UV-C loop sterlization?

[Dinko]

Anyone tried this?

Sifted through google and found some interesting bits about it albeit a whiff dated.

Also, from the complete lack of dedicated UV-C products aimed towards the water-cooling community, one can but assume that this approach has proven to be a somewhat cumbersome and impractical solution compared to other methods like traditional antimicrobial chemicals and/or silver ionization.

Nevertheless, it sounds enticing to achieve a maintenance-free custom loop.

 

[Dinko]

Not such a hot topic apparantly.

Either way, read something kind of related today, got me thinking this might be something for the innards of loop parts where the sun doesnt usually shine, like rads, blocks, pumps whatever.

 

[SnowmanFromHell]

Well, the related link isn't really about UV as much as it is about nano particles of gold, so... not really that related I guess
However, I've also thought about sterilizing a loop with UV light... however, I think you'd need the UV radiation to be quite intensive to have enough of an effect, which would probably lead to new problems: it might degrade the additives you put into the coolant (I guess that colors might break down and stuff) and it might also negatively influence some plastic materials in the long run.
An additional problem: acrylic (just like regular glass) seems to block most UV light, so you would have to mount the UV lights in a way that they are practically directly inside the water... so no mounting outside of the res, no mounting in one of those reservoirs that have an inner tube for lighting, ...
If you do decide to toy around with it, though, be sure to post the results would definitely be interesting to hear about your experience.

Edit: try searching for "UV water sanitizer" or similar, there are systems that can be used to purify/sterilize drinking water... just not sure how well-suited they would be for use in a water cooling system... and how much you'd have to adapt those things to be usable.