Paramount Ultra UV is leaking - Remove or repair?

[SlipperyPete]

When the pool was installed 3 years ago, the builder talked me into the UV sanitizer. It is now leaking pretty severely from the center line where the light is visible. what to do? How hard is this thing to remove?

If I were to fix it, is it something that is easy? I don't think it's worth spending $500 to fix the thing especially if it didn't last 3 years from new.

If I remove it, there are some challenges as well. I only have 1/2" of PVC at the outlet before the tee which I don't know if I can get a coupler on it. Also, I have no idea how this thing is wired. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[ajw22]

Remove it.

UV Systems - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Get rid of it and redo the plumbing. It’s not hard, maybe a lazy-Saturday afternoon’s worth of work. As long as you follow the simple PVC plumbing/gluing guidelines, it’s nothing more than fitting and gluing a few pieces of PVC together. Really not hard.

My first guess is the UV sterilizer is probably leaking from the quartz tube sleeve that sits in the center of the unit. It houses the UV lamps and it is sealed from the water supply by a couple of rubber o-rings. Those o-rings will degrade over time and leak. If that is the source then it is fixable but requires a lot of careful disassembly. If you crack the quartz tube then you’re looking at around $150 for a new one. If the bulbs haven’t been changed in 3 years, then they’re probably not putting out much UV anymore and should be changed. UV sterilizer require regular PM and without that they fail or become quite useless.

 

[SlipperyPete]

I also have a ClearO3 (Ozone system from Paramount). I believe it is independent of the Ultra UV. Can I remove the Ultra UV and leave the ClearO3? I believe the ClearO3 system connects to the pump and I don't have a plug to fill that hole (yet).

While I'm familiar with cutting and gluing the PVC together, I'm hesitant to do it with only 1/2" exposed b/t the Ultra UV and the Tee. That doesn't leave much room for the coupler and I'd rather not buy a $50 reamer if I can avoid it. I have a spa so I don't think I should slide a reducer in to make it work. Without looking up the specs, I don't think dropping the flow down to 1-1/2" will be acceptable. Any suggestions?

 

[flynwill]

The easiest thing will be to cut out the Tee also, and add two couplers and a new TEE. You might want to consider re-doing the plumbing a bit further towards where those return lines go to get all the plumbing close to the ground rather up in the air.

If it were me I'd go ahead and remove the Ozone unit at the same time, it is just as useless as the UV system.

Also you should paint all the exposed white PVC pipe to protect it from the sunlight.