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Why CleanZone II is important

UV (UVC) rays instantly kill 99.9%* of micro-organisms, bacteria, viruses and parasites. The primary payoff for consumers is twofold: relatively chemical-free water, and simplified, less expensive water maintenance. In addition, the fact is, that chlorine doesn’t remove pesticides or many other chemicals now in plentiful

supply. Further research shows that chlorine in water can react with naturally occurring materials to form unintended disinfection byproducts with additional

serious health risks. Spas in particular experience a much higher bather load, increasing the microbiological and chemical hazards associated with the managing a safe and pleasant environment. Of the most common species of bacteria found in spas, many show resistance to chlorine-based disinfectants as used in salt generators when dosed at practical levels.

Ozone and UV.

An ultraviolet lamp emits a germicidal (UVC) ray, which alters or disrupts the DNA or RNA of targeted organisms.  By properly installing an in-line Ultraviolet system, organisms can be instantly eradicated effectively without any harmful residuals. Like UV, ozone treats water instantaneously, but it has no chemical residual strength, which is why a certain amount of chlorine or bromine is still recommended.  UV systems, in conjunction with sanitizer, do a tremendous job at eliminating pesky viruses and bacteria that chlorine sometimes only hobbles.  And although about 25 percent of the chlorine is destroyed when it runs through UV systems, users end up saving on chemical costs as less chlorine/bromine is needed.

Using a high out-put UV lamp to destroy bacteria followed by a powerful ozonator for effective oxidation; creates the ultimate in water treatment technology. 

What is Ultraviolet (UV)?

Light waves can be measured by the length of the light wave.  Light wave can be classified in different spectrums, which run from Cosmic rays on one end of the spectrum, to Radio waves on the other end of the light spectrum.  To do the job of sanitizing the pool water, we use the light waves near the center of the spectrum, called  UV-C, with a short wavelength of 2537 Angstrom, or 254 nanometers.  This light wave is in the range called UV-C.  This range produces germicidal (germ killing) ultraviolet and for our purposes, is ideal in that when properly exposed, UV-C has the ability to deactivate the DNA of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens and destroys their ability to multiply and cause disease.  The process that the UV-C uses is that exposure of micro-organisms to the UV-C light waves in the proper intensity and for the proper duration, causes damage to the nucleic acid of micro-organisms, which in simple terms, disrupts the bonds of  bases of the DNA to one another and the organism is unable to reproduce without such bonds.  After proper UV-C exposure, the organism will die when it attempts to replicate itself. 

In the design of the Elektra UV system, we first create a vessel (wet chamber) to hold the pool water in proximity to the low pressure UV-C wavelength generating lamp that is inside the vessel.  When designing a unit, the flow rate of the water is calculated against the pump’s output, and the vessel size is selected to hold the pool water for approximately 2-3 seconds (the time varies depending upon the vessel material and other considerations). 

Inside the wet chamber, there is a special quartz tube that is open at the bulb insertion end, and closed at the opposite end. The quartz tube is sealed for water tightness inside the wet chamber, but is open for insertion of the UV lamp into the quartz tube.  The purpose of the quartz tube is to provide a barrier between the pool water and the UV lamp, as the lamp cannot be placed in direct contact with the pool water.  A special high UV-C transmission rate quartz is used for this tube, as normal Pyrex® or similar glass does not transmit UV-C light waves at the same high transmission rate as the special quartz tube used in all Elektra UV systems.

When the construction of the Elektra UV system is complete in our factory, the UV-C lamp is ready to do its job of emitting light waves to the bacterium in the  pool water passing though the wet chamber.  As you will note below, this technology is not only very economical to operate, with nothing more than a simple annual lamp replacement required (all Delta UV High Output Lamps are rated a full 9000 hours usable life (approximately one year of continuous use) before the output falls below the design output criterion of 30,000 µW/sec/cm2  at lamp end-of-life (EOL), but is far superior to chlorine as a sanitizer for swimming pool use, as it kills many chlorine resistant micro-organisms and delivers its killing power on a consistent basis, rather then the ups and downs of chlorine dosing.

The additional benefit of using UV over chlorine is that the UV attacks the chloramines that develop during the hydrolysis process in chlorine sanitation (whereby the active chlorine is locked up in nitrogen-ammonia compounds) and the reduction of chloramines results in both elimination of the “chlorine smell” found in many pools, as well as a dramatic reduction in the need for chlorine (tests and users report chlorine use reduction of 70% or more).