Ozone Question

[mrwrick]

I have an after market ozone generator in my bromine sanitized spa. It was installed in 2016, and has worked well since. It falls within the timeframe recommended for replacement of power supply and ozone generator module. It recently stopped producing the fine stream of bubbles. When I checked the unit it appeared to have power, but still no bubbles. The heater flow was working fine, so I did not suspect any blockage in the tubing from the ozone generator through the venturi; the tubing and venturi are clear, so blockage would be visible.  I removed the old ozone unit and left the spa running, heating, filtering, all as it would without an ozone system. The heater flow was normal, there were no fine bubbles coming out of the heater inlet as there was now no functioning ozone system. Before i installed the new ozone unit I blew air through the ozone tube through the small inline check-valve and the venturi injector to make sure the lines were not blocked. Large bubbles came out into the tub as expected. However, I could not get power to the new unit, so I left it out and left the system as before, no ozone, all else working fine, no bubbles, just heated water. Then the mystery occurred. The fine stream of bubbles returned, but without any ozone generator in place. I had left the short tubing from check valve to venturi in place, no other changes in the tubing, except my air test. The heater functions and heated water flows through the venturi into the tub, but now it looks just as it had when the ozone system was working, fine stream of very small "champagne" bubbles. Is this just the function of the venturi action drawing air through the one-way check valve into the venturi/heater tube to the outlet? Did i clear a blockage in the ozone inline check valve that allowed that valve to draw air into the venturi and produce the small bubbles even without the ozone system in place? If so, maybe my original ozone generator is working fine. Help please. thanks.

[mrwrick]

Updating my own post to help others. Got in touch with manufacturer about the issue. It turns out the inline check valve was probabl;y clogged after a couple years operation. Due to its low pressure rating my blow of air through it probably temporarily reset the small ball in the valve into proper position to allow the  air bubbles but is likely to reclog. Should be replaced every year. Other issue was no power in NEW unit. Appeared to have a blown 1 amp fuse. Manufacturer says the NEW ozone generator was prone to failure and likely blew the fuse first time it was connected to power supply. I shall return it to seller for refund and see if my old unit works with replaced inline check valve. If not I will go for the new improved fuse-less version of the ozone generator. Hope this helps other after-market ozone system users.

[Marco Pulone]

cool!

[KA Master]

some times you can use compressed air blowing backwards to clean the check valve out. Also there is a small filter where the air enters the generator and it maybe stopped up. I removed the fabric inside the filter and used a small amount of cotton from wife’s cotton ball to replace the fabric in the filter.

There should be loops in the hose and and mount the generator as high up as you can get it with the filter pointing up, this will help prevent issue with the check valve and filter. 

You can smell the tiny bubble and there is unique smell that should tell you that it is actually producing ozone.

I am not an expert but this is what I have learned.