ActiveIon’s Ionator HOM is a battery operated cleaning machine that is a green alternative to the everyday chemicals people use in cleaning. It ionizes the water by giving it a slight electrical charge. Intended as a replacement for endless bottles of spray cleaner, the device converts regular tap water into an ionized mist that lifts dirt off of surfaces and kills bacteria. There are no chemicals involved. It is really an excellent way to completely make you’re cleaning chemical free… if it works.
For two months we’ve been putting it through its paces in both a home and commercial environment to see how it stands up. Can regular tap water clean what normally you use Windex, or any other general purpose cleaner around the house.
Activeion Ionator Hom Review
The ionater has a refillable reservoir which you fill with normal tap water. The receptacle holds about a cup and a half, or 350mL, of water; you fill it up with regular tap water, pop it back into the spray bottle and you’re good to go. There’s no instructions necessary and the shape of the receptacle means it only fits into the gun one way. I found the spray bottle to be designed well; it’s more sturdy and stable than any standard spray bottle.
Activeion Ionator Battery Life
I have found the charge lasts a very long time, hours and hours of cleaning in fact. There is an LED light that glows green when it is being used, letting you know it is working properly, and it glows red when it needs a charge or it is not working properly. It says that if you put anything in the reservoir other than water it will not work.
Using the Activeion Ionator
Once it’s charged and filled, you just hit the trigger button and spray the watery mist over whatever you need to clean. It raises dirt, grease, fingerprints etc. up off the surface, and then you simply wipe it away.
I used it on all the surfaces where I would use glass cleaner or general purpose cleaner. Glass, mirrors, counters, stove top, tables, switch plates, door jams, doors, toilet seats and edges. It pretty much did the job that every cleaner I had in the house did except inside the toilet bowl. Since the bowl is already full of water it could not clean the bowl, so I still used the standard bowl cleaner and brush. But I have to say I was impressed that it pretty much has the ability to reduce the amount of chemicals in the house to just one, my toilet bowl cleaner.
My Favorite Things About the Activeion Ionator
What I liked about it as well since we are just talking ionized water, I also used it as a hand sanitizer. So after cleaning I would just spray my hands and rub around for several seconds and dry. Also by keeping it under the sink it was a back up hand sanitizer for the kids as well if they didn’t clean up before a quick lunch break etc.
No Chemicals
To me, the complete lack of chemicals is the best thing about the Ionator. I can spray it all over my cooking surface, cutting boards and knives without having to worry about dousing them in chemicals I’ll later ingest. The Ionator leaves behind no residue or chemical scent. With the added bonus of never running out of cleaner, as long your battery is charged.
What I didn’t Like About Activeion Ionator
The base is stable and the design is solid, the only issue I had was a couple of times the unit was not upright went stored and I noticed the water from the reservoir leaked out of the reservoir and in between the plastic the protects the computer control panel. So water was inside the actual unit and my perception is that if I operated the unit that the computer panel might have shorted out. So I drained the water out as best as I could and let it dry out completely before using (a few days). The plastic housing is clear which is cool because you see the computer control panel so you know you are using a high tech devise, which was good otherwise I would have never seen the water inside. It might be better if this computer control panel was water tight in future designs.
It does spray a lot of ionized water, so you have to have lots of good cotton or microfiber cleaning cloths on hand to effective clean and polish.
Some Final Thoughts…
Every time you hit the button to spray, the water receptacle glows green with an “okay” light. If it glows red, something is wrong with the ionizing mechanism concealed in the body. The company says the device will effectively ionize for about three years. Since we only tested it out for two months, we have no way of confirming this. So I am not sure if you have to replace it every three years or you just use it until it always glows red when you use it.
My hope is it last longer than three years, my guess is that it would save about $50 per year clean cleaning chemical for an average family living in an average three bedroom home. So it would have to last at least three years to get your investment back. Although it seems like there is a large benefit to cleaning your home with no chemicals that you can’t put a price tag on.
In my case my wife was diagnosed with cancer early in the year, and while I am certain she didn’t get cancer as a result of our cleaning chemicals that fact that she is a 40 year old woman getting cancer just makes you realize that we sort of life in a toxic world. I think that if you can do even a very small thing to reduce the amount of toxic residue when we live our day to day life, it is hard to imagine that not helping.
From a practical point of view having someone in the house going through Chemotherapy the Ionater has been excellent as well since keeping the house clean is very important since her immune system is compromised as well as she has sensitivity to smells and the unit produces no smells when cleaning.
Activeion Ionator: My Verdict
The Ionator’s hefty price tag may dissuade some; but we hope people won’t be swayed into not buying one out of sheer scepticism at its tap water fuel source. The device cleans fantastically, as well as or better than household cleaners in our opinion, and we find the chemical-free nature of it to be a huge plus. I highly recommend this product.
