PSA**Pentair UV**PSA

[piranhaman00]

Hello,

UV has become very popular over the past few years with Pentair being one of the top brands. This thread pertains only to pentair but may include other brands**

I have had two pentair 40 watt UV systems running for almost 3 years now. I recently was around my tanks in complete darkness and noticed that I could see the UV light coming through the housing.

Obviously this is not good, the plastic is degrading to the point of light leaching out, this will eventually fail. I dug around and found several reports of this happening to others.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/uv-light-penetrating-casing.949561/#post-10793123

I believe that these units are only now starting to fail in numbers and it becoming apparent because users now have units that are 3-4-5+ years old, giving time for the UV light to crack the housing.

I called Pentair and my units were 1 day within the 3 year warranty on the housing. They are replacing the housing but due to an EPA issue they are not shipping anything until further notice.

500$+ units should not have plastic degradation problems. There was a time when people said not to use Jebao UVs because of this same issue, well now it’s in the “top tier” units as well.

*I would highly recommend anyone running these units check them out in complete darkness. If you are in warranty get them replaced before damage occurs*

I for one do not want their housing so I made my own.

1. Use a heat gun to remove the two end fittings which are needed for the UV to work at all. There are several you tube videos on how to do this. Works great , do this outside.

2. Sand the inside of the fitting so it’s smooth. Remove the plastic carefully in step 1, soften pvc lightly and put back in place if damage occurs

3. Make the body section using 3” standard PVC. Only part not proprietary :/

Do not use the ground to hammer the pvc into place :( good thing I had double of all parts

And all done. You can see how different the wall thickness is of the standard PVC, will work much better. Obviously paint the pvc if you wish, I actually like the white and black look.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Well done. I have a jebao unit on one display and a aqua uv on the other. Outside of the aqua uv being overpriced, after seeing it's mostly made with off the shelf parts I'm overall happy with it.

I've been watching the jebao unit like a hawk, it's a few years in and so far so good...

 

[Stoney]

You really think regular pvc would fare better? I'm deep in aqua UV units and I assumed they were using UV resistant parts. Would feel pretty stupid if regular pvc outperforms it lol

 

[piranhaman00]

You really think regular pvc would fare better? I'm deep in aqua UV units and I assumed they were using UV resistant parts. Would feel pretty stupid if regular pvc outperforms it lol

Im sure they just use regular PVC, pvc is very UV resistant, and at twice as thick i have high hopes

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Im sure they just use regular PVC, pvc is very UV resistant, and at twice as thick i have high hopes

Aqua UV's are just standard pvc. Only the housing ends are somewhat not off the shelf.

 

[Stoney]

Man what a ripoff. Why are these things so dang expensive??

 

[piranhaman00]

Let everything dry for 20 hours, no leaks :)

 

[blaxsun]

AquaUltraviolet for the win! I've been reading for over a year that Pentair was superior; so glad I just went with AquaUltraviolet instead.

 

[Scorpius]

Aquaultraviolet user here of over three years on the same unit and I don't have this problem, yet.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

The really scary part is thinking about where the plastic went

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Aquaultraviolet user here of over three years on the same unit and I don't have this problem, yet.

You prolly won't as that pvc is much thicker. That pentair reminds me of a jebao in terms of thickness.

 

[hart24601]

This is the exact reason I just bought a lifeguard pro UV. They sell pvc liners for a few bucks that you replace each year. It was a huge selling point for me and after seeing this I am relieved I got it but sucks this is happening to people.

 

[August]

This is an awesome retrofit and it sparks my interest in building a UV light system from replacement parts and my own housing... But that is crazy talk :D

 

[Pico bam]

I need to do this repair with two of my 40w pentair units.

Question here is pvc really the material I should be using for this application?

I thought abs was more resilient but now I'm checking and it seems that pvc or even un-plasticized pvc is the way to go. If anybody feels like dropping some knowledge I could use it.

 

[Braver69]

The review you quoted for 6 years of service, was me. Probably the most frustrating thing was the fact that Pentair just ignored me and my email. Will never ever support that company again, I was just glad I was home when it happened. Other problem is this issue is hard to notice unless you grab the tube in the right spot and feel the softness or start to see the glow of the UV light. Also just had someone I know that had the same light fail on them as well. They are a ticking time bomb if you have one on your tank.

 

[super_glue_foot]

Did this work? If so, did it have the same issue later down the road?

 

[piranhaman00]

It worked but I took it down eventually. Post likely have same issue slater

Look at lifeguard. They have a sleeve that’s user replaceable to address this

 

[super_glue_foot]

It worked but I took it down eventually. Post likely have same issue slater

Look at lifeguard. They have a sleeve that’s user replaceable to address this

Thank you! It’s very unfortunate because I just got a used Pentair UV lol. I wish I would have seen this prior lol

 

[Waters]

I had this happen to my Pentair also.....started leaking in multiple places. Switched to Aqua about 2 years ago...so far so good.

 

[piranhaman00]

Thank you! It’s very unfortunate because I just got a used Pentair UV lol. I wish I would have seen this prior lol

Just keep an eye on it. They replaced mine within warranty without issue. Take a peak periodically in the dark.