Leakage and domestic consumption are the two primary strands of water conservation in the UK.
Reduce leaks, Design out joints on pipes and prepare for smarter meters
It has been calculated that 25% of water leakage on the customer side1, i.e. service pipe leakage. Whilst this can be due to old and corroded lead supply, the majority of leaks originate from joints in the supply pipe.
Adopting surface mounted meter housings such as Groundbreaker, follow The House Building Federation (HBF) and Water UK issued best practice guidelines. It allows for no joint installation of water supply pipes and future proofs water supplies.
An early adopter of the surface mounted meter housing is Portsmouth Water. For over 15 years they have applied a no joint policy to water supply pipes coupled with an above ground meter enclosure which probably explains their primary place at the top of the leakage charts.
Steve Leigh, Managing Director Groundbreaker, and developer of the wall mounted boundary box has over 40 years’ experience in the Water Industry. He explained,
“We’ve been putting pipes in holes in the ground to protect them from frost for decades. Although it works, today’s new materials allow for a much better solution. Keeping pipes on the surface reduces the risk of leaks developing and allows for easy repair and maintenance. It’s just a must better method of working.”
Steve continued,
“The advent of new smart metering options has also highlighted the problems of burying meters in a hole in the ground. Groundbreaker allows for a stronger communications signal strength relative to underground meter installation. Such systems have been proven to be able to be read from over 2 miles away from a single pick-up point and worldwide if linked to the internet.”
Replacing supply pipes, the quick and easy solution
Surface mounting and joint free supply does not need to be restricted to new build. Traditionally, any supply replacement program requires major excavations outside a property and causes huge disruption within. Resulting in mess and disturbance to householders over several days. This disruption has often been the cause of users’ reluctance to have the work undertaken, hence allowing leaks to persist.
Using insulated supply pipes and surface mounted boundary boxes, a new water service can be routed up the external face of the building and connected to the internal plumbing above ground level, whether this is the ground floor or upper storey. INSUduct® only requires one simple core drilled hole through the wall, at an appropriate point to connect with the internal plumbing. This enables most water supply replacements to be completed within a couple of hours, without the traditional mess and disruption to the householders or occupiers.
Just as in a new supply, a no joint method of installation is used.
Reduce usage, a fit and forget solution
Water conservation is the key to reducing energy bills. Heating water accounts for nearly 1/5th of energy use in UK homes.
Approximately 40% of domestic water usage is from bathroom and kitchen taps and showers. ‘Eco’ or water saving shower heads are designed to restrict the water flow to a single outlet are highly effective but retrofits like these come at a price, especially larger properties with multiple bathrooms.
For households on an increasingly tight budget, or developers trying to minimise costs, multiple fittings for each tap or shower might not be an investment they are able to make. The alternative is whole site flow reduction. Fitting a device such as Groundbreaker’s NRv2 LoFlo®, at the meter regulates the level of flow entering customer premises – regardless of network pressure. As the flow of water into the premises is limited, then the amount used in ‘time controlled’ activities is also limited – but without providing a degradation of service. More importantly not requiring any intervention or behavioural change on the part of the customer, so leading to ‘natural’ reduction in consumption.
For further information on the full range of Groundbreaker products www.groundbreaker.co.uk