From: John De Armond Newsgroups: alt.energy.homepower Subject: Re: strategy for saving power on pool pump use Date: Sat, 07 Apr 2007 13:52:33 -0400 Message-ID: <3olf13pkjh5jht9i4e6sbchj8vhh0tjouj@4ax.com> On Sat, 7 Apr 2007 09:06:35 -0700, "Ulysses" <therealulysses@yahoo.com> wrote: > >"Epictitus" <mikeNOSPAMster.d2@gmail.com> wrote in message >news:2eSdnWhewJQkGYrbnZ2dnUVZ_v-tnZ2d@giganews.com... >> care to share any links? I'd like to check out how you built it. > >I don't have a web site for it. Basically it was made from an ignition coil >for a car to produce an arc that produced ozone. I made a power supply >using a transformer to supply the 12 volts for the coil and a pulse circuit >built on a 555 timer to pulse the DC. The components were housed in such a >way that the air would flow through the housing and past the arc via a >venturi connected to the pump outlet. > >Unfortunately I came up with what may be a new component that may be >patentable so I'm not quite ready to share that yet. If I ever manage to do >a patent search and either apply for a patent or not then I'll be happy to >share it with those who just want to build one for themselves. An arc is a poor ozone generator. The most efficient electrical method is corona discharge. The other method is short wave UV. Most commercial ozone generators for air employ a variation of a high potential difference across a glass insulator. One electrode inside a glass tube or bottle and one on the outside. Here's a friend of mine's site showing how to build two different types of corona discharge generators: http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/ozone.htm For a pool, air could be pulled through such a device and bubbled/sucked into the water. Ozone is much more soluble in water than oxygen so it dissolves readily. For water, the most usual method for ozone generation is a short wave mercury UV lamp. This type of lamp has a quartz envelope that passes the 253nm emission line of mercury. Longer wavelengths don't work. Many UV lamps are designed to pass only longer wave lines and thus won't make ozone. That's why Clive's mercury vapor arc tube didn't do particularly well. The quartz formulation passes little short wave UV, a safety measure in case the outer globe is broken. I have an approx 4 ft long quartz envelope cold cathode UV lamp that came out of a water sterilizer. It's worn out and its emission is down enough that it no longer was adequate for sterilizing water but it still makes enough ozone that when fired off, the air gets choking with ozone in short order. Though not nearly as intense, a germicidal lamp is another good ozone generator, though some mfrs have been playing around with the glass formulation to trim the shortest waves and cut down on airborne ozone. These are the blue lights you see in barber shops. A source: http://www.buylighting.com/Germicidal-s/126.htm These are pretty reasonable prices as germicidal lamps go. Your local barber and beauty supply probably also stocks them (the "Sally's" chain does in this area) but they'll want more than $30 for a 2 ft bulb. One trick I've learned is that at the expense of bulb life, one can run a shorter bulb on a longer bulb ballast, say, a 24" bulb on a 48" ballast and get more UV production. Making ozone in water with one of these can be as simple as soldering wires to the pins, potting each end in RTV or epoxy and dropping the weghted lamp into the water. In a return well if you fear the lamp getting broken in the pool. Don't let any of the bulb be above water, as the intense UV will turn white PVC yellow and brittle literally overnight. John |