FAQs about ultraviolet light water purifiers

09 Dec FAQs about ultraviolet light water purifiers

There are dozens of water purification products on the market, from carbon-filter pitchers to reverse osmosis filtration to ultraviolet (UV) light disinfectors. The latter is a growing category of water purification due to UV’s ability to destroy harmful bacteria. This post answers some of the top questions related to residential, commercial and industrial water purification products.  

What does the Canopus water purification product do?

The C-UV100 is a water disinfection or purifying product. It eliminates most biological and microbial contaminants in water such as bacteria (E-Coli, Coliform, Legionella, Salmonella), Viruses (Rotavirus, Hepatitis A, Polio) and Cysts (Giardia, Cryptosporidium and microsporidia).

How does it work?

Ultraviolet (UV) light has been proven to be a potent non-chemical disinfectant. UV light kills cells by damaging the DNA. DNA is the structure that carries the genetic code of any living organism.UV light initiates a reaction between two molecules of thymine, one of the core nucleobases that make up DNA. Thus, subjecting it to UVC radiation will disrupt its structure and cause all information about the organism to be lost, preventing it from multiplying and weakening it. As a result, water is sanitized to the highest standards without the addition of potentially harmful chemicals.

What makes the C-UV100 unique among UV systems on the market?

Current UV systems use long lamps, like neon lights, filled with mercury vapor to generate the appropriate UV wavelength. Mercury presents a significant health hazard and requires yearly lamp replacement, which becomes a risky venture. The C-UV100 uses a new type of light-emitting diode (LED) that emits light in the germicidal range. 

LEDs can be discarded just like any electronic device. In addition to the inherent safety of the C-UV100, the lamp is energy efficient. The C-UV100 uses roughly 1/10th the energy used by some mercury-based products. It’s also safer and more reliable since there is no high voltage ballast and no sleeve to clean.

How does the C-UV100 compare to traditional mercury-based UV lamps?

In many legacy products, UV light is generated using mercury lamps. Mercury is a gas that, when ionized, emits light in the UV range. Currently these lamps are the de-facto light source for UV water disinfection products due to their cost and availability. Mercury lamps come with major drawbacks including:

• Short lifespan (six months to one year)
• Mercury is a hazardous gas, hence, if the lamp breaks during replacement it causes a major health risk
• Long warm-up cycle
• Lamp failure risk in the case of water shortage
• Causes fouling (the process where foulants accumulate on the surface of the quartz sleeve)
• Non-uniform UV production, which limits reactor design and mounting/ installation options

How is UV-C different from carbon filtration?

Filters are physical or mechanical barriers that block the flow of organic compounds that contaminate water such as lead, arsenic, fluoride and others. While filters can block these contaminants and improve the taste of water, they fail to remove biological contaminants such as bacteria. Typical pore size for common drinking water filters is 5 microns (1 micron is one millionth of a meter). A bacterium can be less than a micron in size while a virus can be as small as a 1/10th of a micron.

What is reverse osmosis filtration?

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a type of filtration that relies on a membrane with small pores to purify water. Because pore size is small, water flow through such systems is low and therefore requires a holding tank while the water with the pollutants is flushed away. Typical RO systems recover 15% to 20% of the water.

RO systems are very popular due to their effectiveness in removing heavy metals and other chemicals, and because they are paired with activated carbon filters to improve the taste and color of the water. However, they are bulky and waste a significant amount of water. Residential and low-cost RO systems fail to remove bacteria and viruses, so they can be an excellent complement to UV systems.

How easy is the C-UV100 to install?

There are no special requirements for installation. It is a simple process of plumbing in the water inlet and plugging in the power.

What maintenance is required for the C-UV100?

Like installation, maintenance is extremely easy. Replacing the LED requires the removal of a cover plate which is attached by two allen-type screws. After the removal of the screws, the old LED is detached and the new one plugged in. The LED assembly needs to be replaced annually.