Too many ID-10T lights (UV purification complaint)
#11
The day before closing on our new house, the builder called to say that our water didn't pass bacterial testing. Since they obviously still wanted to close, we had a ton of leverage and had them install, at their expense, about $10,000 worth of purification equipment. As we are on a well, some of this would have been necessary anyway (for iron and hardness). Additionally, the county water guy said the bacteria was nonzero but very low, and that actual contamination was orders of magnitude higher than what we showed. Thus it's from a miscalculation during shock chlorination, and not a nearby farm or septic field. Great.

Of course, there are added expenses. The salt is one, and the UV lamp is another. The lamp is supposed to last at least two years (and it does) but they're about $200 for OEM and half that for a generic. Not too bad, but not free. However, the UV system has the equivalent of a bunch of check engine lights that really only irritate me. There is a control unit that provides power and tells you whether there is adequate UV dose (based on water clarity) and flow rate. The system is designed to have water flow around a quartz sleeve with the UV light inside of it. Cloudy water (turbidity) and mineral buildup on the sleeve would both prevent adequate dose, and very high flow would also limit the efficacy of the UV treatment. That's all well and good, but now I have two additional sensors - the UV dosimeter, which is a lens, and the flow meter, which is a paddle wheel. These, of course, are $300-$400 parts with a one-year warranty and are apparently prone to failure. If anything is out of spec (or the sensors fail) there is an audible alarm.

The flow meter is useless. The unit can treat 10 GPM, and max flow in the house under ideal conditions is half that (or less). I think actual peak is around a third. Thus, there really are no circumstances where the flow would be too high. Hell, the max with air in the lines (no downstream resistance) is only about 7 GPM. There are four separate filters preceding the UV system and 1/2" pipe at every outlet - it just doesn't have anywhere to go.

The UV dosimeter is also mostly useless. With a softener, you should not have mineral buildup, and if you have cloudy water, you will be aware of this at the tap. I feel like it would make infinitely more sense to just tell people to check the sleeve when you change the bulb.

Right now, one (or both) of those sensors have failed, and tech support can't even figure out which one. So while I know the bulb is on and the sleeve is crystal clear, I can't operate the system without a really annoying constant beeping which is telling me not that something is wrong with the water, but a sensor. Or at least that was the case until I desoldered the speaker from the PC board. It was basically the equivalent of a check engine light that was stuck on even though everything was fine.

Too many ID-10T lights these days. I feel like it's just a scam set up to get more support dollars out of consumers.
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#12
(10-22-2018, 02:47 PM)FS7 Wrote: Too many Dummkopf lights these days. 

Took a bit to realize what you were saying.  
Crazy
Tom

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#13
(10-22-2018, 04:58 PM)TDKPE Wrote: Took a bit to realize what you were saying.  
Crazy

Didn't know until now things were silently censored, even non-swear words.
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#14
My UV light just has a countdown to the next bulb change and a power light. It’s a Sterilite brand.
VH07V  
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#15
(10-23-2018, 02:51 AM)EightFingers Wrote: My UV light just has a countdown to the next bulb change and a power light. It’s a Sterilite brand.

And that's all it should have. It's a very simple system.

It is even particularly uncommon to have extensive scale on the quartz sleeve, because that usually doesn't happen in permanently submerged areas (like the inside of a UV chamber).

The flow meter and the UV dosimeter make even less sense because they have to assume, as part of their calibration, a certain level of bacteria in the water. That isn't even possible to know.
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#16
I forgot, it also has a warning beep if the up light fails. I also like it simple.

My thought is a genius makes something simple, an id 10 t makes it complicated.
VH07V  
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#17
Can you cut the wire to the beeper?
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#18
(10-24-2018, 06:09 AM)JosephP Wrote: Can you cut the wire to the beeper?

I desoldered the speaker from the board. If I need to, I can always put it back. There were no wires to cut.

I did find out when I told their support that I had done this that it would have been possible to simply unplug the sensors and reboot the unit, which would cause it to ignore the sensors. If they had told me this at the start, I wouldn't have bothered with the desoldering.

All I really care about is whether the UV lamp is on and it's not leaking. I guess this unit is meant for commercial use and they kept telling me it's no longer NSF certified without the audible beeping, which is not something I care about for home use. My shop is in the basement, which is also where the water is, and I'm in there often enough that I will see the lights. It's not like it's buried in a mechanical well where I never go and I would otherwise need an audible alarm.
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#19
So water cleaning isn't simple anymore either....
Steve

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#20
(10-24-2018, 09:56 AM)Stwood_ Wrote: So water cleaning isn't simple anymore either....

Automate everything and make it electronic. That's the name of the game. I'm surprised they don't have MAC adapters (maybe they do). As a side note, my doctoral dissertation was on securing mobile networks, and the IoT (refrigerators, toasters, light switches, speakers, receivers, etc...) conceptually has security requirements that are very similar. It will be a huge pain when people realize they now have the equivalent of a business network at home.

The sediment filter and water conditioner are both electronic and backwash on demand, on preset cycles, or after heavy use. I do, however, have two plain old canister filters that are not electronic.

Cynically, some of this is done to get more money from support and parts replacement. I get that in theory the sensors illustrate that the system is operating at or near peak efficiency, but it can also trigger service calls for what is ultimately nothing. It's like refrigerator water filters - the "change filter" systems are nothing more than timers based on guesses of water usage with what is already a safety factor built in.
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