my CPAP bits. The gizmo I’ve been using has been effective, but in permanent dry mode it doesn’t remove skin oils. I’m tempted to try this for the wet mode.
Disclaimer: I do not clean my actual CPAP machine with UV or O3. Doing so is a bad, bad idea.
@ProfFate My S.O. does the same with his. The hose and mouthpiece goes into the bag with the generator after he finishes the other steps.
Any thoughts on how good this would be at removing pesticides from fruit?
@DanTheManimal Apparently ozone (aka “activated oxygen”) does break down surface pesticides on fruits and vegetables. This was the top hit of my search results: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772753X23003337#:~:text=Ozone not only reduces the,acceptance by researchers and scientists.
I may get one to bombard one of my old SLR lenses with UV that has yellowed, but don’t want to leave it in the hot sun.
This is interesting. No idea if it is on meh.com because people are afraid of ozone (aka “activated oxygen”) or if this is a shitty implementation, but whatevers…
/giphy blighted-obedient-apollo
@baqui63 I’d guess that it’s here because the manufacturer badly overestimated the public’s level of baseless paranoia about the mortal danger of all the nasty deadly bacteria on those vegetables they’ve been eating.
@baqui63 I’m willing to bet it uses near UV (aka ‘purple’ UV) which is utterly pointless in this application. If it doesn’t tan a banana, it ain’t sterilizing shit.
@baqui63 @gdorn Given that they are stating that the device generates ozone, and probably the cheapest way to do both is to just use a UV emitter in the wavelength that will accomplish both tasks, that’s probably what they’ve done. Whether it’s strong enough to be effective is another question, and if the things to be sterilized are not being subjected to motion sufficient for the UV to reach all of the surfaces, then the ozone is the primary active agent anyway. Uv as a sterilizing treatment is really pretty limited in what it can do in practical applications. It doesn’t take much to block it completely, and that which it does not reach, it does nothing about.
@baqui63 @gdorn Update: After reading the manual, I can state that the ozone generator is a separate device from the UV emitter. The UV is at 254nm, which is a good wavelength to use for sanitization purposes. Overall, this looks to have been pretty well thought out for the specs it seems aimed at, but might not fit everyone’s needs equally. For one thing, there’s no manual selection possible for UV vs. ozone vs. both, and there’s no “dry” mode that uses just ozone and not UV. (If there were, I’d be ordering two. Oh, well.)
For purposes of comparison of value, a small ozone generator that’s not suitable for anything beyond intermittent duty is typically in the same price range as this offer, and doesn’t have the same capabilities.
@baqui63 @gdorn @werehatrack
Same here, i would have ordered several if the ozone could be deactivated. My wife has severe reactions to ozone (it’s hard on the lungs and her doctors have told her to avoid it at all costs).
Here’s the user manual: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1163/1976/files/lifesmart_TW988_manual.pdf?v=1634742499 & here’s my problem:
So then,
So maybe $30, but jeez, not $300!
@quizquest1 Thanks for that link, the manual answered many questions. Most centrally for me, it notes that only the automatic operation modes are supported by the control interface, and there is no way to manually select just a specific non-programmed duration and type of treatment. Additionally, the “dry” modes all use both UV and ozone. Since most of the tasks for which it would be needed here would be “ozone only, dry”, that leaves this out for us. It’s a hell of a deal otherwise, from what I can see.
I searched and saw it for as much as $399.99. To come down to 30 is a little scary. Is it killing people?
@IAMIS I am guessing at three reasons why this didn’t sell at retail. 1) I think it’s hard for a layperson to prove that the device actually does anything. 2) We expect that produce we buy at the store is already safe to eat. 3) This product competes for counter space with provably-useful appliances, such as an air fryer.
Can it make Hash?
@bravowhiskey not the kind I wish it did… But you could probably make some potatoes soggy, if you want that kind instead.
Where do you get replacement UV bulbs. Also same question for the carbon filter that traps the ozone.
@Chairman_Wang replying to myself to make a note. I called the company customer service line at 6573410362 and they do not stock the UV light. The activated carbon filter is also not in stock. So regardless of how this device breaks down ozone, guess what? It’s not going to anymore. If that matters or not depends on how you feel about ozone. You could just vent it.
@Chairman_Wang Gosh, could the lack of actual support for their own limited-demand product have killed the chances of it becoming popular among the people who make up the niche market who would want one for long-term use?
Naaah, nobody uses anything but a phone for more than a week anymore.
@werehatrack fella I’m just trying to share info for those looking to buy.
@Chairman_Wang And we do appreciate the feedback, for all that it confirms what some of the more jaded among us probably had expected.
I am curious as to whether such a machine would help preserve fresh produce for longer shelf life? I have strawberries, purchased, mixed garden salad, iceberg and romaine lettuce, and cilantro specifically in mind.
I went looking in the scientific literature (peer reviewed journals) and found a number of articles and one master’s thesis that examine the effects of O3 and electrooxidized water (EO water), on bacteria such as E. coli, and various Listeria cooties.
I was more interested in mold spores but did not turn up anything specific on that. Food science journals are more concerned about food safety than shelf life extension. Incidentally, no article which I referenced so far made any comments about changes in texture or flavor.
So I will try some experiments with fresh strawberries and cilantro and see what, if anything, happens.
@Jackinga Huh, yeah - if it could keep strawberries from spoiling so fast I’d be interested! Please let us know.
Yeah, I bought one. I like fruits and vegetables and am also super paranoid about food safety so for $30 not having to deal with my salad spinner would be really nice.
Directly from the manual, here’s the complete list of operating modes for this unit:
Baby, Bottles, Plastic Bottles, Plastic or Plush Toys (16f oz Water Required)
12 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: activates spray pump + air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation
Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Rice, Beans. (16f oz Water Required)
20 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: activates spray pump + air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation
Everyday Items or Other Accessories
10 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: activates air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation
Electronics
7 minute AUTO cleaning MODE: UV lamp + basket rotation
Washing Sanitation Manual Mode (16f oz Water Required)
10 minute Manual cleaning MODE: activates spray pump + air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation This mode can be extend to 30 minutes using the Timer Button.
Dry Sanitation Manual Mode
10 minute Manual cleaning MODE: activates air pump + ozone generator + UV lamp + basket rotation This mode can be extend to 30 minutes using the Timer Button
Basket Rotation Button
Turns the basket rotation ON/OFF with Washing/Dry Sanitation Modes.
Timer Button
Use to increase timer OFF value with manual cleaning modes up to 30 minutes in 5 minute increments
Would it be effective at cleaning (and not destroying) cloth masks. Not N95 but more decorative (and less medically effective) cloth ones.The washing mashing is so much overkill.