UV Water purifier
 

Just checking with you all to see if anyone installed a UV water purifier on their cottage. If so, how much does it cost in maintenance? How often do you replace your bulb and filters? We only use the cottage for 3 months of a year, but sometime we rent it out. My biggest worry is losing the pressure because the filter needs to be replaced, and the renters having problems.

If you have any experiences to share, we would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Chris

Out at Welch Island we have a UV water purifier like one of these:
http://www.ultraviolet.com/water/sanitr01.htm

With the water in five to six months a year a UV bulb lasts for more that two years. There are two in line filters ahead of the UV unit, a sediment filter and a carbon filter. We change those filters twice a year.

The UV unit is more than 20 years old, no problems. We have the water tested once a year, in mid June, always comes back negative for bacteria.

But...
 

How does the water taste? We've had a UV filter sitting in the closet for years and haven't put it in because I am a bit fussy about my drinking water. I suppose it should get installed for cooking and coffee purposes at the least. That would cut down on a lot of water lugging. Rattlesnake Guy would really like that!!! :laugh:

I have pretty much the same set up as Slickcraft. Two sediment filters (5 and 50 micron) followed by a UV filter then a carbon filter under the the kitchen sink that also feeds our ice maker in the freezer. Change the sediment filters twice a year and the UV bulb every spring whether it is dead or not. Ultraviolet will lose some of its effectiveness as the bulb ages and that is why I change it every year. Sediment filters are cheap around $10.00 or so each. The UV bulb is not but can be found cheapest on line for around $60.00 or $70.00.

R-Gal, the UV filter has no affect on water taste whatsoever. A simple inexpensive carbon activated filter works extremely well for making water taste great!! You should definitely install that UV filter system!!

Dan

I asked Ms Slickcraft and she said not really any taste at all, a lot like our well water which is a lot like spring water. The carbon filter helps with the taste issue. You really need the sediment and carbon filters in front of the UV unit.

We use the filtered/purified lake water for coffee, cooking, ice cubes and occasional drinking. We keep a gallon or two of water from home at camp for the occasional fussy visitor. Of course there is always beer.:D

UV treatment of water and Filtration
 

Two things are necessary when treating surface water for drinking purposes. First is filtration to remove suspended solids. A cotton filter will remove solids from the water. Second you need to remove VOC or volitile organic chemicals such as oil and gasoline from boats. This is done with a carbon filter. Also, surface water tends to contain cysts which can be removed with a 5 micron carbon filter. Last we kill the bacteria by bathing the water in UV light.
So a good system needs to incorporate all 3 of these parts. How often you have to change the filter will depend on your intake. The deeper the better as there are less suspended solids and alge gowth is less the deeper you go. If your intake is close to shore wave action really stirs up and suspends solids. The UV will not change the taste of water and there is no residual effect. The carbon filter will make your water taste as it should, like nothing.
Google UV water treatment and many manufactures will come up. You will need to decide if you are treating all your water or just water say at the kitchen and bathroom sink.
Filter changes will depend on the clarity of the incoming water. On the northwest side of Bear I change my filters every 30 days as flow drops off. My intake is 200 ft from shore in 35 ft of water. Be sure to keep the foot valve off the bottom.
Since your application is seasonal and the system is shut down and somewhat open over the winter you need to disinfect your piping by adding a cup of bleach to a filter canister and flushing it into the piping when you turn the water on to kill any bacteria in the pipes. Remember the UV light has no residual effect so your clean water will be contaminated by bacteria in your pipes after the UV unit. Wait 2 hours before fushing out the clorinated water and remember if you have a septic to flush it into buckets not down the drain. Do not want to kill the good bacteria in the septic. Clorine will gas off in 2-3 days

A UV can have an affect on taste but the impact will likely be quite slight. A 185nm UV will oxidize organics (taste and color) and can affect taste, but this is not likely. A 254nm UV is by far most common and it primarily oxidizes bacteria with very minor affect on organics. Either way, it will be destroying organics that impart taste, not adding anything that will introduce new taste. Carbon will remove (adsorb) any free chlorine/chloramine (from municipal water supplies) and low molecular weight organics and can certainly affect taste, depending on the source.

Clarification
 

We have a dug well that has been there for 53 years. We had it tested, and the only thing that spiked was Total Coloform (sp). We were told that unless we had compromised immune systems, or were very young, it would probably be ok. Everything else was fine.

Thanks everyone for you input. We appreciate it!

Chris

5micron filters are OK for giardia lamblia cysts but will do very little for cryptosporidium. For crypto, you need 1 micron absolute filters, not to be confused with 1 micron filters.

Be careful with the filter ratings. A 5 micron filter will often pass particles as large as 20 microns while a 5 micron absolute will essentially retain all particles larger than 5 micron.

Great information was supplied above by bilproject.

At our cabin we use Pura UV-B-3 three stage filter. The filtered water goes to a separate spigot installed on the sink and to the ice maker in the refrigerator. All our guests are shown the spigot and told that it is the drinking and cooking water supply.

I replace the filters every year and the lamp about every 3 years.

http://www.purauv.com/puraundersink.htm


I also use a sediment filter for all the water to the house. It clogs quickly and will restrict flow if not replaced every few weeks. A sediment filter does not purify the water.

Why even bother with all this purification stuff? Just go get yourself a three or four gallon, bright blue plastic, water lugger-jug and haul treated municipal water out to your island for drinking and cook'n. For everything else, just use the water pumped straight out of the lake and into your little cottage plumbing - kitchen and bathroom faucets. Maybe once or twice a year you unscrew the faucet aerators and wash out any accumulated lake debris from the slightly clogged little faucet, aerator fine wire mesh screens. This seems to work just fine!

We use a big blue cartridge sediment filter and a Trojan UV filter. Ours has a warning light on it when the UV bulb is dead. It lasts 2 years. Gilford Well did our system.

A UV and sediment filter will have no negative effect on taste. If anything it will help improve it by screening anything out that could negatively affect it. We change the sediment filter twice a season. Our water draws from about 10 feet down and tastes perfect.

RG, for drinking water we use the Zero water bottle on a standard water cooler. We pour lake water in and it filters and stores it as an upside down water cooler bottle would. I know this is off topic but to your question of taste and the water lugging, it tastes great and there is no carrying of water cases in, bottles everywhere and less trash to carry off. For the island, it is great.

http://www.zerowater.com/products.html

want to UV filter installed - who to call?
 

We want a uv filter for our cottage on one of the islands on the lake. Any suggestions on the best company in the Lakes Region to do this for us? I called a plumber in the area & left messages but he never called back so I assume a regular plumber doesn't do that sort of installation. I only know of Integrated Water Systems in Center Harbor. Are they good to deal with. What's the average cost of a uv system?
Thanks for your help, Doodles