HQUA-OWS-6 6GM 25W Kitchen Undersink UV Water Purification System

This is a long-term review of this product and the associated accessories and service from the seller. My application is unusual, so I am also illustrating another example of the applicability of this equipment to special purposes. I purchased two different bundles of this product in 2018, and I have made two additional purchases of accessories in the ensuing years. I have always found this seller to be very responsive to questions and concerns, and this is true even today. Several recent reviews criticize the seller for not making replacement UV lamps available. I recently asked the seller (using Amazon's "contact the seller" function) about this, and was directed to currently available listings for replacement lamps. It turns out that these same listings can be uncovered simply by searching on Amazon for "HQUA". The seller stated that Amazon has blocked them from updating their product listing to change the product ID for the spare lamps! My application for this equipment is unusual, but hearing about my experiences should be helpful to all. I installed the OWS-6 unit into an evaporative cooler that is located on the roof of my house. (See photo.) As background, after several years of normal operation of that cooler, it developed a severe infestation of black mold, and simply cleaning and disinfecting the cooler was not effective in getting rid of it. I desperately needed to eliminate that mold to protect my family, and I decided that continuous sterilizing of the water in the cooler with ultraviolet radiation would probably do the job. However, IF that scheme did NOT work, I did not later want to be in the position of wondering whether using a larger sterilizing unit would have worked instead, so I decided to use the largest unit that I could reasonably physically fit into the cooler. This turned out to be the OWS-6. This is probably severe overkill for this application, but it certainly worked, and I am very happy about that! In subsequent years, neighbors have complained about getting algae growth in their coolers. I haven't had that problem! It is really a pleasure to see the amazingly clean water in the cooler at the end of the season, compared to what it looked like before I installed the UV sterilizer (even before the mold problem appeared). My first purchase was in February 2018. I chose this particular equipment then, not only because of its excellent price, but also because the seller was obviously serious about the continued support of customers. I say that because my original purchase was a bundle (no longer offered) that consisted of the stainless steel housing, 3 lamps, 2 Quartz tubes, and 2 ballasts. Clearly the seller was aware of the practical need for spare parts! The seller also guaranteed that if any parts were missing or broken, double that amount of replacement parts would be shipped quickly, at no charge. They still say that, as it turns out. When I first saw the unit, I was immediately struck by the high quality of the welding on the stainless steel cylinder. I also noted that the “HQUA" label applied to the cylinder was crooked, which just served to confirm to me that the manufacturer was emphasizing the correct things, in my view! One of the important aspects of my system that you can see in the photo is the use of two short brass street elbows at each of the water connections on the cooler. I didn't want to use long runs of metal tubing inside the cooler, and I figured that if the UV radiation from the lamp was subjected to at least two successive 90 degree reflections from brass surfaces, that the residual radiation would be small enough so that there would be no deterioration of the standard vinyl tubing used inside the cooler. That estimate turned out to be correct. Note that questions about the minimum operating pressure of the system are completely put to rest by the successful operation of this system. The system operates at essentially zero pressure; a small pump sends water from a reservoir through the sterilizing tube and then to the top of evaporative media pads, where it falls through the pads and (the portion that has not evaporated) back into the reservoir. An inlet valve and float system keeps the reservoir filled. The double street elbows mentioned above did restrict the water flow a bit, but I solved that simply by moving up to the next larger standard size cooler pump. Also, questions about intermittent operation of the system have also been resolved. The UV lamp is controlled so that it operates only when there is water flow in the system. The cooler is turned on and off at least once per day (if used at all) during the cooling season. As I stated in the answer to one of the questions about the product, in the first 3 seasons, the lamp was started 533 times and the total hours of operation were 4070. The lamp seemed to be still going strong at that point, but I decided to retire it, at least temporarily. It seems like most of the negative reviews are related to leaks and the breaking of the quartz tube that surrounds the UV lamp. To me, these problems are closely related to the large number of questions about the use of pipe dope and/or teflon tape on the screw threads of the ends of the lamp housing. My product manual from 2018 says to “use teflon tape if you need it”. Well, the very important fact is, YOU DON'T NEED IT (and you shouldn't use it!). The writer of the manual was obviously trying to be helpful, but I don't think it worked out well. The thinking that you need to seal the threads at the ends of the housing demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how the system is meant to work. The silicone O-Rings that surround the quartz tubing and that are compressed between the threaded ends of the housing and the end caps are fully capable of and are intended to seal the water into the housing. As such, these are very important parts of the system, and they need to be installed correctly. If you are getting a leak there, that leak needs to be fixed and not covered up by using tape on the threads of the cap. The silicone O-Rings will not leak if they are clean and if they are correctly installed on to a clean quartz tube and clean stainless steel housing and clean end caps. They do not need to be tightened very much before sealing either. Because these O-Rings have an inner diameter that is actually a cylindrical surface, it is difficult to slide them along the quartz tube. But that is exactly what needs to be done: using gloved hands, carefully work the O-Rings to the correct positions along the tube. Don't think that the rings can be slid large distances by cranking down on the threads -- that is a recipe for breaking the quartz tube. Here is what Scrubjay said in his 5 star review of June 21, 2018, which bears repeating here: “Installation tip: the O-rings do not have a round cross section, but rather are beveled. They have a tendency to roll when sliding them onto the quartz tube,so may end up twisted. Inspect the O-rings carefully to make sure they are seated properly against the beveled opening in the housing and not twisted before screwing on the end caps. Don't assume everything will line up properly when you screw the end caps on.” Also, don't think that these rings can be replaced by conventional O-Rings from the hardware store -- those will deteriorate quickly in the UV radiation from the lamp. While these silicone O-Rings are much more resistant to the UV radiation, they are not completely immune from it. Thus, after a long period of operation, they tend to get stuck to the quartz tube. If that occurs, it is easy enough to carefully slice them off with a razor blade, and then you can clean the quartz tube and evaluate if you want to reuse or replace it. The bottom line is that it is extremely important that these O-Rings be made readily available by the seller, so that customers can continue to service their systems. The seller used to offer a set of 6 rings as product ID B07Q5R3JHP, but while the listing still exists, it says that the set is no longer available. When I contacted the seller recently about this I was told that they could be supplied in 1 week (I'm not sure exactly how), but I was also told that 4 O-rings are supplied with each spare quartz tube, and that the seller considers this to be an adequate number of spare O-rings. We might disagree a bit about the O-rings, but the seller continues to be responsive to customer concerns. Perhaps if several customers ask about purchasing O-rings, they will bring back that or a similar product listing. Some negative reviews complain about the ballast failing. It is true, electronics sometimes fail. That is why I thought it was a good idea to obtain a spare ballast with my original purchase. However, those failures are often random, and I happen to be still using the first ballast that I installed in the cooler.

