Restricting Urinal Flush Volume

You could fit systems to limit flushing to no more than 7.5 litres per bowl per hour to comply with The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999. In addition to the set up cost there's still the cost of the water - all of which you could save with waterless:

	Water Use	{:88},000 l / year	{:88} tons per year. That's {:222} baths per week.
	CO2 Generated	{:136} kg / year	- the CO2 generated treating and getting that water to you
	Water Cost	£{:89} / year	- per year at {:72}'s current published charge of {:72:value} per m3
	Waterless System	{:114}	- the cost of the waterless urinal system per year
	SAVING	£{:115}	- with no upfront costs our waterless system could save you up to £{:115} per year, reduce your carbon footprint by {:136} kg CO2 and your water consumption by {:88} tons.

The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 defines one 'stall' as "each 700mm width of urinal slab" so {:81}cm = {:104} stalls.

Malodorous urinals always give a bad image of your operation – and cost a fortune in water. But it doesn't need to be that way. We're replacing harsh and toxic chemicals with natural, green biotechnology - quite simply using Nature's technology to digest wastes. Our Waterless Urinal System might look like a traditional urinal cake and cleaning fluid but it’s very different.

Traditional urinal blocks are essentially fragrance and chemicals that try to mask bad smells. Our blocks are different. They house up to forty billion friendly bacteria and as the block dissolves the odour-eating bacteria are released into the urinal and pipework. Our hungry microbes form a natural biofilm in the urinal pipes, eating away at the scale that causes blockages and bad smells. The biofilm adheres to the walls of the drainage system and so is not washed away. Our biological urinal cakes are complemented with a biological cleaning liquid that can be sprayed or mopped on to all surfaces - this will digest the organic materials on floors and tiling etc that don't just look bad, they cause malodours too. In fact, this is a vital part of the system for two reasons: traditional chemicals kill the friendly bacteria plus many of the malodours emanate from stale urine that has soaked into walls and floors.

The bacteria we use are naturally-occurring, entirely harmless strains that are abundant in nature and carefully selected for their ability to produce the natural enzymes that digest the cause of odours. Using natural processes rather than harsh chemicals is highly effective and saves money.

How Much?

Water consumption in urinals varies greatly depending on water tariff, frequency of flushing and the volume of water flushed. Water can cost anything from £250 to £600 per year in water costs for each and every urinal. Our Waterless Urinal System allows the water flush to be turned off completely. It is simple to implement, needs no plumbing changes and saves money from Day 1 – as well as delivering cleaner, fresher washrooms. The fragrance left by the product also saves money on air fresheners products which rely on environmentally-costly pressurised gases and squirting even more chemicals into the workplace. The more urinals you have, the more money you can save, as well as reducing your carbon footprint.

Why?

Typically urinals use about 100,000 litres of water per year for flushing, or between £250 and £600 per urinal per year just in water and sewage costs alone (depending on region and tariff ).

Reduce Carbon Footprint

Water UK estimates that the producing potable water uses 2-3% of the UK's electricity and produces 0.5% of the UK's CO₂ equivalents. Other estimates are higher. We use the figures published by DEFRA / BEIS that organisations are required to use for the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) regulations.

Eliminate Odours

One of the main drawbacks of water reduction systems such as PIR or pressure-based systems is while they can be very effective at reducing water use, the main purpose of flushing is to help keep odours at bay. So obviously if you reduce the flush volume chances are odours will increase.

Urinal odours are biological in origin and are dealt with most effectively by biological means. A biological waterless system will eliminate odour not just from urinals but also from tiling, grout and floors where urine has soaked in over time when cleaned with the biological cleaning fluid that complements the waterless urinals cake.

No Capital Costs

Water reduction systems can be expensive to install and commission. Yes, that initial outlay can be recouped over time with savings on water costs, and purchase and installation are tax deductible through the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme if the system you chose is on DEFRA’s ECA Water Technology List but it still costs.

Our system consists of a simple urinal cake containing trillions of 'friendly' bacteria and a biological cleaning fluid. No plumbing changes, no installation costs, no drama.

Reduce Cleaning Costs

Blockage-Free

Lower Environmental Impact

Many people attribute urinal pipe sludge and blockages to uric acid salts. This explanation is unlikely for a number of reasons which are explained below.

