Horne Engineering Ltd returns to Healthcare Estates (Stand E43) in 2016 to showcase its latest invention; the unique and patented In-Line Thermal Disinfection Unit or ILTDU. The ILTDU has been specifically developed to address the growing issue of DWS retrograde contamination by pathogens, particularly Pseudomonas, but also Legionellae, Maltophilia and others.
Established in 1909, Horne Engineering Ltd is the leading innovator and developer of thermostatic control technology. Horne can claim a number of world firsts – inventing, in 1909, the first automated and self-acting thermostatic steam control valve. In the early 1920s, Horne invented the world’s first Thermostatic Mixing Valve. 107 years on, Horne’s product range includes the Building Better Healthcare Award-winning Optitherm Thermostatic Tap, a wide range of pre-plumbed surface mounted shower panels and thermostatic mixing valves from DN15 up to DN50.
The new ILDTU, another world first, provides a superior and novel approach to the treatment of (unavoidable) retrograde contamination of water outlets such as clinical wash-hand basin taps and shower outlets, including any integral thermostatic mixing valve, check valves and associated strainers. Using the readily available hot water supply (maintaining at least 60°C at each outlet), the ILTDU can be installed in the pipework upstream of any make of TMV, tap or shower and easily facilitates the periodic thermal disinfection of the ‘last 2 metres’ of the water system, where Pseudomonas colonisations tend to be most prevalent. In a growing number of hospital trials, the ILTDU is proving, time and again, to reduce Pseudomonas counts to zero. Not only does this ensure continued patient safety, but also eliminates the significant and on-going cost of point-of-use filters and the lab analysis of numerous water samples. The Horne ILTDU has paid for itself in a matter of months and the ongoing maintenance of water quality now consumes less time and labour. Once the modest initial investment is recouped, the ILTDU will actually generate savings that allow increasingly limited budgets to be spent elsewhere. Horne will be show-casing the ILTDU at Healthcare Estates 2016. Please visit Stand E43 for a comprehensive explanation of the technology and its far-reaching benefits. A narrated animation can be viewed at https://youtu.be/886jtiQQn_I
