How is your UV plumbed in?

[DaveS]

Just wanted to get some input from those with UV lamps on how theirs is plumbed in. I got an Aqua 40W unit like this one: http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~AV2231.html

 

The way it was put together for me is to have a 3/4" barbed fitting the input/outputs. Vinyl tubing was then attached via steel clamps and routed where it needed to go. It worked for a while until the other night... Just after dinner the water alarm goes off. I run downstairs to see water gushing everywhere. The barb broke off and the output of my sump pump was was just shooting onto the floor. Well 15 gallons of cleanup later I bypassed my UV and the tank is fine. I was about to go to HD to get another barb to replace the broken one but then it occurred that maybe there's a better way. I don't know if using hard plumbing for most of the length is any better or if there are other ideas.

 

I don't know what caused the barb to break in the first place. Maybe the steel clamp was on too tight, maybe there was too much torque from the vinyl tubing between the weight of the tube/water and the routing it had to go as it wound under my tank. I suspect the later since the installer had to reinforce the tubing by the output to keep it from kinking too much. All I know is I want to make sure a failure like that doesn't happen again.

 

Any ideas would be great!

['Ric]

I agree. If reinforcement had to be added to keep the tubing from kinking too much, it seems that would indicate that it was putting a lot of lateral force on the fitting.

 

I have mine set up with it's own pump from my up-draft DSB sump to my fuge. The out tubing makes a bit of a circular loop so it doesn't pull sideways on the fittings. But, I think I'll look it over again to make sure after reading your post.

 

Another thing to note is that plain PVC pipe will degrade and become brittle over time when exposed to UV light. The fitting should have been made from the type that has UV inhibitors mixed into the formula to prevent ultimate failure. If the manufacture's barb fittings were used, they are probably the correct type of PVC. If an off-the-shelf fitting was used and it had been running for a while, that could have been a factor, too. But, I think this info applies more to what you replace the barb fitting with. I recommend getting a "real" replacement made for UV connections from a manufacturer rather than a Home Depot one (unless the latter specifically says it's UV resistant in its specs.

 

At least your tank is in the basement. I worry about something like that happening to me on the 7th floor of a high rise. The liability exposure from the units next to me and below me is not very comforting. Even though I consciously try to design my system to be as "fail safe" as possible I've already had a couple spills of a couple/few gallons of water each that luckily didn't cause any damage beyond my unit

 

....that I know of

 

...yet.

 

'Ric

[Guest webshout]

I'm running a Turbo Twist 36 thru a Magnum 350. Just regular tubing, but quick connects added as well. I did see in the manual that elbows were avaliable to ease set up.

 

Good luck.

 

William

[jason the filter freak]

i have mine mounted horizontially in line with my rena XP4