You’ve heard of salt cells to sanitize your pool, and obviously everyone uses chlorine. But you should look into a U.V. system. A U.V. system lowers chlorine use by about 50%. A U.V. system uses ultraviolet light to sanitize the water. It obviously has an upfront cost but could save you money in the long run.
U.V. is used to sanitize drinking water. If you don’t want high chlorine levels in your pool water, this is great. It also reduces the itchiness that sometimes happens when you go into a pool. What happens in a chlorine pool when the chlorine level goes too low? Chloramines are created, byproducts of chlorine.
People think when a pool smells like chlorine, it’s because the chlorine is too high. It’s actually the opposite; the chlorine is too low. When the chlorine is too low, any ammonia in the water or any other products in the water will combine with it and cause a chlorine smell. The reason these things are combining with the chlorine is that the chlorine is not high enough to get rid of the ammonia and other stuff in the water. So they combine. When they combine, it makes bathers feel very itchy and produces the smell of chlorine.
Well, a U.V. system does a great job of getting rid of low chlorine like that that combines with other stuff. In other words, this is called combined chlorine, and U.V. does a great job of getting rid of combined chlorine. So the water feels great all the time. If your pool is maintained by a good pool service company, like ours we do pool service miami www.vibrantpoolservices.com/pool-service-miami/. Combined chlorine should always be kept in check. Because a good pool service company will check for combined chlorine and make sure there’s no combined chlorine. But if you don’t have a good pool service company, or service the pool yourself. U.V. is a great system to have to get rid of combined chlorine. Which makes it one less thing to worry about.
Also, if somehow you had combined chlorine because too many people were using the pool at once or any other factors. The way to get rid of combined chlorine is actually to superchlorinate, but during that process of superchlorination. The chlorine used to get rid of the chloramines could cause more reactions with the other products in the water momentarily until it over powers it. If someone were to jump in right after you super-chlorinated without knowing. The water could feel very uncomfortable for a bit. With U.V., it just kills the chloramines and no one notices.
Also, U.V. kills 99.9% of bacteria. So, if you were to have a case of, let’s say, cryptosporidium where it’s in your pool. U.V. kills it once it passes through the U.V. system. Whereas chlorine can take up to 12.5 hours to kill Cryptosporidium, and you have to raise the chlorine level to 20 ppm and maintain it there for 12.5 hours. Cryptosporidium comes from human feces; if someone were to have a small incident in the pool. There could be Cryptosporidium in the pool.
If you have an indoor pool, it is a great idea to have a U.V. system because of the chloramines as
well. If you have high chloramines in an indoor pool, the smell is really bad. It’s that smell you get sometimes when you go to your gym’s indoor pool. That smell that gives you a major headache and makes your eyes watery. That’s combined chlorine in an indoor pool. That means that pool is not properly sanitized. If you put a U.V. system in your indoor pool, you could eliminate that smell completely or at least control it. Depending on how good a job you do maintaining it. So your pool is pleasant to use.
A lot of people in competitive water sports sometimes develop lung issues because of combined chlorine from indoor pools. It is really hard on your lungs and makes swimming indoors extremely unpleasant.
Also, in outdoor pools, sometimes you have iguanas using the bathroom in the pool. Their feces have E.coli and Salmonella. Chlorine is pretty effective at killing both, but U.V. can add that extra layer of protection.
What size U.V. system should you purchase?
There are two types of U.V. systems: Low pressure and Medium pressure.
For outdoor pools, low pressure is well suited. And for indoor pools, medium-pressure U.V. is best. Because it is in indoor pools, there are more issues with combined chlorines than in outdoor pools. Because not only do you feel combined chlorine in indoor pools, but you smell it a lot more as well.
There are 3 types of combined chlorine: Monochloramines, dichloramines, and Trichloramines. Medium Pressure U.V. kills monochloramines, dichloramines, and trichloramines. Where as low pressure U.V. only kills monochloramines, but by killing monochloramines, you definitely reduce any water discomfort. Because combined chlorine starts at monochloramines and then develops into the next two types of chloramines. In indoor pools, they recommend being able to kill the other two types. Just as a safety net. Because if you do get dichloramines and trichloramines in an indoor pool, it is a pain and causes a lot of issues since it’s enclosed.
Cost of U.V. system
Anywhere between $800- $1800. Medium pressure is more about $7800- $45,000 depending on the size of the pool. But like we said, the savings are about 50% on chlorine.
Lifespan of a U.V. system
You usually have to replace the bulb of the U.V. system every 18 months. The bulbs run about $100-$160 on average. Some can be more; it depends.
The key is to get a unit that will last you because the only thing you have to replace most of the time is the bulb. If you get a unit with the chamber made of plastic, it may not last too long. The best would be to get one with a chamber made of stainless steel 316. Which is the strongest stainless steel. Like that, the unit lasts you a long time, and you only have to change the bulb approximately every 18 months. Especially if using the system in a salt water pool, as salt water is very corrosive
One system we recommend is the Luminor system (link https://www.luminoruv.com/products/pool-uv/) because it comes with a sacrificial anode, which helps the system last a long time. Because instead of the corrosive elements of the water attacking the chamber, they attack the sacrificial anode. Also the chamber is made of stainless steel 316.
