Shorted out UV

[kendragon]

Got a call from a fellow koi club member that the GFI on the pond tripped. Yes, I belong to a koi club with stuffy old people.
Only two electrical items were plugged in (pump and UV). The pump was ruled out because it ran with no problem on another circuit so it had to be the UV. I saw duct tape on the electrical end of the UV which the owner had put on to prevent rain from getting in.
After disconnecting one can see that the four prong socket had melted. I've seen this many times but not to the point of wires shorting out. The lamp runs very hot and the end that plugs in is away from the water cavity that provides cooling. The tape and hot SD weather of 80 deg lately probably did it. Lamp was dry so the quartz sleeve is not cracked. The end of the sleeve is also dry so the o-ring is still good.
Luckly I had a new 40W transformer assembly in the truck. Plugged it in and no more tripping breaker.



See the residue from the tape?


Fried


Don't look into the light


Good as new


Old chinese fishermen are happy


For those wondering how to get the greenery...don't do WC.


Kois are happy

 

[kendragon]

I just noticed in the pic that I made one mistake in my hook up. Can anyone guess?

 

[aclockworkorange]

LOL, nice save. Still waiting to hear back from you on what we discussed. Either way could you PM a quote for one of those 1/15 hp wave pumps?

 

[twilight zone]

From what I can see, you should have replaced the quartz sleeve lock down with a new clear one so you can see it is working at night, also the white ring insert to that is missing, and finally you forgot to add teflon tape to the thread before installing the new ballast. Maybe keeping the new ballast off the ground maybe a good idea just in case there is heavy during the winter. Also you shouldn't be looking at the UV light while it's on because it can give you cataract. Did I miss something?

 

[kendragon]

LOL, nice save. Still waiting to hear back from you on what we discussed. Either way could you PM a quote for one of those 1/15 hp wave pumps?

Just got your info today. Will pm you tomorrow. Power has been out for 12 hours in all of SD.

From what I can see, you should have replaced the quartz sleeve lock down with a new clear one so you can see it is working at night, also the white ring insert to that is missing, and finally you forgot to add teflon tape to the thread before installing the new ballast. Maybe keeping the new ballast off the ground maybe a good idea just in case there is heavy during the winter. Also you shouldn't be looking at the UV light while it's on because it can give you cataract. Did I miss something?

This unit is 12 years old so it has the old style light indicator, upgrade is pointless. Threads have paste teflon and the ballast was installed in the pump cover where the old one was as seen in pic#1. I closed my eyes when I took the pic of the UV light so my eyes are safe. Wait....the computer screen looks bluuuuury.
My mistake is the position of the wire ledding to the UV. It should have a drip leg to prevent water from running along the wire towards the electrical connection. The wire should of been lower than the UV even though there is a o-ring.