Safety and water economy are key considerations when specifying showers and water controls

Safety is one of the most important elements of installing water control products within leisure centres, no matter what levels of luxury are involved. The designer, installer and manager of any facility used by the public are legally bound to exercise a duty of care. The Health and Safety Executive can, and often does, carry out prosecutions in the event of personal injury.

In any commercial installation, a risk assessment is the first process in specifying which products are best suited for the individual environment. When you are specifying washing facilities in leisure buildings, this risk assessment refers to scalding, falling and infection from such diseases as legionella.

The safety and privacy of the users of any washing facility is key to the choice of controls, surface finishes and layout, particularly in the litigious society in which we live. There are varying ways these criteria can be achieved. Firstly, within shower facilities, thermostatic valves are essential for both user safety and comfort. They prevent scalding and increase the thermal stability of hot water supplies within the comfort zone, whilst allowing water to be stored and circulated at a suitable temperature to kill legionella bacteria. Many local authority inspectors prefer that valves used in all public washing areas be approved by a third party to the most rigorous safety standards. In fact, the Water Supply Regulations 1999 Guidance note G18.5 states that in facilities used by the public, thermostatic mixing valves should be used.

Best practice (and thus hardest to criticize) is the use of TMV3-approved products in all installations where the general public has access, and is essential where less able users are to be catered for. TMV3 valves ensure the safety and comfort of the user even in the event of either supply failing completely.

The safe supply of hot water to shower areas in leisure buildings requiring washing facilities can be achieved in several ways. The lowest cost (dependent upon number of outlets) and most vandal resistant is a group-mixing valve, installed outside the main showering area, which would provide water for a number of outlets each controlled by an on-off control. The designer should take care not tocreate long dead legs that provide an environment ideal for legionella bacteria growth. This type of system is particularly suitable for public leisure centres, swimming baths and campsites where a risk assessment has shown the need for thermostatic control but vandal resistance is of importance. At the other end of the spectrum is a country club or spa where the user wants to feel pampered and the building owner wants to create a more luxurious ambience. In this case specifers could use individual thermostatic showers, perhaps with adjustable mode shower heads supplied by high pressure systems, so that the user has full control over temperature and flow. A timed flow control with a constant temperature supply would be suitable but certainly won’t be conceived as luxurious by the user. This more affluent group of users are less liable to vandalise or leave taps and showers running, so a more domesticated product could be used.

Utility costs for a leisure centre tend to run at around 10% of its income – the biggest cost after staff – and with these costs only set to rise as energy and water prices soar, it is also prudent for leisure
centres to put in place measures to reduce this consumption wherever possible. With this in mind, it certainly makes sense to investigate what water economy measures can be put in place in either new or existing installations? One of the most obvious ways to cut water consumption is to look at the water control devices within the building, particularly showers, taps and urinals to see if they can be improved. An unused running shower or tap is one of the most obvious ways that water is wasted. You can retro-fit push or self-closing controls to any washroom perhaps updating its aesthetics but mainly to ensure that water is never wasted.

There is always a fine balancing act when working with timed flow controls between water economy and showering comfort.

Furthermore, many urinal controls will flush periodically meaning water is being used even when the urinal isn’t. By fitting infra red urinal controls which flush only when the unit has been used, massive
water savings can be made.

CASE STUDY
The brief given to Sirrus for the refit of Bromsgrove Rubgy Club’s changing rooms was that the showers needed to be very robust, easy to clean and above all to deliver a comfortable shower, without wasting water. The showering system had to be able to deliver consistent hot water to the 16 shower heads, since all of the showers were likely to be in use at the same time immediately after a game.

Fortunately a thermostatic group mixing valve was already in place (a Sirrus TS6000) and even though it was still working well, while the other installation work was being undertaken, it was suggested that it should be given a full service. To ensure it provided many more years of trouble-free service the valve was given an overhaul using new seals and spare parts supplied by the manufacturer.

Manual timed flow controls (MEFC2000ECP) were fitted to each shower outlet so that each team member could regulate their own showering area, and with an overrun time of 60 seconds, allowed individual users to shower in comfort without having to continually operate the control. This had a dual benefit for the club owners. With energy prices rising and water becoming a more precious resource, it meant that not a drop of water was wasted and therefore not a unit more energy was used to heat the hot water than was needed.

Finally each of the 16 showering positions was fitted with a VR2000 shower head. These were chosen for two reasons: firstly their vandal resistant, robust construction with tamper proof fixing making them ideal to resist the high spirits of a busy sporting clubhouse, and the adjustability of the spray trajectory. In a bank of showers there will always be a certain amount of splashing from one position to another, but it is poor design if the operation of one showerhead distributes water to the adjoining showers. With the showers positioned on facing walls, it was important to minimise this overspray. The shower head chosen offered the facility to adjust the spray to compensate for differing flow rates by the use of optional spray rings to reduce the area covered, thus providing maximum efficiency of water usage.

For the finishing touches the showers were tiled in Bromsgrove’s team colours, red and black, to help engender team spirit after a match!

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