Prime sites for water saving
June 05th 2006 JD Wetherspoon provides an excellent case study of how the introduction of water management systems can prevent water waste and ensure washrooms smell fresh and remain in operation whatever the demands placed on them.
The JD Wetherspoon chain of 650 pubs has embarked on a programme of installing water-saving devices throughout its properties. It has had to do this despite the tendency for men’s urinal facilities to become blocked which causes flooding, noxious odours and expensive downtime and remedial work.
Development manager Andy Kavanagh has chosen the Infra Red Cistermiser (IRC) flush control. These valves can save around 80% of water otherwise wasted by uncontrolled automatic flushing cisterns and the same in the costs of sewerage. Using OFWAT’s 2004-5 figures Cistermiser calculates that each IRC installed will pay for itself in under six months, even after labour costs and, on average, save almost £500 a cistern or a minimum of £300 000 a year across 650 urinal cisterns. As some pubs have two or three urinal cisterns, the savings across the whole Wetherspoon chain may actually be even higher than this.
The IRC has an integral hygiene flush which causes the valve to flush once every twelve hours even when pub facilities are not in use. One of the valve’s patented features is a variable flow control which allows the user to adjust the flow rate into the cistern and therefore precisely the frequency of flushing. As IRC is only activated when the washroom is used, the product will only flush when required and not just on a timed schedule as happens with some devices without regard to volume of washroom use. Another patent allows the user to mount the infra-red sensor directly on the pipework which makes retrofits very quick. The sensor can also be either ceiling-mounted to avoid vandalism or fixed directly on the wall. Mains and battery powered options are supplied in the same box as the valve so the installer always has the right product on site.
Freeway includes safe and easily replaceable Bioblocks which prevent the odours caused by a build-up of uric acid and calcareous deposits and the blocks, unlike loose ones, cannot contribute to any potential blockages. The filters stand proud of accumulating debris and have many perforations in the mesh to allow draining of fluids. More articles from Cistermiser Limited: | 
