OP
/pine
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2009
- Messages
- 15,763
Only a miniature that is part of small water (birdbath) feature...
Any other surface water users ?
- Thread starter /pine
- Start date
- Views: 2956
WayneB
Elite Member
We use a surface (dug well) here in New Hampshire that was here when we purchased the place. From what I can tell it has been in use for over 200 years. The well is spring feed from the hill behind the house and we have it tested yearly.
I also have dual filter in line, one is a Sediment, and the other a carbon block filter. I also added a UV Disinfection System in line with the water plumbing.
Many people around here have problems with their drilled wells mainly hard water and in some cases high arsenic levels. Many of these wells are over 400 feet deep. I decided it was easier to go with what we have and just protect it as best as we can.
At our summer home we have a sand point that is about ten feet deep in the ground. It has worked great over the past ten years with little or no problems with the system I have installed multiple filters and a UV Disinfection Systems.
I also have dual filter in line, one is a Sediment, and the other a carbon block filter. I also added a UV Disinfection System in line with the water plumbing.
Many people around here have problems with their drilled wells mainly hard water and in some cases high arsenic levels. Many of these wells are over 400 feet deep. I decided it was easier to go with what we have and just protect it as best as we can.
At our summer home we have a sand point that is about ten feet deep in the ground. It has worked great over the past ten years with little or no problems with the system I have installed multiple filters and a UV Disinfection Systems.
Wayne, we basically have the same set up. I run two filters with UV that just feeds my kitchen so changing filters only happens once a year or so at a cost of under 20 bucks. My UV bulbs run literally for years and I always keep an extra one in stock.
Rob
WayneB
Elite Member
When I installed the On Demand Hot Water system I went ahead and up-graded the UV lamp to cover 8 gpm and still use the same two filters. I change them every other month, maybe could push it out further than that, but it isn't that expensive and I guess I am a creature of habit.
As for the UV lamps I have been changing them at home once a year! Pretty expensive but that is what they recommend. Do you think they do that just to get me to spend more money with them? At our summer home / camp I run the unit only when we are there and the counter on the lamp is by actual run time so we get 365 days out of the lamp and I do not change it until the time is up.
If I remember correctly my UV system is around 5 or 6 gpm. I'm using it on a POU (point of use) dedicated faucet on my kitchen sink. I could do the math and tell you the maximum flow rate of the 1/4" pipe it comes out of but it will never reach the capacity of the lamp. On the lamp there is a sensor that measures the UV and kicks off an alarm if it falls below a specific point.
Water running through the lamp housing remains in the housing so long because of the low flow rate that it would sterilize the bacteria if it was half its power. I was thinking about building a UV LED sterilizer but LEDs aren't capable of emitting light in the portion of the UV spectrum that sterilizes bacteria. (240 nm, if I remember)
Besides the lamp lasts so long it would almost be moot. I spoke to a firm that wanted me to develop a sensing system to turn the light off and on when the water ran but we found that the light wouldn't last any longer. Timing your lamp for a year is spinning your wheels, sorry.
Instead of changing your lamp every year, why don't you have your water tested. Several places do it for free and you might find the lamp doesn't need replacement. By the way UV doesn't kill bacteria, it sterilizes it preventing its multiplication.
I change my filters when the flow slows down. Seeing that it is only used for POU ( There's no reason to shower with it, for example) the filters last a very long time.
I stopped testing my water. I know my system so well now it wouldn't be of any use.
Rob
