Smart flushing, rapid payback
March 04th 2008

Conventional urinal installations use a slow trickle of water to give regular flushing, irrespective of demand. Reducing flow further often results in a constant dribble into the urinal, causing scaling and poor hygiene. Smart control provides for proper flushing, activated only when needed, giving large savings on water bills.

Rarely does a money-saving product provide such a rapid return on investment as Springwell’s Smartflush system, which often pays for itself in under six months! Smartflush combines economical use of water with assured standards of hygiene which may be varied by the user to suit the particular environment.

In a typical setup, the maximum time between urinal use and flushing will be thirty minutes, not enough time for scaling or bad smells to develop.

Once flushed, the water in the trap is relatively clean and no further flushing is necessary. However, to prevent dry drains and to keep the trap fresh, a maintenance flush is activated every 12 hours, timed from the last flush.

Unlike hydraulically operated units which fill the cistern bit by bit, Smartflush fills and flushes the cistern every time the valve opens, enabling flushing within a specified time, thereby preventing stagnation of liquid in the trap.

The cycle of operation, from movement detection by the Passive Infra-Red detector to ending the flush, is adjustable between 20 and 60 minutes at any time by switches inside the control box. On installation, the maintenance flush interval may be set to 8, 12 or 24 hours or may be disabled.

A hidden button on the front of the control box provides a manual flush facility, used to test the unit and to provide an immediate flush, handy when cleaning. This function may be disabled from inside the box.Adjustment of the cistern fill time on installation is semi-automatic with no guesswork nor “trial and error” and the supplied kit is designed to be installed by any competent plumber. Smartflush is supplied with a 3-year battery, mains power optional.

Typical examples of savings are shown in the table, for a 9- litre cistern which had been flushing every twenty minutes, costing £411 in water and sewerage charges annually.

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