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Waterless Urinals by Gentworks :: Costs and Savings
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Converting Urinals to Waterless: Calculating Costs and Savings |
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Myths and Realities
There are a number of outrageous claims on the web about potential savings from using waterless urinals. As the true savings are usually significant, Gentworks perceives no need to artificially inflate them. If you assume an average urinal is flushed with 4.5 litres every 5 minutes, then the potential savings from waterless urinals are truly immense. However, such urinals breach current water regulations and represent the extreme, rather than the average. Below are some realistic examples of costs incurred and savings made, based upon surveys conducted by Gentworks at sites that subsequently converted to waterless. The data gathered about each site has been entered into the same spreadsheet as available via the link below.
Gentworks supplies to mainland UK at a fixed cost of £10 per consignment. If conversion to waterless by Gentworks engineers is required, the charges are determined by the quantity of urinal bowls, mix of trap types ( visible and concealed), number of washrooms and site location.
| Real "costs and savings" examples of sites converted to waterless by Gentworks: |
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Why use the Gentworks spreadsheet?
Every site is unique so rather than just apply some generic estimates about savings, it is worth spending at least a few minutes making an assessment for your site. To calculate, with reasonable accuracy, the potential savings from waterless urinals at your site, you will need to enter some key data into the spreadsheet linked below about the number of urinals, cistern capacities and flushing frequency.
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Once completed, the spreadsheet will present the following information: |
(684k Microsoft Excel 2003 file) |
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the estimated volume of water likely to be saved and the resulting reduction in expenditure
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the cost of purchasing
products
to achieve these savings
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the estimated payback period whereby the amounts paid to Gentworks are exceeded by the value of water savings
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the comparitive costs and savings for implementing a
low-flushing system
that saves almost as much water as waterless, should you conclude that waterless urinals are not the best solution for your site
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This spreadsheet does not take into account reduction in maintenance expenditure. Waterless urinals maintained correctly are usually much more reliable than standard urinals that have the waste runs fully descaled each quarter. |
Note that the spreadsheet linked above will open in a separate window so you may need to give permission for a 'pop-up', should your browsing software request it. If you have any comments about the spreadsheet, or would like some advice or help to complete it , please call 0845 202 4535 or email
support@gentworks.co.uk . We always welcome the opportunity to talk through the issues.
Having problems viewing spreadsheet?
Close any Excel applications before clicking on the link. If given the choice when opening, choose to open in a browser window.
We are trying to improve this link to cope with different operating systems, versions of Excel and browsers. Please
contact us if you would like to recieve the spreadsheet via email by sending your request to
support@gentworks.co.uk .
If you are not familiar with the concepts of waterless urinals, then the results from the spreadsheet may be more easily understood if you have read the 3 pages linked below:
If you are considering the option of Gentworks engineers installing and/or servicing the waterless urinals, then
click here for more information about what we do.
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Guidance for Collecting Accurate
Data on Current Urinal Water Usage
The most accurate way to assess the amount of water being used to flush urinals is to fit a
water meter on the pipe that supplies water to the urinal cistern(s). In the absence of a water meter, a reasonable assessment can be made by multiplying the capacity of each cistern by the number of flushes that occur over a 'normal working week'. Of course, such an exercise would be very time consuming unless an electronic flush controller with an audit facility is fitted, and these are rare. Counting flushes by sitting in the washroom all day for 7 days is not a realistic or attractive option for most people.
Gentworks has surveyed several thousand washrooms over the last 7 years. Based upon our experience, our spreadsheet incorporates some assumptions for the frequency of flushing for urinals with and without flush controllers. For ease of use, the spreadsheet assumptions are generic, but the cells can be overwritten with more accurate data gathered from your washrooms.
In the absence of a water meter or sophisticated flush controller, the best way to assess ‘flush frequency’ is to count the number of flushes that occur in 1 hour. If an hour cannot be spared for this exercise, then time the period between one the beginning of one flush starting and the next. Use this reading to calculate how many flushes an hour this indicates. In washrooms where no flush controller is fitted, the result should be reasonably representative of every hour, every day.
Flush controllers are fitted in many washrooms and are now a requirement of water regulations. During site visits, Gentworks engineers find that around 20% of flush controllers installed are not operating correctly or have been disabled. Therefore, the presence of a "box on the wall" does not necessarily indicate that flushing is truly being controlled. Generally, if you can hear water flowing into the cistern for longer than 10 minutes, even though nobody is activating the controller via the sensor or other means, then the likelihood is that the controller is not working correctly, if at all. Notable exceptions are the Cistermiser EIRC and IRC2 sensor controllers which are designed to fill the cistern for a period of 30 minutes after sensor activation. |
Water Savings versus Maintenance Costs
If a flush controller is working correctly, it will be saving a great deal of water. The downside is that maintenance costs are likely to be higher because blockages can become more frequent. A urinal that flushes every 5 minutes is unlikely to block, whereas long periods between flushes allows limescale, uric acid salts and debris to combine and coat the inside of the waste pipes. Therefore a balance between water usage and maintenance expenditure needs to be achieved. Unless
waterless or
low flushing
systems are installed, Gentworks recommends that urinals should be flushed within 20 minutes of use and every 12 hours when not in use.
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