Integrated, efficient facility management with SWS and MONTUS Flow

5-minute read

For planners, installers and system owners, an advanced drinking water installation not only facilitates legally-compliant drinking water hygiene and modern facility management but also keeps operations cost-effective. SCHELL’s integrated approach to turning this vision into reality Thanks to the new MONTUS Flow WC cistern module, all important tapping points in (semi-)public and commercial buildings can now be networked in the Water Management System SWS and therefore scheduled for automatic stagnation flushes. This is a valuable aid to maintaining drinking water quality (e.g. according to German VDI 6023) and helps to ensure cost-effective building operations that save water. The WC cistern module extends the Water Management System to include a new component. Thanks to this innovation from SCHELL, the automated, advanced management of water systems across all relevant tapping points in a building has never been so comprehensive or effective.

Stagnation flushes with SWS and MONTUS Flow

If a building is not used as often as planned, water can then stagnate in the piping. This can allow dangerous bacteria like Legionella to spread unchecked. Building operators must therefore ensure the regular exchange of water across all tapping points – from the tea point to the janitor’s room and all the WC facilities. If this cannot be ensured by normal, regular use, then water exchanges can be achieved artificially by (automatic) stagnation flushes. With the Water Management System SWS, these flushes can be centrally controlled, carried out automatically and monitored on a system-wide basis. Thanks to MONTUS Flow, WCs can now also join the flush network. This system-wide networking, together with automated stagnation flushes, not only offers huge time and water savings – especially in the case of larger facilities – but also consigns error-prone, manual flushes to history. Thanks to SCHELL’s Water Management System SWS, the operator’s fulfilment of legal duties is also documented: all stagnation flushes performed are continuously logged.

A systematic approach to managing building requirements

Even complex facilities with over 100 WCs – such as inside a sports stadium – can be managed effectively by installing MONTUS Flow together with SWS. At a football stadium, WC facilities must handle extreme peak loads on match days, especially during the half-time break. On the other hand, multi-day service interruptions in weeks without matches are also common. This is a challenge when it comes to maintaining drinking water quality, since the large pipe diameters needed to manage heavy peak loads are now sitting idle when the system is barely used. The solution is to ensure regular water exchanges with turbulent flows in this piping, to avoid any problems with drinking water hygiene. This can be managed using stagnation flushes that are performed across all groups of fittings simultaneously. SWS makes it easy to configure these kinds of groupings for fittings. Stagnation flushes can then be synchronised for multiple fittings at the same time. From the SCHELL kitchen tap – often installed as the last tapping point in a line at tea points, for example – to wash basin taps and shower fittings or taps for the utility sinks used in janitor’s rooms. Thanks to MONTUS Flow, WCs can now also be easily added to this network. Full integration with SWS: automated, synchronised stagnation flushes across all relevant tapping points in a building.

To ensure optimum integration into the Water Management System SWS, MONTUS Flow has been equipped with advanced electronics. With the wide range of setting options possible with SWS, flush intervals and flow times can be adjusted precisely to local conditions. Nor is an additional hot water line to the WC cistern required, since all hot water lines can be flushed for showers, wash basins and kitchens as regulations require using SWS and the electronic SCHELL taps and fittings. So there’s no need to install an additional hot water circuit. Saving you time – and money. Stagnation flushes drain directly into the drain pipe. The cistern is not filled, to ensure the fill height conforms to standards at all times.

Integrated water management from anywhere in the world

But that’s not all! SMART.SWS, the add-on service for the SCHELL Water Management System, now offers online water management from any device with an internet connection. Users of SMART.SWS get remote access to analysis data plus key status messages and reports for any building plus setting changes – from wherever they may happen to be. The user-friendly data visualisations gives managers a quick and comprehensive view of their facility, letting them keep an eye on the drinking water installation at all times, and make instant adjustments in response to changing conditions while out and about. Thanks to SWS, SMART.SWS and the new MONTUS Flow cistern module, integrated, automated water management is now possible, offering managers a real helping hand for maintaining drinking water hygiene standards.

Want to know even more about MONTUS Flow? Then take a look at this blog post or listen to Dr Oliver Fontaine, Head of Project Management at SCHELL, in the latest episode of ‘Erfrischend klar…’ (‘Refreshingly clear…’) on SHK.RADIO. View the Media Library here.