Swimming Pool Ozone Generator Reviews
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When swimming pool owners begin to explore ways to reduce the amount of chlorine they use in their pools there are only a few end products that this road will lead to.
Arguably the single best method to reduce chlorine demand in pools is through the use of ozone - while chlorine is not ideal perhaps, there are very good reasons it is
used in swimming pools. Certainly, this is a situation where chlorine is the lesser of two evils.
The dangers of unsanitized pool water can not be understated - you need to understand the importance of swimming pool water being safe. If you are trying to
operate your pool completely free of any form of chemical sanitizer then I hope you wear a labcoat to work every day because if you do not then you are exposing
yourself to risk for no reason. A savvy, educated pool owner does not seek to operate a pool "chemical free" but instead to operate the pool with the absolute minimum
amount of chlorine sanitizer to ensure bathers are safe and protected at all times. That should be your goal, and if it is, the information on this page will help you
accomplish this goal.
Why Do I Need A Chemical Sanitizer Like Chlorine?
The accepted industry standard for determining how to protect bathers in pool and spa water is to add chemical sanitizers that meet the following 4 criteria:
1) Is a sanitizer
2) Is an oxidizer
3) Is an algaecide
4) Can hold a residual value in the water
There are very few options for things you can add to your pool water that will meet all of these requirements. Chlorine is, by far, the most popular one. Every form
of chlorine alternative (chemical sanitizer alternative) such as UV, ozone, pool rocks, magnets, ionization, natural water treatments and many others are missing one,
if not all of these qualities. There are many products on the pool and spa market that claim to improve (decrease) chlorine demand in pool water however few, if any,
of these products can meet the requirements as established within the industry. While ozone is no exception, it is actually one of the very best options.
If you attempt to operate your swimming pool with any method other than those established to meet all four of these criteria, such as chlorine or bromine sanitizer,
then there is at least 1 way you are open to potential for dangerous water conditions to develop - potentially many ways.
How Does Ozone Work In Swimming Pools?
Ozone is an oxidizer. It is an unstable molecule, O3, and tries to stabilize itself by attaching to organic debris and oxidizing it during this process. An oxidizer
such as ozone also reacts with chloramines in pool water (spent chlorine) to oxidize the chloramine. As a form of protecting bathers against possible dangers in the
water, ozone meets almost all of the main criteria - almost.
Ozone does not have the ability to build a residual in the water. In simple terms what this means is that there is no reserve of ozone waiting in the water for some
bacteria or organic debris to show up. That is how chlorine works - free chlorine is just floating, in reserve, in the water waiting for something to show up. If
organic debris, skin, sweat, oil or any other contaminant is introduced to the water, the chlorine is ready and waiting. Almost all potential threats in swimming pool
water are dead in less than 60 seconds when exposed to anything over 1 ppm of free chlorine. This is an important point to understand since this value is the specific
reason that ozone is not suitable as a stand-alone solution to pool water treatment.
Ozone does not last long - the unstable nature of the ozone molecule, the very thing that makes it effective in swimming pool water treatment, is the reason it is not
able to hold a residual in pool water. Within about 20 seconds ozone will return to 02 - oxygen so it must be created and added to the pool within a short period of
time for effectiveness. Without a residual in the water this causes a number of concerns such as sunlight causing algae to grow on pool surfaces. Of primary concern
is that any contaminant introduced to the pool will live unrestricted in the water until such time that it passes through the filtration system and/or encounters an
ozone bubble in the pool.
What Factors Affect How Well Ozone Works In A Pool?
In order for ozone to work effectively in a pool system there are a few factors to consider. The first is the contact time with the water. Ozone does not "build up"
in the water but instead has a short life cycle before reverting back to oxygen. Ozone is generated in the pump room, send back to the pool returns 16" below the
surface of the pool, and then rises to the surface of the pool and escapes into the air. If the ozone does not encounter a contaminant or a chloramine on this journey,
then the ozone was wasted and provided no benefit or form of protection to the pool water. This is one of the reasons that swimming pools designed to work well
with ozone systems usually have a return line going to the floor of the pool in the deep end. This way the ozone travels through the plumbing system further and has
many feet of water to float up through before reaching the surface of the water. This results in a much greater likelihood of the ozone encountering a contaminant and
oxidizing it.
In addition to the contact time with the water something else that will determine how effective ozone is, is the size of the ozone bubble itself. Imagine yourself as
a big piece of bacteria swimming around the pool (stay with me here, nothing personal) and I have an ozone beach ball that I am going to try to hit you with - but I am
blindfolded so I have to just throw it in and hope for the best. Chances are I will not hit you. Now imagine instead of a beach ball, I have small ozone marbles that
equal in size to that of the beach ball. If I start throwing in hundreds and hundreds of marbles randomly into the pool the chances are that some will hit you. This
is exactly how ozone systems can be designed to increase how effective they are in swimming pools.
The two main ways that ozone can be manufactured for use in swimming pools is by passing oxygen molecules through an ultraviolet light (UV), or by exposing them to
high levels of electrical current (corona discharge). These two methods mimic the methods ozone is created in nature in that UV from the sun creates ozone, and
lightning from a storm creates ozone. As applied to swimming pools these technologies both had their disadvantages however as technology improves, so does the use of
ozone in swimming pools - now so more than ever before.
What Is The Best Ozone System For Swimming Pools
Both corona discharge and UV light ozone systems have similar effectiveness in terms of the water treatment value of the ozone they create. There is however a fairly
large difference in terms of how much ozone can be created by each system. The corona discharge system has the ability to create much higher amounts of ozone than
compared to UV, and UV light requires more power per unit of ozone created versus corona discharge. Additionally the service life of the CD system is longer than that
of the UV lamp which will require replacement every 1-2 years on average.