I installed this 25W UV sterilizer in my house. Directions were clear enough. No leaks. All parts were there. Customer service was excellent (I thought I was missing O rings and they sent some out immediately; I later found the missing O rings). As described by the seller, if the UV system is left on for extended periods of time with no water flowing, it can get warm. Mounting to a plywood board makes install easy. I wanted to save energy, so I used a timer to shut the unit down late at night and I also used a cheap temperature controller (WILLHI WH1436A) to turn power off to the unit when no water was being used during the day and the unit started to heat up. By placing the temperature sensor at the inlet of the UV canister, the temperature drop of the cold incoming water turns the UV back on instantly when I do use water. It works perfectly. Overall, a very good value.

High quality, simple install. Only con is that one of the MNPT connections is on the same side as where the light plugs in. Not enough room to put an elbow on, has to be a straight connection.

I purchased the HQUA-OWS-121 back in March of 2021 to have as a spare ballast and bulbs on hand in case of failure of the first one I purchased… today the old ballast stopped working so I replaced it with the new one I purchased in 2021. Well it doesn’t work red light flashing right from the git go… warranty is gone as I had it to long but it was new out of the box so I have to give it a one star review

The UV light will not activate when temps are below 55 degrees. I would only turn it on when i was running the pump but anything lower than 55 and the light wont turn on. This appeared to be ballast related. If left powered on permanently, it seems to have no issues. To get around this issue i had to wrap a heating pad around the ballast to warm it up for 10 minutes before using. Keeps our water fresh and clean like its supposed too.

The B01NCQUE0X - HQUA-OWS-6 Ultraviolet Water Purifier Sterilizer is a great unit for the price. I researched the different brand names and units. This unit fit the GPM (gallon per minute) that my system needed and I researched the differences of the lights and how they work with removing and penetrating the harmful pathogens by removing the microorganisms. Basically the ultraviolet light for water purification is the same based on the GPM water flow and it does not make sense that the prices are so different for the different brand names. This unit was priced at a very good price and was easy to install. During the installation I had to reduce my water lines from 3/4 down to 1/2 using a reduction fitting, I over tightened the fitting and stripped the one inlet on the unit. I contacted the HQUA Tech department and requested a price to replace the stripped part that was over tightened. James from HQUA contacted me and replaced the part free of charge and did not even charge me shipping costs. The company backs the product and has excellent customer service, I received the replacement part in 2 days and installed the unit. The unit is working as expected and I just cant say enough for the outstanding customer service and HQUA Tech support! ~Enjoying clean drinking water!

Very nicely made unit. Quality stainless steel housing. Good installation instructions. Great customer service. I had a problem with a small crack in the quartz tube and there was a tiny leak that got inside the tube, wetting the bulb. I emailed customer service and got a reply overnight. They told me not to re-use the bulb as it may have water damage and sent me a new quartz tube and new bulb. They shipped it express and it was delivered on a Monday in 3 days. Installation tip: the O-rings do not have a round cross section, but rather are beveled. They have a tendency to roll when sliding them onto the quartz tube,so may end up twisted. Inspect the O-rings carefully to make sure they are seated properly against the beveled opening in the housing and not twisted before screwing on the end caps. Don't assume everything will line up properly when you screw the end caps on.

Good customer service