News
Water Conservation Leads to Valve Development
By Stuart Gizzi, of plumbing equipment manufacturer Altecnic
04/03/08
Altecnic has been involved in the development and manufacture of valves for nearly 20 years. During that time we have had a programme of research and development, leading to specification changes and the occasional brand new product. In the past couple of years, as water conservation has gone further up the public and Government agenda, our attention has turned to refining some of the flow control products in our portfolio. It seems that limiting flow to an appropriate level at each sanitary outlet is going to be the way forward in future strategy for water conservation.
For example, if a basin naturally delivers an extravagant 8 litres per minute flow rate, using a flow restricting valve to bring that down to 6 litres per minute will reduce water usage by 25%. And a reduced flow rate, when matched correctly to the outlet should not noticeably affect the quality of the user experience.
But it’s not all about economy for economy sake. There is also an element of encouragement from the Government. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and HM Revenue and Customs, have introduced the Enhanced Capital Allowance Scheme for Water Technologies.
The Enhanced Capital Allowance Scheme enables businesses to claim 100% first year capital allowances on investments in technologies and products that encourage sustainable water use. Businesses are now able to write off the whole cost of their investment against their taxable profits of the period during which they make the investment.
Enhanced Capital Allowances will encourage businesses to invest in water saving technologies. Just over 4 years ago the first Water Technology list was introduced. It lists products that meet defined criteria and is probably a good indication of the criteria that will form part of any new regulations.
Luckily, flow limiting devices that regulate water flow for water management purposes are supported by the ECA scheme. We believe it’s because of this that in recent months the number of enquiries received by our technical team has had has gone through the roof. We suspect that people have got the idea that his could form the backbone of potential new legislation and want to know that the products they are using will comply, if and when new rules come in.
A flow limiting device is defined as an in-line or end-of-line device designed to produce a constant flow of water through a product such as a tap or tap outlet over a range of pressures
For the purposes of the Water Technology List, the flow rate should be restricted to a maximum of 6 litres/minute at 2 bar pressure. This rate is really only appropriate for something like a hand basin.
Cloakroom basins can be used successfully with only 4 litres/minute. The key to getting the compromise between useable flow rates and water saving is to carefully match the flow rate to the type of sanitary outlet. A perfectly acceptable shower would be around 8 litres/minute. Bath fill is a bit of an awkward one – on one hand you need a bath to fill quickly before water has the chance to go cold, on the other, if the fill is slower, then perhaps people will manage with either less water in the bath, or get bored with the idea and take a shower instead. A decent compromise is around 16 litres/minute.
A new product that we have developed, which now has patent pending is a valve called Calflow Plus. It includes all the features that constitute best practice for plumbing components, such as an integral isolator, an integral filter and can be specified with flow only, check only, or combined check and flow. Changeable cartridge technology offers flow rates at sensible increments between 4 litres/minute and 18 litres/minute. We believe that this is going to be future proof valve that will meet the needs of any new legislation, at the same time as providing a genuine cheap and effective way of saving water.
Our technical team are happy to offer advice to specifers, merchants and fitters as well as providing a useful level of information online at www.altecnic.co.uk
ENDS
For more information, please contact
Clive Reeves
01543 501111