Industrial strength UV water purifier

I found a potentially unlimited source of free used industrial strength 1.6kw UV water sterilization tubes.
From what I have been able to find out about these is at full power they sterilize water at around 300gpm per tube.
With the power source they are supposed to have they can run variable power from 20 or 25% up to 100%.
So if 100% = 1.6kw then 25% should be about 400w.
They start with a thousand or so volts and at full power use around 7 to 8 amps at 200v.
I powered one up with a microwave oven transformer. But since the microwave oven transformer is a constant voltage source it flipped the 15 amp breaker it was powered by.
Because as the tube warms up the resistance decreases. So the constant voltage power source will just try to push more and more amps through it until the bulb, transformer fries or the breaker flips.
So I need a constant power source, like a pulse start metal halide ballast transformer.
If I got a pulse start 400w metal halide ballast that would run the bulb near 25% power and would be plenty for a tank of water I think. Also 400 watts is easily getable from a generator or power inverter.

 

Or run an incandescent light (or two) in series with one line...low resistance and high current for a few ms, as it heats up, its resistance increases.

Have you tried a rheostat on the microwave tranny input? (fused, of course)

 

Seeing is believing.
I remembered I have 2 varracs and that I could control the power going to the microwave oven transformer.
This is a very low power test and I had on full welding gear.

That's only like 0.1 amps.
My puny microwave oven transformer and varrac can only make 2/3 of an amp go to the lamp. Or around 10% of rated power.

 

I think I found what I need. A 1000w (not 400) pulse start ballast for HID metal halide bulbs.
I work with the 400w version of of these ballasts so I know exactly how to wire them up.
The transformer has 120, 208, 240, 277 and 480v taps to power up the bulb.
The cool thing about constant power sources like this ballast is it will try to push it's rated power through whatever bulb it's connected to.

For example if I take a 400w ballast and screw in a 250w metal halide bulb in the ballast will try to push 400 watts through the bulb, burning it out pretty fast.
If I put a 1000w bulb on a 400w ballast it won't burn as brightly brightly as the proper 400w bulb would.

 

All I'm trying to do right now is power up the bulb with out smoking it.
So far it's only a varrac, microwave oven transformer and bulb.
Since I can only run at about 10% power I don't think that it can effectively kill the stuff you don't want in drinking water.

 

for us laymen, what is the difference betwen an industrial UV water purifier and say... a regular water purifier?

 

The Cliff's Notes version is...the UV kills biologic microbes and depends on exposure time, whereas a regular water filter traps contaminants depending on size of the filter media.

 

ok i get that but my water filter has uv... so I was wondering what the difference is between industrial uv and regular uv

 

Power levels are much higher in the industrial lights...regular lights may only be 60 - 100 watts as opposed to the 1600 watt version Oil Pan has.

This will reduce the exposure time required significantly.

 

Industrial strength ones can blind a person, they give off some x-rays and can sterilize someone.
And operate at lethal power levels.
Oh and this small one can sterilize 300 gallons of clear water per minute.
They haven't been idiot proofed for your typical below average consumer.

 

I'm going to try and run this one at 1kw.
Or around 10 to 20 times the power of a consumer unit.

 

Thin lead shielding would be something I'd look into also .
Just so your not hooked on See-Alice or your being asked "Ya just come back from (sun & hot area) "
Sloth

PS I'll pay shipping + for a few to test & play also , Im past alice but white as a ghost

 

I found more about these bulbs. They are at least $700 new. They get time changed after 4,500hr or replaced when there is a suspected problem. They do not get run like a normal light bulb where they are let go until they burn out.
Thing is at 4,500 hours these bulbs are not even 1/4 the way through their life.
Probably has something to do with the liability of sterilizing water for large scale human consumption.

 

I just put a UV filter on my water system. Water comes from well to holding tank, then through a sediment filter and then the UV filter. It has the blue light and is enclosed.It filters the water for the whole house. In the spring we have lots of run off and we get a smell in our water due to the fast flow. I am curious if the filter will take care of the smell also, probably not but it will be interesting to find out.

 

According to some UV reading I have seen is saying that real strong ionizating short wave UV can deodorize water to some degree.
These short wave UV photons are so destructive they can decompose complex organic molecules into simpler ones and can deactivate the active chlorine in water. I saw some warnings about the ability to remove active chlorine.
I don't know if household UV filters make this type of strong ionizing UV.