Diy Uv Sterilizer

[blabadie]

Hello,

Firstly, if I do accomplish this and don't melt my eyes out of my head, I don't take any responsibility for anyone else who tries to make their own as well.

Ok, my idea:

I have a 2inch PVC pipe that I will put a small diameter tube down in a spiral motion along the sides. The 13w bulb will then be placed into the spiral of tubing and capped off on both ends. The 2inch pvc pipe will then be placed in a 3-4inch pvc pipe and sealed off one more time to prevent any chance of UV light "leaking" out of the pipe. Water will be driven into the tubing (which will come out of holes drilled into the sides of the pvc) by a powerhead. I will test my "hook-up" by first using a normal compact flourescent light. I found a compact fluorescent light at a hardware store that looks exactly like a UV bulb i've seen on Ebay.

Any objections, comments, questions?

This is my initial post. Anyone know where I can get a fixture for such a bulb? I might have to buy a lamp and do some "unrigging."

Brandon

 

[SkiFletch]

The problem with DIY UV is that not only is UV light exceptionally damaging to human tissues, it will also degrade many plastics over time. You have to make SURE that the materials you choose to both shield the bulb from water, AND shield the outer chamber are UV resistant. Many plastics (I'm not sure about PVC), especially clear ones are NOT UV resistant. You're going to have to research any materials you use thoroughly to find out if they are UV resistant. The only non-metal material I know that does not decay under UV radiation is glass. Also, the bulb CANNOT, repeat, CANNOT contact water.

 

[andywg]

The other problem is making sure the void space between the bulb and water is short enough that the light will kill pathogens, and that the flow rate allows long enough contact for the pathogens to be killed.

 

[blabadie]

I think making sure the space between the water and the bulb won't be hard, ill just have to check on the materials I use.

Brandon

 

[dylema]

And on the plastics thing. Make sure the tube doesn't absorb all the UV and not let it through to the water. You will need to word your sentence right asking for UV stable plastic that is trasparent to UV. My two cents.