Can pentair be installed partially in water?

[Bleigh]

Hey y’all. So trying to figure out how to get my pentair uv sterilizer plumbed into my tank. I was thinking horizontal above the sump, and was needing to add some 2x6’s to mount it to. but a friend asked what the problem would be with installing it vertical so that the bottom 2-3 inches was submersed. I can’t think of a reason as to why this would be a problem as the electrical is all on the other side and the tubing is full of water at that point anyway. I can’t find any info where people have done this before. Is there something I’m not considering?

 

[Biglew11]

Sounds like it should be fine to me. The casing is pvc and filled with water inside. I don't see why water outside would hurt it.
The electricle is sealed at the other end, so that should also be fine.

I ran this unit for dinos. And see no reason the non electrical end can't
be submerged.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/emperor-aquatics-smart-uv-40-watt.html

 

[Greg P]

Aside from the obvious electrical concerns, I'd be looking into how the housing can stand up to SW.
Not all plastics are able to handle SW long-term. Some leach chems back into SW

 

[JumboShrimp]

May I assume that 2-3 inches matter because you are trying to mount it “inside” your stand? If so, if the back of you tank is painted, you might want to give serious consideration to using the two mounting brackets BRS sells and mounting it behind your tank stand (since it won’t be seen). Remember, depending on the size of your unit, pulling out the bulb to change it will take roughly the height of the unit, which can be considerable. Best wishes with whatever you decide!

 

[Idoc]

If it's anything like my Aqua UV, you'll be changing the bulb every 6-9 months! So, definitely mint it so this is easily accessible.

 

[Bleigh]

May I assume that 2-3 inches matter because you are trying to mount it “inside” your stand? If so, if the back of you tank is painted, you might want to give serious consideration to using the two mounting brackets BRS sells and mounting it behind your tank stand (since it won’t be seen). Remember, depending on the size of your unit, pulling out the bulb to change it will take roughly the height of the unit, which can be considerable. Best wishes with whatever you decide!

Yep. I want to put it in the stand. I have a peninsula tank. There isn’t a behind the stand option. Even the small space against the wall is visible from all sides. We’ve run all cord the rough the wall to make it super clean.

 

[Bleigh]

If it's anything like my Aqua UV, you'll be changing the bulb every 6-9 months! So, definitely mint it so this is easily accessible.

it’s getting time to change the bulb already. It’s super accessible.

 

[Bleigh]

Sounds like it should be fine to me. The casing is pvc and filled with water inside. I don't see why water outside would hurt it.
The electricle is sealed at the other end, so that should also be fine.

I ran this unit for dinos. And see no reason the non electrical end can't
be submerged.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/emperor-aquatics-smart-uv-40-watt.html

This was my thought too. The bottom section is filled with water anyway. So even if it were to leak, it’s leaking where there’s water. Now I don’t want it to leak so badly that water isn’t making it to the top, but if that were the case, I’d assume the unit was defective.

 

[Bleigh]

Aside from the obvious electrical concerns, I'd be looking into how the housing can stand up to SW.
Not all plastics are able to handle SW long-term. Some leach chems back into SW

All the electrical is at the top. The water is running through the inside. Do they put a different type of material on the outside than they do on the inside. As far as I can tell the outside is one solid tube that the salt water is flowing through. Let me see if I can find a diagram of the pentair.

 

[Bleigh]

So here’s the diagram. The bottom is clear and I could see my finger through the bottom, so definitely isn’t lined with anything.

And here’s the pictures of how we did it. I want to redo the plumbing to get a manifold in, but this it the 3rd plumbing attempt, so I need to buy all new plumbing parts to make it look nicer, so if this is going to cause problems, i can definitely change the design. But this is so clean and neat and out of the way.

This shows the electrical and how it’s completely out of the way.

And this shows how’s its mounted. Just have to undo the unions and undo the brackets and i can take it out to replace the bulb.
Edit to add, the section with the flow meter will run horizontally under the tank, but we ran out of parts to do that. Like I said, we redid it multiple times, trying to figure out how to get it to fit out of the way.

 

[JumboShrimp]

All told then, with the electrical components at the top of the unit, and the Pentair using (I read) a material that supposedly is designed not to disintegrate due to the UV, I’d say you’re fine. Logically: if the inside of the tube is in contact with saltwater AND UV, how could the outside coming in contact with 2-3” of saltwater alone at the bottom be a problem. {Wink}

 

[stacksoner]

This is how I mounted mine when I had a peninsula

 

[ScottB]

Nice clean install. I see no issues with this. Hopefully you have enough slack in the power cord (between unit and ballast) that the ballast can remain fastened when the unit is removed for bulb change.

 

[JumboShrimp]

@slewrock1 seems to have given his unit a slight angle (as recommended for a horizontal mounting) so bubbles won’t settle as they could with a strictly level mounting. Two-thumbs-up!

 

[Bleigh]

All told then, with the electrical components at the top of the unit, and the Pentair using (I read) a material that supposedly is designed not to disintegrate due to the UV, I’d say you’re fine. Logically: if the inside of the tube is in contact with saltwater AND UV, how could the outside coming in contact with 2-3” of saltwater alone at the bottom be a problem. {Wink}

That’s my logic. This was being used on my 60 gallon tank, but behind the stand. I really should have the larger size for this new tank. The bigger size wont fit that way, I’m certain. So if the outside does get messed up, I’ll get the size I really should have and mount it out of the water.

 

[Bleigh]

This is how I mounted mine when I had a peninsula

That was the second idea I was thinking about, but it makes it so hard to get to everything else. If I end up upgrading, it will have to be horizontal.

 

[Bleigh]

Nice clean install. I see no issues with this. Hopefully you have enough slack in the power cord (between unit and ballast) that the ballast can remain fastened when the unit is removed for bulb change.

There should be. We did make a bit of a drip loop. The clamps are easily undone as well.

 

[Bleigh]

@slewrock1 seems to have given his unit a slight angle (as recommended for a horizontal mounting) so bubbles won’t settle as they could with a strictly level mounting. Two-thumbs-up!

For sure if I went horizontal!

 

[stacksoner]

That was the second idea I was thinking about, but it makes it so hard to get to everything else. If I end up upgrading, it will have to be horizontal.

Honestly, the thing is the size of a rocket launcher and there's no way to place it in a sump cabinet without it getting in the way.

I was looking into UV LED inline fixtures and drove myself nuts trying to make it work.

I would recommend finding a way to mount it vertical on the outside of your cabinet where it faces the wall.

 

[Bleigh]

Honestly, the thing is the size of a rocket launcher and there's no way to place it in a sump cabinet without it getting in the way.

I was looking into UV LED inline fixtures and drove myself nuts trying to make it work.

I would recommend finding a way to mount it vertical on the outside of your cabinet where it faces the wall.

Well this is how I have it mounted currently. It’s a peninsula tank in the middle of the room and you can see behind the wall side. Was just curious if anyone could think of a reason why the bottom shouldn’t be in the water, as it’s just pvc piping.