What Makes a High Quality UV Water Treatment Equipment?

Since the discovery of the sterilization effect in ultraviolet, UV water treatment has been used in the sterilization of wastewater. UV is suitable for the water treatment for domestic wastewater, municipal water supply, aquaculture, swimming pool and other applications. Today, UV water treatment plays an irreplaceable role in the field of water sterilization.

We have long been engaged in the design, manufacture and foreign trade of a variety of UV water treatment equipment. Based on our years of experience in manufacture, the quality of UV water treatment equipment on the market is uneven. Due to the differences in the selection of components and workmanship, different products vary greatly in their sterilization effect, maintenance and the reliability for long period of use. In this article, we will compare the differences between UV water treatment equipment both in high and low quality in the above-mentioned aspects and show you what a high quality UV water treatment equipment should look like.

1. Material of the Chamber

In the structure of a UV water treatment equipment, the chamber is a sealed space where water will be treated. The final effect of the water treatment will be affected by the material used to build the chamber. Since any types of wastewater may corrode the chamber to some extent, the use of stainless steel is a basic industry requirement. In order to meet the corrosion resistance requirements for wastewater, the chambers of high-quality products are often made of 304 stainless steel, 316L, duplex steel or titanium alloy. To ensure a good durability, the thickness of the stainless steel chamber can reach more than 2mm. To avoid the erosion of wastewater, some low quality UV water treatment equipment even use PVC material, which is quite difficult to clean. More than that, this will cause a contamination of the quartz tube, which will further affect the output of UV. The thickness of their stainless steel chamber can be less than 2mm. Plus their poor corrosion resistance, there will probably be corrosion and water leakage when they are used.

2. Polishing and Anti-corrosion Treatment

The polishing of the stainless steel chamber of a UV water treatment equipment may also affect the treatment effect. The inside of the chamber of a high quality product should be smooth and well-polished. Such processing can ensure the output of the UV radiation, improve its bactericidal effect, and reduce the emergence of bactericidal dead angles. In addition, to meet the needs of the treatment of highly corrosive wastewater, the stainless steel chamber of high-quality products should also be anti-corrosion. The one that has been treated will be at least 1.5 times more corrosion resistance than those untreated ones. For low quality equipment, their chambers tend to be uneven and poorly polished. The problems emerge in these uneven and poorly polished chambers are incomplete sterilization and corrosion, especially for the treatment of strongly corrosive wastewater.

3. Welding Treatment

The metal chamber of a UV water treatment equipment is composed of several stainless steel metal plates welded together. High quality products are usually single side welded and double side molded. Through a special treatment of the weld, the chamber that has been welded is not prone to corrosion and water leakage. And for low quality products, their welding treatment is relatively rough. Due to poor treatment of the weld, the weld will become the weakest position of the chamber. During the welding process, if the welding rod and filler material used is not handled properly, there will possibly be a water leakage.

4. Use of Flanges

High quality UV water treatment equipment adopts flanges at both ends of the chamber. The advantage of the use of flanges is that it will promise a thorough sterilization without affecting the normal flow of water. Also, the use of flanges can avoid the forming of any dead zone for sterilization. When used to treat highly corrosive wastewater, the flanges are not easy to be corroded. It is also easy for later maintenance work. However, to reduce production costs, in low quality equipment, instead of the use of flanges, the use of sealing plates are quite common. This will inevitably lead to the incomplete sterilization of the wastewater, as well as the forming of dead zone for sterilization.

5. Sealing Structure

In the production of equipment, high quality UV water treatment equipment prefer to adopt a seal structure by compression. One of the advantages of using this kind of structure is that for the replacement of UV lamp, there is no need to empty the water first, which is time-efficient. They will also use transparent silicone seals that meet food grade safety requirements. Compared with high quality products, low quality products usually use a sealing structure by screwing and tightening. The water in the chamber must be emptied before a replacement of the UV lamps. They are more difficult to maintain than high quality products.

6. Selection of Components

A high quality product means that the components adopted to make the product are also in high quality. High quality UV water treatment equipment uses UV lamps and other components in higher quality than those low quality ones. The use of high quality UV lamps can ensure that they can be as durable as what has been said in the label. By selecting stable and reliable high-efficiency electronic ballasts, high quality products can not only ensure a better sterilization effect, but also ensure their longer service life. The use of high quality quartz tubes with their light transmittance greater than 90% can also promise a good UV penetration and high intensity output. In addition, even for small components, high quality products will choose to use stainless steel nuts, ceramic connectors to ensure the stability of their performance. And compared with high quality products, their low quality counterparts will only use cheap UV lamps and electrical accessories. The use of aluminum nuts and plastic connectors often presents the risk of early aging and electrical leakage.

7. Cleaning Structure

Regular cleaning is highly necessary to ensure the performance of a UV water treatment equipment. High quality products usually adopt a two-piece cleaning structure that adheres to the casing for a thorough cleaning. Simple in structure, they are high temperature-resistant and corrosion-resistant. They are also easily to be cleaned and not easy to get scaled. When they are used, they are not easy to age or cause any abrasion to the quartz tube. With the use of a two-piece cleaning structure, they can be cleaned without having to turn off the equipment. Comparatively, low quality cleaning structure cannot easily clean the quartz tube as expectation. Some products use silicone cleaning rings that will deform at temperatures above 40 degrees. Sometimes, they are hard to push. And sometimes, they may even break the quartz tube or cause the failure of its motor. Some products even use steel wire brush, which will easily scratch the quartz tube, and affect the radiation of UV.

                                            UV Water Sterilizer

8. Factory Inspection

Factory inspection is the last step to ensure the quality in the products. As a regular checkup, a high quality UV water treatment equipment needs to undergo an air and water pressure test of 0.8 Mpa before leaving the factory. By doing a strict air and water pressure test, we can get to know whether there is any leakage problem. Many low quality products will not experience any test before entering the market. In many cases, they are judged to be of good quality after a simple test, which will be risky for their use in the future.