Germicidal lamp ballast

Hi everybody!

I'm looking for a replacement ballast for a couple of ozone producing
germicidal lamps for my pool ozonator. Lamps are T5 but with AFAIK 425mA
working current. I'm quite confused with all that miriad different ballasts
so I don't know what to do.

First of all it looks like regular T12 fluorescent bulbs are usually fed
with 430mA. Does that mean I can use T12 ballast for those germicidal bulbs?
They are of preheat type, so is it OK to use a rapid start ballast?
Electronic one?

The original bulb was called UWQ-825T5/40W but it's unobtainium (at least
for a reasonable price and reasonably fast) so I've got Aqua Ultraviolet
4-pin 40W bulbs that are of a proper length to fit into my existing ozone
generator (SPP70 by Utra Pure Water from Canada). Those Aqua Ultraviolet
guys claim they are using ozone producing bulbs so they should be fine if
they don't lie.

Original circuit used simple 2-pin magnetic ballasts with glow tube starters
(one per bulb). Ballasts were 220V 50Hz (Canada) and the ozonator was
powered with regular 240V 60Hz. It worked fine for a while (more than a
year) though having some startup problems (it took 10 or more minutes of
blinking before bulbs catch up and start working). Then it died completely.

Both bulbs had burnt filaments so I thought it'd be enough to just replace
the bulbs. I did replace them with those Aqua Ultraviolet ones. It didn't
work. Then I checked the components (I assumed they are fine and that's bulb
that failed) and found that everything's dead--ballasts are open circuit and
starters are shorted.

I can't reach those Canadian guys and my pool builders who installed that
weirdo refuse to fix it suggesting that I have to find bulbs somewhere (I
didn't tell them everything else is dead) and replace them myself. That's
why I'm looking for a ballast now and must ask for club's help.

Any help is highly appreciated.

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Relevant Pages

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