Spend pennies not pounds
June 23rd 2008

Since 1990 Cistermiser’s urinal flush valves have prevented an estimated 130,500,000m3 of water from going down the drain, according to MD, Geoffrey Gestetner. At today’s average water prices, that’s a cool £261,000,000 and some 38,900 tonnes of CO2 saved. Brendan Coyne reports

Since acquiring Cistermiser in early 2004, Gestetner has overseen major product development. Prior to that, he says the Cistermiser mechanical flush valve and infrared control valve (IRC) – although repsonsible for the bulk of the water savings estimated above – were pretty much all Cistermiser made. Today, the firm manufactures electronic WC devices, no-touch taps and showers, all designed to save water, plus a PIR device to save electricity within the washroom. And the firm has many more products in the pipeline.

Whereas the original flush valve remained virtually unmodified since inception, Cistermiser now spends around 10 per cent of its turnover on product development. As businesses realise the savings to be made, environmentally and financially, Gestetner says the investment is paying off, as customers increasingly specify the full suite of products. “We’re in the fortunate position where the benefits are self-evident. You show someone the payback of installing a urinal valve – which is well under a year – and they appreciate the money and water savings. And (although the payback periods vary) that’s the same with our other products: They help comply with the Water Regulations and they save a bucketload of money.”

Urinal savings

By way of example Gestetner breaks down the figures. “In terms of urinals, there are a lot of variables, and this is a worst case scenario. However, assuming a nine litre header tank, which might power two or three urinals, performs an average flow operation of four times per hour, 24 hours a day, 364 days per year, the consumption is 315,000 litres per annum.

“With a Cistermiser valve, assuming it is flushing twice an hour for the 12 hours a day the washroom is used, consumption drops to 78,000 litres, saving 237,000 litres per annum. At an average cost of £2 per cubic meter (incl sewarage), the annual financial saving is £474 per urinal header tank. The average carbon consumption attached to a litre of water is 0.298 grammes. So that 237,000 litres of water equates to 70kg of CO2 saved per year.”

Significant enough for a single washroom, the savings are huge when applied to office blocks, pub chains and hotels – the latter of which operate much longer hours than the assumed 12 hours per day.

Using the same assumptions for premises open standard hours, with washroms in action 12 hours per day, but for only five days per week, Gestetner says water use is cut to 54,000 litres, saving 261,000 litres per annum. This, he says, equates to £523 and a 77.9kg carbon saving. “And that is using purely the urinal products, so the savings are even greater in conjunction with the WC device and the infrared tap.”

WC savings

Gestener says an advantage of the IR-touch-free WC flush device is that it is retrofittable. The programmable device enables consumers to set their own full and part flush volumes, and defaults to a part flush – users have to hold their hand in front of it longer for a full flush.

While a six litre flush has been a legal requirement for WC’s installed since 2000, there are millions of WCs in the UK still flushing nine litres. As Gestetner calculates: “Assuming you flush three times per hour, 24 hours per day, you would use 230,000 litres. With our product (assuming half the flushes are the default part-flush), you would halve that saving £240 per annum and 34kg of carbon dioxide per WC.

“With a six litre cistern the savings are less. You would currently use 153,000 litres per year. If you installed one of our devices and went for a two litre part flush and four litre full flush, it would use 77,000 litres, so you are saving 76,000 litres (again assuming equal half to full flush ratio). So your carbon saving is 23kg per WC per annum, and cash savings are £160,” says Gestetner. “And that’s on top of the savings your already making with a six litre cistern.”

As Gestetner is keen to underline, these figures are variable. But Cistermiser’s credentials are underlined by the fact its products are listed on the government’s Water Technology List, and therefore eligible for ECAs. Not that many companies seem to take advantage of the allowances. “Envirowise has asked us why no-one seems to claim for urinal flush controls,” says Gestetner. “I can only imagine it is because they are going to do it anyway. An ECA makes sense if it is a larger capital item. But if it’s under £200 and it’s paying for itself in six months, why would you bother to capitalise it when there’s probably a bigger saving by just expensing it against your P&L? I think customers like the fact that it is ECA compliant as it ticks another box for them. But the benefit is so significant that they purchase it anyway.”

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