Ultra-Violet light units.

Blue Lagoon Ultra-Violet light units

The Blue Lagoon UV system incorporates a high quality Phillips UV lamp and all models come with an electronic ballast which is able to withstand variable voltages.

• How does U-V light work? Such a unit would normally be plumbed into your pool pipe-work just after the filter, so that a pool's full flow of water passes through the chamber. The U-V light tube is encased in an outer glass tube - the U-V light shines through it and the wave length of the UV-C light pattern neutralises bacteria, disrupting the DNA to prevent it from regenerating. The highly polished insides of these stainless tubes reflects the UV-C light and this helps to raise the efficiency of the units by up to 35%.

• The UVC015, is for pools up to 15,000 litres - 3,300 gallons, with a maximum flow rate of 7,2 m3/h. The UVC015 uses a 16 watt lamp! Our special price is £280 inc VAT.

• The UVC035, is for pools up to 35,000 litres - 7,700 gallons, with a maximum flow rate of 15 m3/h. The UVC035 uses a 40 watt lamp. Our special price is £330.

• The UVC070, is for pools up to 70,000 litres - 15,420 gallons with a maximum flow rate of 20 m3/h. The UVC070 uses a 75 watt lamp. Our special price is £425.

• The UVC150, is for pools up to 150,000 litres - 30,800 gallons with a maximum flow rate of 40 m3/h. The UVC150 uses a single 130 watt Amalgam lamp. Our special price is £785.

The lamps are designed and made by Phillips,with an effective life of 9,000 running hours - twelve months if you run your pool equipment continuously. If your pool flow is efficient and the filtration system effective, you can reduce the running hours of the U-V system - depending upon a pool's bather loadings. For example a pool with a good filtration rate could be cut back to use its U-V system for as little as 12 hours out of 24, and this extends the lamp life to over two years.

How can U-V let you use less chlorine in a pool?
U-V treatment only affects the water as it passes through the stainless steel chamber, which is why you need a small residual of chemical disinfectant in the pool to deal with fresh contamination as it is introduced to the pool. However, the real advantage is that in many cases the free chlorine level can be reduced from say 1.5 or 2.0 mg/l or parts per million, to less than 0.5ppm if a pool's filtration system is effective, and turnover rates are good. The faster the turnover rate, the lower the level of free residual that can be maintained in the pool - simply because water is re-treated by U-V more frequently.

U-V light is generated inside a closed chamber - it is too dangerous to look at light in this frequency range - it would damage the retina as the colour is like a welding torch. The exposure time of a fraction of a second is all that is needed. It cannot be maintained in water after leaving the U-V chamber, which is why a back-up residual is needed.

As U-V neutralises bacteria so quickly and efficently when exposed to light of this special wave-length, only a small amount of chemical such as chlorine is needed as a back-up. This is because a non-chemical disinfection system (i.e. electricity) has dealt with the 'primary kill' of bacteria. Swimming pools that are heavily used can really benefit from using a U-V system, as extra large quantities of chemical are not needed.

If you like the idea of using a salt-based system, think again! You need 4000ppm of salt in the water, and for this you add 4kg of salt to each cubic metre of pool volume. The salt solution is fed into a chamber and a small current is passed through the solution, which has the effect of breaking down the salt (sodium chloride) - to release chlorine

If you have any questions on the theory and use of U-V light for swimming pool treatment, please contact us and ask, we will do our best to help you. We have commissioned and operated swimming pools to run on U-V based systems, with free chlorine residuals as low as 0.25ppm. If you want to reduce chlorine use on the planet, and also avoid the long term carcinogenic risks associated with gases such as chlorine - then U-V systems have got to be taken into account, to reduce the use of chlorine.

The 40W and 75W systems include a built in timer which can be set to cut off the UV system in accordance with the running time of the circulation pump if it is not being run 24/7 and prevent the UV system from being accidentally left on resulting in overheating. The timer also has an operation time counter so you will know when it is time to change the lamps. The 130W system does not have a timer and instead it has an integrated flow sensor to eliminate the system working in no-flow situations.

From the start of 2009 we aim to keep stocks of replacement lamps and quartz sleeves, and you replace these yourself - you don't need to be an electrician to do this - it takes just a few minutes!