UVlight shocker: this could and did happen

[68bruin]

I walk out my back door at 7am to feed the dog. I'm looking straight at the wall that has my UV light mounted on it in disbelief. The UV light is on FIRE!

There are three 8" high flames, one above the other, coming from the bulb to transformer connection area. Molten plastic is dripping down, burning a hole in my 3" return line to the pond.

I took the garden hose to it, but can't help but think what could have happened to the pond or even house ( wood roof just above that wall ) if I hadn't come out when I did.

Anyone ever heard of this??

[KoiCop]

lucky catch on your part to get it before it got completely out of hand.

[dinh]

68bruin, you better thank God...., man, that is a potential disaster....

Which brand is it? Did you have water flow thru UV when it was on?

[68bruin]

It was GFCI, and water was flowing thru it continuously - see photos where water is leaking

[aquitori]

Well I hope the fish are fine....

[koiloco]

if your UV unit is in direct sun , you might want to cover it up.

While the casing is UV resistant, it could get very hot.

[UnkleTim]

I was lucky with mine as the gfci cut in and shut the power down before it got ugly. Apparently, I put mine together wrong and it blew the quartz tube out and then shorted out the light. Ahhhhhh, at least I have my first green water for my new pond at two weeks! ( I picked up the replacement parts today to fix it) Here is my new pea soup! Ummmmm, yummy huh? Unk

[koiczar]

See these burn out like this a few times - once is too many!! That's an Aqua U V unit isn't it?!!!

[68bruin]

yes, and I'm really surprised that this has happened to at least several others. Have you heard of the unit catching on fire before???

[B.Scott]

It must have been a short circuit in the bottom connection. As long as the current wasn't going to ground the GFCI doesn't cut in. If the short circuit is small and doesn't exceed the 16 amps of the breaker/fuse then it all heats up till the plastic starts to burn!

B.Scott