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Filtering your home’s water supply is important for your health – and also the functioning of some of your appliances. The modern market offers a wide range of systems for treating water, targeting different types of contaminants.
Chemicals and debris aren’t the only problem you have to look out for. Microorganisms can contaminate your water supply as well, and they don’t get removed by most general-purpose filtration systems.
If you want to be sure that you’re killing most of the bacteria, viruses and cysts in your water before it reaches your body, you need to invest in a good UV water purification system. The setup, however, may require plumbing.
So, here is our step-by-step guide on installing a UV water filter!
Contents
TL;DR
This is how a UV water filter is installed:
- You need a mounting system and to begin, use some plywood and attach it to the wall.
- Ensure that bracket clamps are secured and then place the UV chamber.
- Get the connectors and attach them to the UV’s inlet and outlet.
- Use copper plumbing to connect the system to your water supply.
- To make maintenance easier, install shut-off valves both before and after the unit.
- Insert the UV light bulb assembly into the reactor chamber and secure,
- Plug the system into a power source.
- Check for leaks by turning on the water supply.
Choosing the Right Place to Hook Up Your UV Water Filter
The first decision you need to make before purchasing and installing a UV water purifier is where you want to hook it up. UV water purification systems are generally split into two categories:
- Point-of-entry systems filter the whole water supply as it enters your home’s plumbing.
- Point-of-use systems only filter water at a specific point where it’s dispensed, such as your kitchen faucet.
Before or After Additional Filtration?
The optimal operation of a UV water purifier often requires some pre-filtration. If your water supply is contaminated with hardness ions, sediments, or certain metals and organics, this can interfere with the work of your UV purifier in two ways:
- Calcium carbonates and other water impurities/contaminants can obstruct UV light and prevent it from hitting all microorganisms. This is called shadowing.
- Your UV purifier’s quartz sleeve will accumulate dirt faster and need more frequent replacements or cleaning
Therefore, it’s usually best to not only combine a UV water purifier with additional filtration systems, but also ensure that the UV purifier is the last step in the chain. This will minimize damage to the purifier’s internal components and will help improve its efficiency in eliminating pathogens.
Ideally, your water supply should fall within these ranges at the point where it enters your UV purifier:
- Turbidity: < 1 NTU
- Hardness: < 7 gpg
- Manganese: < 0.05 ppm
- Iron: < 0.3 ppm
- Tannins: < 0.1 ppm
A five-micron sediment pre-filter is enough to accomplish this in most cases.
Before or After Softening?
As previously mentioned, hard water can cause problems when it comes to UV disinfection. It will reduce the effectiveness of UV light in eliminating microorganisms, and will also lead to an opaque layer building up on your quartz sleeve over time. Therefore, if you live in an area with harder water, you should also add a softener to your pre-filtration setup.
Installing a UV Water Purifier – Step by Step Guide
Installing a UV water purifier is not very complicated. As long as you take some time to prepare yourself with the right equipment and materials, and take some precautions like shutting off your water main, you should be able to do this yourself.
However, if you don’t feel confident about this, it’s best to hire a professional. This will give you additional reassurance that nothing goes wrong.
Gather Your Tools and Materials
While every UV water purification system requires its own specific set of tools to install, there are some things you’ll need in any case. Make sure to prepare those tools and materials in advance.
- Piping (usually copper)
- Plywood
- Connector fittings
- Pipe cutter
- At least one wrench
- At least one screwdriver
- Teflon tape[1]
Optional supplies you might need in specific cases include:
- Shut-off valves
- Soldering supplies
Mounting the System
- Your first step should be to mount a plywood board to your wall. This will be your mounting base.
- Mount the UV purification system on the board. Make sure the bracket clamps are secured firmly.
- Place the UV chamber in the bracket and tighten all screws to secure it in place.
Connecting the System with Copper Piping
- Attach the plumbing connectors to the UV chamber. Pay attention to how the chamber is oriented to avoid blocking any connection points.
- Use copper piping to connect the system to your water supply. Use Teflon tape to ensure a leak-proof seal at the input and output connection.
- If you’re not going to do any soldering, use shark-bite fittings.
Always use copper piping when working with a UV water purifier! Other materials might degrade from constant exposure to UV light, creating a health hazard or damaging the purifier.
Shut-off Valves
Shut-off valves should ideally be installed both at the input and the output connections of your purifier.
Installing the UV Lamp
The last step is to install the UV lamp and UV sensor inside the main chamber. Make sure the lamp is secured with its harness. Check the manual to see if your UV water purifier requires disinfection before turning it on for the first time.
Average Installation Cost
If you use a professional for the installation of your UV water purifier, your costs will be around $100-$500 for a point-of-entry system, and around $100-$300 for a point-of-use one. Your costs might be higher if your current plumbing needs to be adjusted to accommodate a UV water purifier in the first place. You can also expect a higher bill if you live in a remote area and it takes longer to reach you.
Doing the whole installation yourself will be cheaper, but only if you don’t make any mistakes. Even a small mistake can end up very costly when it comes to your home’s plumbing. So if you want to stay safe, you should definitely contact a professional.
Does the Installation of a UV Water Purifier Require Professional Help?
If you don’t feel confident performing an installation like this yourself, you should get in touch with an expert. Considering the average cost of a UV purification system, paying to have it properly installed doesn’t add that much to your final price. The final decision comes down to you and how comfortable you feel with this type of work.
Conclusion
In conclusion, when installing a UV water purifier you first need to decide on the ideal location. In most cases, you should go after any other water treatment equipment like filters and softeners.
Next, gather all the necessary installation supplies.
Start by mounting the system. Then connect it to your water supply. Install additional valves where appropriate. Connecting the UV lamp is the last step.
If you don’t want to do the installation yourself you can hire a professional installer charging about $100-$500.
Further Reading
- Reviews of the Best Rated UV Water Purifiers
- What’s the Best UV Well Water Filter?
- Maintenance Cost of a UV Water Purifier
- UV Water Treatment – What is it and How Does it Work?
Resources
Outside of his writing work, Rory enjoys photographing the Irish landscape and making music!