Ozone creating Nitric Acid ?

[Pooldevil]

Hi
I have just been made aware of a problem that I really don't know anything about and wondered if anyone out there can help ?
A guy with a Beachcomber is on his second ozone generator in 8 months and it is apparantly creating Nitric Acid in the form of yellow goo in his tub
He needs help and I would like to be able to get him out of trouble  
Look forward to hearing from you (espically Steve !)

[Chas]

The nitric acid forms in the outlet of the ozone generator, and will not get into the tub.

It forms in very small quantities, and usualy dries out and stays in the tube in the form of a yellowish coating or gel.

It can be cleaned out with water, being careful not to get it on broken skin or in your eyes.

If a small amount of it got into the tub, it would lower the pH slightly, but otherwise go unoticed.

[Pooldevil]

Hi Chas
The Nitric Acid actually formed a yellow scum line around the inside of his tub and when he wiped it off (not knowing what it was) it caused burns !
Beachcomber do not have a very long exposure tube so I suppose it worked its way through.

[Gary]

Chas is correct. Sounds like he has another issue, maybe he is using a biguanide system. I have seen this with biguanide sanitizer where chlorine got in the water.

As far a the ozonator failing, take it apart and look for any signs of moisture.

Gary

[Pooldevil]

Thanks Gary
This is actually not one of our customer (I didn't supply the tub)
But it must have been the Ozone generator as the injector tube is now completely blocked with yellow goo (I have not seen this just a telephone call for help !)  I am told it is blocked from the generator right through to the tub !
Lets wait and see if anyone else can come up with a fix ....
PD

[Chas]

Are they using Baqua?

[Starlight]

Nitric acid is highly soluble in water and a dilute solution would NOT form a ring in a container or tub, especially since water with sufficient TA would neutralize the acid.  Additionally, I would expect only very small amounts to be created by an ozone generator of this size.  Having said that, a yellow/brown color IS associated with various NOx compounds.  Scrape a sample into some distilled water from the store and measure the pH to have the customer get some reassurance that his tub is not coated with acid.  Is the burning associated with the yellow substance real or imagined?  This is not a smarta$$ question; I've scared myself silly when working with nasty things I was SURE I got under my gloves but really didn't.  Find out if he's using baqua/enzymes/clarifiers/skin lotions etc.,  since neither ozone nor NOx will form "goo" on their own.  Yellow in the entire ozone line suggests to me bad check valves, but I'm no spa expert.

Starlight