The first thing to appreciate is even though urine is a waste product it still contains nutrients that all manner of biology can happily live on. Bacteria, algae, protozoa can use urine - and each other - as food sources. So, a urinal and its associated pipework supports a complex and diverse ecosystem - a 'rainforest' of microbial life.

Unfortunately, some of its residents can be rather antisocial. Many of the smells associated with urinals are caused by microbes breaking down urea into ammonia, particularly organisms such as Pseudomonas, Proteus, Klebsiella, staph and Mycoplasma. These all produce an enzyme called urease which speeds up the breakdown of urea: (NH₂)₂CO + H₂O → H₂NCOOH + 2NH_{3 (gas)} + CO_{2 (gas)}.

Ammonia is a highly reactive and readily soluble gas that immediately goes into solution: NH_{3 (gas)} + H₂O → NH₄⁺ + OH^-. It's also very alkaline and so the pH rises (7 is neutral, any number greater than this denotes alkaline, smaller is acidic). Incidentally, acidic conditions promote uric acid scale buildup - but uric acid is a minor constituent of urine and urea outweighs it by several orders of magnitude.

Bacterial degradation of urea means conditions are far more likely to be alkaline. This shift triggers the crystallization of calcium and phosphate-containing stones such as struvite, hydroxyapatite, and calcite. These are complex reactions and many factors are involved as well as pH - for example the type and amount of water hardness. As the pH rises calcium and magnesium compounds, previously in solution as bicarbonates, are deposited as insoluble carbonates. Dilution with tap water increases this fraction by providing the limiting calcium and magnesium ions. Copper ions from water pipes can also have an effect.

A biological waterless system can help. By seeding the system with the correct bacteria balance and a neutral pH can be restored. It's important to remember they are not plumbers or civil engineers and so can't be expected to remove severe blockages, but many customers find blockages and slow running pipes improve.

In some cases drainage may initially slow down as scale and precipitation are broken down but this can usually be flushed away with a litre or two of warm water.

Why Flush?

A standard urinal that is not regularly flushed will soon start to smell awful and eventually block. Flush every 3-4 minutes (the time it takes to fill a cistern) and you'll have no smells or blockages - but you will have an enormous bill, be contravening the water regulations and your carbon footprint will be enormous.

In the last few years water reducing technologies for urinals have come a long way since the 'brick in the cistern' strategies of old. But reducing flush volume has its drawbacks. The reduction in water passing through waste pipes often leads to problems with odours and blockages which doesn't help people's perceptions of overall cleanliness. This is why most urinals flush every 20 minutes or so. But that's still a lot of water. And if you fit an (expensive) controller you'll tend to see more blockages than urinals that are flushed every few minutes because uric acid salts have time to combine with the limescale in water to form a hard scale, particularly overnight and at weekends when flush frequency decreases.

So, reducing flush volume brings problems.

But why flush at all? With a waterless system you have the following advantages:

• No more flushing - saving money and reducing carbon footprint;
• No more odours - the bacteria digest odour-causing organic debris;
• Helps break down the sludge and crystals that cause blockages.

Which Waterless System to Choose?

Some waterless systems rely on a simple valve barrier that's operated by gravity. The pressure of urine flow causes a valve to open. The valve closes when the flow stops to form an airtight seal to keep foul odours escaping from the drain.

The issue arises that anything that causes an imperfect seal - water scale, hair, other debris - allows odours to escape. These can be complemented by a microbiological block to help prevent the build-up of uric acid salts and to control odours.

A more sophisticated approach is the liquid barrier where urine passes through an oil-based sealant. Again, debris can cause blockages in waste pipes but because the device is filled with urine deposition of uric acid salts can be a real problem. These combine with water scale and can cause the system to slow down and even block completely. Again, this can be mitigated by using biological products.

The diagram below illustrates how an oil block system works:

Also the barrier fluid in the cartridge will become degraded over time or by misuse (using harsh cleaning chemicals, for example) which means the overall cost of such systems are difficult to estimate as the cartridge change frequency can be unpredictable. In a heavy-use washroom (300+ visits per day) these can last less than a month; in less busy environments it can be 2-3 months.