The advantage of UV is mostly in the cost effectiveness of these units. For the amount of ozone that swimming pools usually use (1-10 grams per day), CD systems can be
overly costly. To buy a small UV light system for a residential pool will be much more cost effective than a corona discharge system. If the pool is commercial, or
very large in size, which requires more than 10 grams per day, then CD ozone generators will be a better choice than UV light styles. In order for CD to operate
efficiently, the air used in the CD process needs to be treated, specifically to reduce humidity, which vastly reduces the efficiency of CD ozone units. Ambient air
CD systems are much closer in effectiveness to UV based systems. Ambient air CD systems will have nitrogen oxides (a negative byproduct) where treated air CD systems
and UV light systems do not produce this negative byproduct of creating ozone.
UV light ozone versus corona discharge systems - While more expensive upfront and heavily affected by humidity levels of the air used to create the ozone,
corona discharge is a superior method of generating ozone for swimming pools. They use less energy to produce ozone, and the internal components require replacement
much less than UV bulbs. This biggest single factor to consider however is simply that CD systems can produce vastly more ozone than UV light based systems. UV light
ozone produces only 10% the amount of ozone that a similar size CD system can generate.
Ozone created from UV light is a specific spectrum, 185-nm, and not the same thing as "germicidal UV" which has a wavelength of 254-nm and is used to kill bacteria
and pathogens in pool water. Ozone and 254-nm germicidal UV are two separate potential water treatment options for swimming pools. Of the ways to generate ozone, one
of them is 185-nm wavelength UV light which does not kill bacteria and pathogens. In fact ozone systems and UV light systems (254-nm) can be used together on pool
systems to maximum effect. If you are looking for the ultimate solution to reduce (virtually eliminate) chlorine use then ozone systems and UV light (254-nm) is about
as good as you can possibly do.
Pool Ozone Generators Side By Side Comparison
The Big Dipper Pool Ozone Generator
Ozone type: corona discharge
Pool size: pools up to 25,000 gallons
Ozone production: *not published
Venturri included: yes (mazzei injector)
Del Ozone Eclipse series of ozone generation systems come in multiple sizes for different sizes of pools. This unit is the entry level of the Eclipse series is the DEL Ozone Eclipse 10
Ozone type: corona discharge
Pool size: pools up to 25,000 gallons
Ozone production: 0.25 g/h
Venturri included: no (requires Installation Kit for Eclipse Series
This system is the DEL Ozone Eclipse 20
Ozone type: corona discharge
Pool size: pools up to 50,000 gallons
Ozone production: 0.5 g/h
Venturri included: no (requires Installation Kit for Eclipse Series
The Del Ozone Eclipse series of ozone generators all require an additional installation kit
You will require an area approximately 24" by 12" to mount this venturri bypass into your pool plumbing system on the return line. Ideally, you want to inject the ozone as the last point before the water is returned to the pool. The tubing that comes in this kit can have the tenancy to kink so try to work with the pipe memory 0 not against it to avoid damaging the tubing during installation.
This mixing degas vessel installation kit
This entry level ozone generator from Prozone is the PZ4 ozone generator
Ozone type: "corona hybrid arc tube" as advertised by Prozone
Pool size: pools up to 15,000 gallons
Ozone production: 0.25 g/h
Venturri included: yes
The Prozone PZ7-2HO Ozone Generator
Ozone type: "corona hybrid arc tube" as advertised by Prozone
Pool size: pools up to 40,000 gallons
Ozone production: 1.0 g/h
Venturri included: yes
At the top of the food chain from Prozone is the Prozone PZ2-4V Ozone Generator
Ozone type: "corona hybrid arc tube" as advertised by Prozone
Pool size: residential pools up to 50,000 gallons / Commercial pools up to 40,000 gallons
Ozone production: 2.0 g/h
Venturri included: yes
A2Z Ozone is a company that provides ozone related products to various industries in over 150 countries around the world in residential, commercial and industrial settings. They have a line of swimming pool ozone generation systems that claim ozone output much higher than anything else in the same price range. Since humidity reduces ozone output dramatically this unit requires at minimum a silica air dryer
Ozone type: corona hybrid
Pool size: pools up to 50,000 gallons
Ozone production: 5.0 g/h
Venturri included: no - 1/2" venturri
The mid range ozone system from A2Z Ozone is the A2Z 8G Ozone Generator
Ozone type: corona hybrid
Pool size: pools up to 100,000 gallons
Ozone production: 8.0 g/h
Venturri included: no - 1/2" venturri
The largest swimming pool ozone system from A2Z Ozone is the A2Z 16G Ozone Generator
Ozone type: corona hybrid
Pool size: pools up to 200,000 gallons
Ozone production: 16.0 g/h
Venturri included: no - 1" venturri
If you are still unsure about ozone and want to consider the other alternatives then you can also read these articles on AOP systems reviews as well as pool UV systems to see if ozone is the best option for your pool.
Tips For Installing Swimming Pool Equipment
Before you attempt to install any swimming pool equipment you should take a look at the video series from Swimming Pool Steve that reviews installations of pool
equipment for deficiencies. Additionally there are sections on pipe materials, plumbing fittings, glue, primer, unions and valves commonly used for installing pool
and spa equipment. If you would like to learn more about how to install a pool ozone generator correctly as part of a pool system read the Installation Tips from Steve.
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Swimming Pool Steve is an award winning, second generation swimming pool and spa specialist from Ontario Canada. With over 10,000,000 views on the Swimming Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the 2018 Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print Steve is committed to helping pool and spa owners as well as pool and spa industry workers learn more about the technical side of building, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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