February 13, 2012

Troubleshooting: UV system is in alarm, beeping


There have been some past instances -- especially after power is restored after an outage or even just randomly -- when Sterilight or Trojan UV systems go into alarm and stay in alarm. 

The beeping is continuous and there are no LED numbers or letters displayed on the power supply readout. It is very rarely a problem with the UV lamp, it is more likely the power supply, but to be sure, try the following to confirm:


1) Unplug from power outlet and wait ten seconds. Plug in again while at the same time, pressing and holding the reset button. Hold button and wait for continuous beep and then let go of reset button. If LED displays "365" and stays lit, all is good. If not, then . . .

2) TURN OFF water supply and run a downstream tap to release all water pressure from UV.   Gently remove clip on lamp-hood connector, and disconnect lamp. Using a clean cloth or cotton gloves to be sure you don't touch UV glass with bare hands, slide out lamp about 1/2 way and confirm it is not blackened, wet or corroded (i.e. you have a leak inside the quartz sleeve), and connector pins are not broken. If all OK, reconnect and try reset again as in #1 above. If no luck and still in alarm . . . last try to rule out UV lamp as issue . . .

3) Slide lamp back in. If you have an expired lamp on hand (and we always advise you keep at least one on-hand for this reason, or a new spare), expose just the pin end of lamp through the folded end of the cardboard container and position so that you can plug it in to lamp connector. DO NOT expose eyes or skin to direct UV light. KEEP LAMP COVERED, wear UV protected sunglasses.  Plug into power and attempt reset on the old lamp (as described in #1 above). If lamp lights up, then your currently installed lamp is faulty, if not, then your power supply has failed.

Contact your local Viqua dealer/service person for help with replacement and warranty service. Depending on the age and serial number of your UV system, there may either be a full two-year warranty on the power supply (since late 2011), or a remaining five year, prorated warranty.

Final tip -- to help protect your UV power supply, do not put it on a circuit with a pump or other heavy-power-draw appliances; and use a good surge protector for the UV. When you get new power supply, you will need to re-sanitize your water lines with chlorine, and obviously until UV is operating again, your water is not potable.